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It'll be an interesting and tough call for Israel. Do they gracefully accept the help they received and use the short term international good will to free up a hand to do more damage to Hamas or do they strike back at Iran in a significant and public way to show they won't accept this type of thing? Striking back may be popular and gratifying in Israel but might end up doing more harm than good in the long run. My bet is nothing happens for a while and then some Iranian leader has 'an accident' or one of Iran's centrifuge facilities suffers a mysterious explosion. Something that everyone knows was Israel but no one is really able or willing to prove thus decreasing the chance of escalation while showing that they won't sit by while a country launches a horde at them.

I remember that. I believe that was one of the most terribly implemented bonus programs I've ever seen in my military career, but no; that was a different "bone-us". But... there's a new bonus on the table that is said to be eligible to members of the ARC. Whether that means TR/DSG or just AGR, I don't know. These things never seem to be adequately advertised and the people that should be knowledgeable, FSS, never seem to be knowledgeable. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-two-bonus-programs-aviators-2024/ Also, looks like there was a push to pay all Guard and Reservists the full ACIP (monthly flight pay). It passed in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act and the DoD was supposed to come up with a plan by 30 Sep 2022. Guess what - we're almost in March 2024 and still no plan. https://www.ngaus.org/newsroom/ngaus-dod-slow-rolling-will-congress-si-pay-parity As of last year, the Air Force was 2,000 pilots short of it's 21,000 pilot goal (13k RegAF and 8k ARC). They're 6% short active duty pilots and 15% short in the ARC. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/03/03/perennial-pilot-shortage-puts-air-force-in-precarious-position/ I think at this point, the DoD is just hoping for the next economic/world crisis to crumple the airline industry again. That's what solved their very similar issue in 2001 and I'm sure that's what kept them from POM'ing ACIP for the ARC into existence during COVID. "Bawahahaha.... we'll be good for at least another decade!"..... (major airlines hire 25,000 pilots in '22-23)...."Wait... what?!".

Wait what? We had interest rates lower than they've ever been in history, and the Treasury doubled down on short term instruments. If they had issued Bonds at <2% and Notes at <0.5%, our government debt would be a time bomb with a 20 year fuse instead of a 2 year fuse. How is that "excellent?" She also sat on low interest rates at the Fed, building this mess up when the economy was doing great. And she didn't see inflation till it hit her in the face over and over and over. Exactly what does she have to do in your mind to be less-than-excellent?

Welcome travelers with great big hug and salutation. You travel today on back bone of Soviet air transport fleet IL-76. IL-76 is unique airplane... only plane run on coal. For tonight’s inflight entertainment we have tetanus shot followed by soggy brown bag lunch and vodka. Please after finish meal and vodka keep bottle for make pee in. I encourage to avoid direct contact with Misha the 3rd officer and plane dog. This is same person. Misha has fleas and also short temper particularly when performing fuel consumption check. If at any time you feel unsafe during flight we encourage you take short nap. It will all be over soon. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My dude, I'm sorry to hear that. Sometimes the AF gets it right; sometimes it gets it wrong. It's that time of year again for good/bad news depending on the dude. I've linked you the big thread with lots of other advice. Long story short, you can potentially write a letter to the board next year, get passed over again, then punch early. If you're looking to go to the airlines, well, keep an eye on the news. I don't think the training and hiring pauses will last too long, but that's anyone's guess. Keep flying, keep logging PIC, if you can get an instructor spot get one. Staying in the cockpit is 1) fun, and 2) will keep your career going, whether that's AF or flying in general. You gotta keep getting hours. Anecdotally, I've seen passed over guys in AD make rank in the ARC. Not sure if that holds for every case, just seen it happen for a few folks.

You're not wrong that many people are struggling, but then again that's always the case. Inflation in particular punishes people who stupidly overspend and richly rewards those who save. Unfortunately too few people take advantage of that. The stupid-cheap money era particularly since 2008 has also melted a lot of brains and folks have failed to learn how to exist in other fiscal environments that are historically very typical. This was true from early 2021 until early 2023, but is no longer true. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/ I'll make a broader counter-argument though, economic sentiments are often about vibes and expectations. Did you know that inflation today is lower than at any point during the Reagan Administration? Morning in America also had higher unemployment than today. The vibes then were great and the admin was beating expectations compared to what folks got used to during the stagflation of the 70s. Today, despite objectively better numbers on inflation and unemployment rate, the vibes are somewhat bad and this economy has underperformed the expectations of many folks for various reasons. 🤷‍♂️ I will die on the hill that the economy now is good and that it's a fantastic time to save, invest, and live your best life. This is especially true for the types of people that populate this board, people who are are largely well-educated, well-compensated, and likely equipped with the ability to conceive of & execute a long-term plan. I for one don't sweat the price of, and I truly have to lol here, jeans & "nice shirts" at the NEX 😂 #DadFashion to the max there @ViperMan. What's the price of braided belts like these days? My investing advice remains the same no matter what short of a zombie apocalypse: spend less time doing complex stuff, worrying, trading, etc. Just invest broadly in the most successful companies in the world's most successful economy and chill.

