DirkDiggler
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Posts posted by DirkDiggler
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3 hours ago, Swizzle said:
Something like this is pretty cut and dry, but he picked the worst AFSOC/CC to do this under. CAT 5 will probably come off the 3rd floor and personally stab him in the face.
It was just briefed at the SOCOM CDRT that disciplinary incidents/issues within SOCOM are rapidly approaching the levels they were at prior to the “period of reflection”. Not a good look.
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Anybody remember the days when every thread on Baseops didn’t turn into a left versus right political pissing contest?….was kinda nice.
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Good work by the Ukrainian ADA this morning
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Nice wake up video of Russian equipment burning, the Terminator getting "terminated", even set to T2 music.
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20 hours ago, FLEA said:
Found out while working with NATO AWACS in Europe that apparently only Americans are actually taught that. Like no kidding, at the egress training the fire department brings it up and there's even been studies on it showing that more Americans correctly react in incidents when on fire than Europeans or other countries. How wild is that?
Lol. Today I learned.
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11 hours ago, Shaft34 said:
Coulson 737 Fireliner crashed in Western Australia yesterday during ops on a fire. Miraculously, both pilots survived with minor injuries. I know one of the pilots from being around the industry the past several years, so I’m especially glad it turned out this way, all things considered.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-07/wa-boeing-737-plane-crash/101939554
Really glad to see both pilots made it out, that looked ugly.
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Great video of a Russian forgetting the childhood lesson of stop, drop, and roll.
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Humanitarian volunteer, Marine vet killed in Ukraine while helping civilians | Fox News
Regardless of anyone's political views on the conflict, sad news out of Ukraine. If any of you watched the show Hunting ISIS you'll recognize Reed. After his service in the Marines he'd dedicated his life to medically helping people in conflict zones.
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2 hours ago, Clark Griswold said:
My spidey sense says they were still concerned about their career vs what they believed, it was just about their next career. Be it college president, think tank wonk, consultant, whatever... those who publicly profess contra-prevailing conventional wisdom / groupthink ideas probably have limited post mil career opportunities.
There is something to having a unified team and then there's a pack of lemmings blindly following the lemming in front of them. No perfect objective measure like porn vs art but you know it when you see it. I think that compliments your above point on leaders willing to challenge the status quo.
Copy book recommendation.
Agreed.
I guess the thing that boggles my mind the most on that is the still climbing the ladder/still looking for a follow on if you’re a 4 star (or any star or O-6 for that matter IMO). Even as an O-4/5, be the guy/gal you want to be, do the right thing. I’ve never understood the style of thinking and action that is constantly, overwhelmingly concerned with climbing the next rung in ladder.
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The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan (csis.org)
This is a long read and doesn't contain any new revelations (at least I didn't think so). Also doesn't benefit from any knowledge of classified capes. Still, was an interesting skim/look into multiple factors that might effect a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
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Lots of speculation over on Twitter about who was responsible and where things originated. Be interesting to see the real story/data.
Israel Strikes Iran Amid International Push to Contain Tehran - WSJ
Either way, things blowing up in Iran, no clearly responsible party, and videos on Twitter of Iranian citizens cheering some of the strikes. Not a bad way to start a Sunday morning.
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23 minutes ago, Clark Griswold said:
I hear and think you are mostly right but f*** it, who cares, when we are given the chance to speak the truth from a place and platform that the troops, the warfighters, the mission hackers can hear it and not get watered down by the Bobs, yes men and future apparatchiks of the nat sec blob, we should take it.
Maybe this was planned, maybe they told him to be the guy to say what needed to be said publicly then rebuked but he has now said the emperor has no clothes and it is in the public space and probably now acceptable for other leaders to say well I would said it differently but.. it's true so we're gonna focus on real military shit because WW3 is upcoming...
One of the (kinda) cool things about ACSC in-res was the level of briefer/public speaker that would come and talk with us. Ran the gambit, tons of 4 stars, State Department types, couple politicians etc. Some of them stuck with/spoke the party line, some actually had real shit to same and were quite candid in their views/opinions.
Unfortunately, the military guys that usually were the most candid/interesting were the ones that were no longer upwardly mobile or those that were close to retirement. Almost all of them, to a T, made sure that the cameras weren't on or that "academic immunity" or whatever they called it was in effect. They were all very concerned about going "on the record" about pretty much anything.
