HU&W

So I bought one of the Big 5 91/30's for $89. I think I got a pretty good gun. It's a 1931 Tula (Russian) serial 6,### in nearly perfect condition. Haven't fired it yet, but it sure is nice to look at. Lots of interesting cartouches on the stock.

Big 5 ad shows a few decent looking Black Friday sales. Mosin Nagent 91/30's for $89 M1 Garands for $599 and a few others...

On topic - tonight I was driving back to base and saw the craziest thing. Someone was walking toward the base on the side of the road wearing a hoodie, deeply sagged pants, and a bright green reflective belt that perfectly followed the waistline of the sagged pants.

Good camera. If you need a good basic telephoto, you can get a 70-300 off amazon.com for about $150. I'd really also recommend a 28mm or 50mm nikkor prime lens for distortion free portraits and travel shooting. They are small, light, fast, and cheap ($100-200). The only drawback is, as with any prime, you have to zoom with your feet.

I'm currently on an AETC base and watch the Airmen in Training wear them with civvies every day. That's the standard our new accessions are being taught. I frequently see them outside the gate with them on, walking to Sonic, etc... I've even seen them wearing RB inside the mall downtown on a Saturday.

I noticed today that the price for reflective belts at AAFES has gone up drastically. About a year ago, I had to get an RB at my last base's BX for a downrange camping trip. It was $4.95. Today, I stopped by the BX to see if they had any reflective belts for making novelty items. They were $8.95 for the exact same ones. By my math, that's an 80% increase in price over the last year. The economist that lives in my brain started spitting out ideas, and I'd like some feedback on what you think. 1. This could be a result of the recent recession. Perhaps the company that produces reflective belts felt threatened by the economy and constricted production. This constriction could have led to a reduction of effectiveness according to the economies of scale and caused the 80% increase in wholesale price. This increase in price would have been passed by AAFES directly to the customer. 2. It could be a regional price fluctuation. I PCS'd from a base that had a strong mission focus to a training base. Perhaps AAFES recognizes that there is a higher demand for reflective belts at AETC bases and therefore raises the prices the strong cyclic demand. The only way I can see to prove this theory would be to develop a Reflective Belt Price Index (RBPI). If indeed the price AAFES sets on reflective belts is tied to the base, MAJCOM, region, MWS, or mission then the RBPI would indicate the level of importance AAFES believes leadership places on reflective belt wear. 3. The RBPI could also be used to prove another theory. If it is equal, or if it increases over time at an equal rate across multiple bases, then we simply have a case of AAFES recognizing a higher demand across the Air Force and adjusting prices accordingly. Thoughts?

I stopped by Big 5 today to look at the 91/30's on Vet's day sale for $99. They weren't in stock yet (truck coming later today sts). I did, however, notice an M-1 Garand sitting on the rack. It was pretty beat up and they wanted $800 for it. I must admit though, it had a great feel and I love historic weapons. I've seen some talk on this forum about the CMP Garands, and I have a few questions for the people who've bought them. 1. How is the rifle for dependability and durability? Is it prone to jamming, etc... 2. What kind of accuracy can you expect from one of these CMP rifles? I know you can pour money into almost anything to make it a match rifle, but how are off the shelf? 3. Ammunition. I know it's a 30-06, but does it require special ammo? I noticed that CMP is sold out of ammo right now. Can I get it anywhere else? 4. I'm curious about the different CMP grades. Rack, field, service, or special grade. I think the service grade is about the level/price I'm interested in. What grade did you get and how satisfied are you with your decision. Thanks in advance to those in the know.

Easy. Civil service jobs exist for psychologists/counselors on most bases. The main three locations to check out are "Family Advocacy", "Mental Health", and the "Airman and Family Readiness Center" (aka Family Support Center).

Thoughts and prayers for the victims of this crime, their friends, and their families.

Hasan is alive but wounded. Link

Shooter Bio - Link Nidal Malik Hasan, Maj, MD No wife, no kids Psychiatrist Virginia Tech, BS Biochem, 1997, ROTC USUHS, MD (Psychiatry), 2001 Fellowship, Internship, and First Assignment - Walter Reed PCS'd to Fort Hood in July 2009 Was outprocessing for deployment when shooting occured More: Link Nader Hasan, cousin to Nidal Malik Hasan, one of the gunmen in the Fort Hood massacre, spoke to Fox News' Shepard Smith on the phone tonight and went out of his way to stress his family is shocked by Hasan's actions and that Hasan was a "good American": Both his parents are American, I want to make sure everyone understands, he was a good American, and we are shocked. We just found out from the news that he was being deployed [to Iraq]. He never even told us. We've known for the last five years that that was probably his worst nightmare. He deals with stories, he would tell us how he hears horrific things, but even before, things from before that was probably affecting him psychologically. Hasan's cousin related that he had "been making requests since sometime after September 11th" not to be deployed to Iraq, and that Hasan had been trying to leave the military: He was dealing with harassment from some of his colleagues to the extent where he hired a military attorney to have the issue resolved, pay back the government to get out of the military if that was it, but he was at the end of trying everything to make everybody fair and reasonable and him get out the situation, so I'm really shocked and baffled and if anybody wants to try to suggest that it has something else to do with being afraid of wanting to go to war, that's it. Hasan's cousin said that he joined the military "right out of high school" and "against his parents' wishes." Contrary to prior reports, Hasan has "always been Muslim" and is not a recent convert. Hasan's cousin said "our family is feeling sadness, we feel so much sadness for any family who was hurt."