Anyone know of any short tour (365 day) locations, flying or otherwise besides Korea?

Lots of interesting Big Safari history out there but one of my favorites is "Poobah's Party" from Gulf War 1. Took a bunch of retired Army short range nuclear cruise missile type done things and modified them to basically be a bunch of MALD. They got the Iraqi IADS (KARI) to illuminate and were subsequently schwacked by the good guy SEAD players. Pretty awesome story.

This was meant to inform. I had retirement orders before my promotion results were released. I did not bitch or complain, I looked at the system in place and decided it was time to retire. I was not aware of the O-6 assignment process until after my O-5 board, never bothered to read that part of the AFI since I never thought it would apply to me. I didn't threaten retirement if I didn't get the assignment I wanted. That seems disingenuous and if you need to play that card, maybe it's time to retire. I had no illusions of GO, I was bound for staff O-6 life (never an exec, never a commander, 3 flying deployments, no CAOC, and no short tour). Talked to all the staff O-6s around me, honestly they all seemed miserable and waiting for 3 yrs TIG to retire. None could give me a reason to stay beyond pension or the prestige of joining the “kiddie DV pool”. Most struggled to give an example of any positive impact or change they could make and were surprised how little influence they had beyond being a cheerleader for decision that was pushed on to them. This was a bleak outlook since I was hoping for more job satisfaction or sense of accomplishment, or baring all that more work/life balance. Based on my line number, it would be another 4.5-5 years to retire as an O-6. In the end I decided to not withdraw my retirement. Through all of this, there was zero communication from my chain of command or the Colonels group about my retirement or if I would consider continuing to serve. I did more to try to talk myself into staying than anyone else did, and I failed. All that said, if it wasn't for the rapid retirement for 7-day opt, I might have stayed to see the results of the gameplan, weighed my options and decided. Retirement process is fairly long and can be stressful even with 12-15 months, cramming that into less than 4 months seemed punitive. You seem understandably salty because I walked away from something you were actively pursuing.

Don’t sell him short, six years and already a SRA.

I'm not sure I can describe this as well typing it out, but when I was in Afghanistan we got a tour of one of the Soviet knockoff c-130s, and I asked about takeoff data. The guy laughed and pretended like he was holding the yolk of the aircraft, pulling it back momentarily before returning to the neutral position and saying "not yet." He did it multiple times, then on the last time held the imaginary yoke back to his lap: "Not yet..... Not yet... Not yet... Not yet... Rotate!" I kid you not, there were pine needles jammed into the wingtips, and an empty bottle of vodka next to a bare mattress in the navigators pod in the front. Different type of flying.

Question for the crowd. Does anyone know of opportunities that will allow you to collect your retirement, but also retain the ability to go on orders for short periods of time? Examples could look like: Part-time technician that could do things like sit alert from time to time. White jet instructor (DSG/ART) that can turn a few sorties a month at a UPT base. A "points" only gig like USAFA liaison officer - not sure if something like that would even qualify for USERRA. Why? To be able to collect basically the full retirement, keep flying military jets, and also retain full USERRA control over one's airline schedule when necessary. Just looking to the crowd to see if there's stuff out there I'm unaware of as I approach my date.

I'll admit that at first news of this interview my initial inclination was to be disgusted with Tuck. However, I know think it was at least useful to the US and Western world's intelligence agencies to gain just a bit more clarity on Putin's intentions going forward. Additionally, now the US knows with a bit more clarity what it will take to get the journalist and Whelan freed (nothing short of turning over a few ne'er do wells we have jailed to which I say let them have them as we've certainly turned over many of these types before). And honestly, if Tuck had secured the release of the journalist, I would have celebrated that! As for Putin's intent going foward, this snippet from ISW's summary of the interview is instructive. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev noted that Putin told the Western world in the most thorough and detailed way why Ukraine did not exist, does not exist, and will not exist.[6] Medvedev’s description of Putin’s interview further demonstrates that Russia has not abandoned its maximalist goals of eradicating Ukrainian statehood and that Putin does not intend to negotiate with Ukraine on any terms short of these goals. More assessment here: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 9, 2024 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org) If you agree with Putin's assessment that the unbroken tradition of Russian statehood dating back to the 9th Century with the modern "invention" of Ukraine - a country he insists was "created" as late as the 20th Century. Tucker Carlson interview: Fact-checking Putin's 'nonsense' history (bbc.com) is perfectly acceptable rationale for Russia to invade Ukraine and effectively install its own preferred government in place of the current one which is overwhelmingly supported by its people, then we'll have to agree to disagree.