I understand that messaging wise you don't want to get in-front of your boss(es) and that having generals openly saying things that are at odds with our civilian leadership is not usually a good thing. At the same time, I've always been a fan of leaders who are blunt in their beliefs/expectations and who are willing to take risks if it means their force(s) are well prepared and ready for unexpected challenges. I'm not sure we have as many 0-6+ leaders ready for an all out, attritional type war with a peer as we need.
Interesting anecdote, just finished up another deployment and as I was writing AMs for my crew, it was brought to my attention that the local awards pub did not allow the words "captured" or "killed" to be used in award citations anymore. Was seriously a WTFuck moment; the military exists, on lawful order, to kill people and break their shit, but I can't officially say that anymore or recognize people for performing their primary duty to our country.
I'm a firm believer that every young officer should read TE Ferenbach's This Kind of War, specifically the chapter titled "Proud Legions". Would have applicable lessons for any full on fight with China, Russia, NK, or Iran.
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What Could Come Next? Assessing the Putin Regime's Stability and Western Policy Options (csis.org)
Pretty long but interesting read/analysis about possible outcomes post Ukraine/Russian war on the Russian side. Don't know that I agree with everything the author postulates but hopefully our higher ups are thinking about this type of stuff.
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1 hour ago, FLEA said:
Interestingly I've heard the Navy fires way more commanders than any other branch. A combination of believing everyone deserves a shot at command, and therefore, performing no screening processes before awarding command--and having a higher power hierarchy then other branches which tends to foment toxic environments easier.
Can't speak to the SWO side of the house (never asked one, they're a pretty strange bunch) but Naval Aviation has a screening process for command.
They basically have tiers (anyone directly involved in this feel free to correct any incorrect info). Tier 1 is line/fleet squadron, Teir 2 is RAG/training squadrons, and Tier 3 is all others. Of my 3 Navy Pilot buddies on staff, one screened Teir 1 and commanded an SH-60 squadron in San Diego, one screened Tier 3 and commanded the Naval Brig in San Diego (everyone who knew this guy, was a phenomenal bro, thought this hilarious, the jokes wrote themselves), and the last guy didn't make the cut/didn't command (went back to flying for his last assignment, which is pretty rare in Navy Aviation as I understand it).
Guy I went to JPMEII with (submariner) had an interesting take on the Navy canning as many skippers as they do. At least in his world, he felt every firing he'd heard about or seen over the course of his career was justified. Every captain of a Navy submarine is directly in charge of running a nuclear reactor (or dozens of nuclear warheads if it's an SSBN). His opinion was there's just no leeway/wiggle room if a higher level commander thinks a guy is untrustworthy/unsuitable for command based on the above responsibility. One guy's opinion.
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Pretty intense video of a Ukrainian unit assaulting a Russian held town.
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3 hours ago, ItnStln said:
Do the IDE and SDE Masters count towards this requirement or not?
Yes those count.
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What the actual Fuck. This is maybe the dumbest thing the AF could've done retention wise right now. Every careerist sack of shit O-5/6 is gonna rack & stack their guys based on this shit, SECAF guidance mentioned above aside. We're already in a personnel shortage WRT instructors and evaluators (at least in my corner of the AF) cause the majority of the FGOs are gone. The 1st time someone doesn't get promoted (or thinks they didn't? based on a lack of an AAD it's just gonna make things worse.
Rant off, anyone know if AMU/Toro/ERAU has stock available to buy?
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Quick work by the Igla gunner.
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8 hours ago, Danger41 said:
I’m glad the whistleblower is anonymous but had zero issues putting names, faces, and locations of several unit members out for all the world to see. WTFO.
Yeah that whole complaint sounded like a lesson in general douchebaggery.
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Not sure where to put this given that no one's actually been fired yet that I'm aware of. I do not consider "Just the News" to be a particularly reliable news source but there's a lot of details on the below linked news story, whistleblower complaint is also posted on there. Overall the complaint seems absolutely stupid/absurd to me but in today's climate that doesn't matter.
Couldn't come at a worse time for the people caught up in this; CAT 5 just took over AFSOC a couple days ago. He's going to crucify/proper FUCK anyone that he even suspects could possibly make him look bad.
Lighten Up Francis!
in Squadron Bar
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