Truth. OHA gives you a cap for your rank. If you rent below the cap, you get the amount you rent for. If you rent above the cap, you get the cap. If you buy, I believe you get purchase price divided by 120 up to the cap (90% sure on this one, but I didn't buy). For me, my cap was 1350ish euro and my rent was 1125ish euro. I got 1125. Additionally, I got around 500 per month for utilities and usually used just under that.

Just to be sure, I'd recommend wearing some shirt garters to keep your shirt tucked during the test. Don't forget to have someone take pictures/youtube.

EN 10-01 AD F-22 F-15E X2 F-16 B-52 X2 MC-12 w/NSA MC-12 w/U-28 C-21 Ramstein E-3 UAS T-6 FAIP T-38 FAIP

Dude, if you're going to shamelessly advertise, at least spell your website correctly in the link...

Just keep in mind how much easier (convenient) USAA is over there. If you buy a car, all you have to do is call USAA the day before and vehicle reg will have it in their database the next morning. e.g. no waiting for green card in the mail. Also, when we totaled our van over there, USAA was lightening quick in resolving the claim. No personal experience, but I've heard horror stories about other insurers.

Shirt chain? Would that count as reflective??? http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/miscellaneous/9080/ On topic - is it too hard just to say that you have to be reflective and enforce that? People should be able to tell of their non-reflective PT gear requires the addition of a belt, vest, or even stickers/tape. Enforcement can't be that hard.

Hello 911? I'd like to report a croc incident. Could you send the fashion police over immediately? Thanks... We're going to have to deploy more security forces to keep up with the demand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8TtyZxwYxA

So do people actually iron their floppy hats? Do they use starch so they can look like TI's? There's got to be a reason that's in there...

1. Marry the girl you love. 2. Love the girl you marry. 3. Do what you enjoy the most. 4. Get really good at what you do. Everything else will follow.

Bingo. I think there are far to many losers with rank but no self esteem or empathy who think chewing out a junior member (STS) equates to leadership. A salute is a sign of respect and camaraderie, like a formal greeting, initiated by the junior ranking individual. It is, however, incumbent on both parties to make it a good and professional experience. I guess that this new 'deid rule will determine one thing though. If you are a good enough leader to be recognized, especially by the younger Airmen, you can gauge that by the number of salutes you receive in PT's. If nobody recognizes you, that probably says something. Bad things I see that could happen include: 1. Flash cards of every officer's face issued to every newcomer for memorization and recognition. 2. If your commander comes (STS) to watch a PT test it could become more like a pass and review with everyone saluting each lap they make. After all, hands aren't encumbered while running. 3. The whole give a mouse a cookie syndrome. Since this is not an "add/take away" issue, but more a "do the opposite" issue on big AF policy, I could see it expanding. Next, those in the 'deid will be saluting while indoors, chow hall, shower, etc...

Of course, next everyone will have to bedazzle their pt uniforms with sufficient rank to be recognized.

New story to bring things back... This morning I dropped my kids off at the on-base elementary school. From the parking lot you can see the road that goes by. Speed limit is 20, but in the school zone with crosswalk it is 15. I watched a guy drive by, he wasn't going too fast (maybe 20) but it looked like he didn't drop down to 15. Moments later an SP whipped through the school zone doing somewhere between 40 and 50 with lights but no siren to pull the guy over. There were kids getting ready to enter the crosswalk when the cop whipped through the school zone. It may be that I just came from Europe where they use cameras to catch speeders, but I wonder if there is more danger from the cop doing 3x the school zone speed limit to catch a speeder.

All of your disability ratings questions can be answered by the VA at... http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/bookc.html Of note for those in certain jobs, "loss of erectile power" earns you a 20% disability rating. Other interesting ones that many people don't realize are: If you came in with 20/20 vision and separate with anything worse than 20/40 there's a disability for that. For example, 20/100 in both eyes earns a 50% rating. chronic sleep impairment or mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events) earns a 30% rating Sleep apnea can earn up to a 100% rating depending on the level of care required and daytime fatigue manifested.