Again, do you want to be the first person to attempt to cross that threshold or for that matter know whoever gets to be that test dummy? Until someone successfully does that there is no codified standard for every single other court Ohio or otherwise to use in consideration of bringing charges against somebody for firing a warning shot. Even when there is, it will be case by case to classify what is a legal warning and what is reckless mishandling of a firearm, and civil penalty will still apply state to state which is its own nightmare. Ohio didn’t do anything of substance to actually allow somebody to be so stupid as to use a warning shot and expect anything but an extremely painful and taxing outcome. The people applauding this or the “legal experts” in places like Glocktalk or SAF circles are giving terribly short sighted advice based largely off a poor understanding of how the prosecutorial process is evaluated and executed. You’ll notice the actual charges are mentioned, that’s because that charges would allow for the affirmative defense of “acting in self defense” and it helped widen that potential umbrella but in this case the judge denied that incorrectly and the lawyer didn’t do his job. And an affirmative defense is not the same as guilty until proven innocent, you now place the obligation for preponderance of evidence on the defendant. Had the prosecutor gone after this guy for say reckless endangerment and he had been the first person to cross the threat threshold from say strong words to an active posture, an affirmative defense wouldn’t have been allowed in the courtroom and the judges instructions to deny such consideration by the jury would have been proper. You can read in the amicus brief on the actual case one of the reasons the court wanted a an affirmative self defense to be allowed (again one of the reasons for overturn but not nearly as much as ineffective council) was that it didn’t allow the jury consider whether Wilson had legal standing to fear for his safety and then be allowed to use the force continuum at all in his defense. Had he not warning shot or lethal aimed kill shot wouldn’t have mattered because the initial top charge wasn’t felonious assault. This case is not the sudden “warning shots are ok now” that some barracks lawyers are trying to argue it as. And until it’s successfully used to overturn a conviction when there are states with case law going the other way leading to an eventual federal appeals process no, you’re not suddenly covered under self defense with this ruling or any of the previous ones that exist on the books. For the love of god don’t use that term ever when discussing a post firearm related incident in a statement. It will go nowhere good. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MOSCOW – A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered an island as a temporary base for strategic Russian bombers, the Interfax news agency reported. The chief of staff of Russia's long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, also said Cuba could be used to base the aircraft, Interfax reported. The Kremlin, however, said the situation was hypothetical. "The military is speaking about technical possibilities, that's all," Alexei Pavlov, a Kremlin official, told The Associated Press. "If there will be a development of the situation, then we can comment," he said. Zhikharev said Chavez had offered "a whole island with an airdrome, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers," the agency reported. "If there is a corresponding political decision, then the use of the island ... by the Russian Air Force is possible." Interfax reported he said earlier that Cuba has air bases with four or five runways long enough for the huge bombers and could be used to host the long-range planes. Two Russian bombers landed in Venezuela last year in what experts said was the first Western Hemisphere touchdown of Russian military craft since the end of the Cold War. Cuba has never permanently hosted Russian or Soviet strategic aircraft. But Soviet short-range bombers often made stopovers there during the Cold War. Russia resumed long-range bomber patrols in 2007 after a 15-year hiatus. Independent military analyst Alexander Golts said from a strategic point of view there was nothing for Russia to gain from basing long-range craft within relatively short range of U.S. shores. "It has no military sense. The bombers don't need any base. This is just a retaliatory gesture," Golts said, saying Russia wanted to hit back after U.S. ships patrolled Black Sea waters. Moscow and the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama have appeared to want to mend their relations, which reached a post-Cold War low last year when Russia's invasion of U.S. ally Georgia compounded disputes on security and democracy. U.S. plans initiated under former President George W. Bush to position defense missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic had particularly irked Russia, which has welcomed his successor's apparently more cautious approach to the divisive issue. Venezuela and Cuba, traditionally fierce U.S. foes, have close political and energy relations with Russia.

Concur. Been to the 8AF museum years ago as I grew up just south of there in Jacksonville. While it's worth a stop, I don't see making a special trip to do so. The SAC Museum is really cool, I got a chance to visit it the last time I was at Offutt in late 2021. Definitely worth the time and effort. But the best is the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson. Simply an awesome collection of planes, and the 390th Bomb Group Museum was a bonus as I visited Framlingham toward the end of my UK tour back in 1984!!

Lol this got me wondering so I checked out their pay. Unfortunately, the $100k bonus is for pilots with >950 hours 121 time. But for the current pay rates are pretty awesome. Orders dried up for a short time in 2012, so I went to Compass Airlines (no defunct) and started at $28/hr. Envoy newhires now start at $93/hr! My newhire pay at AAL was $52/hr and $91/hr at DAL. FYSA, I adjusted all these number for current day inflation. These kids are finishing college and walking straight into $100k/yr jobs...nuts. I wouldn't shy away from going to a places like envoy if you finished your career with no currency, or the legacies are not calling quite yet. With the slowdown in hiring, it's bound to happen to some. It's good money and you likely won't be there long. Apply everywhere, but if the legacies haven't called, I wouldn't hesitate to take a regional gig. I had a good time flying at my regional. I'd just recommend going to one where you don't have to commute. As someone who has recently retired, I can say you won't miss all the bullshit captainmorgan mention. I live under the pattern for my squadron and can watch SFO's from my back patio. I love to watch them, but I sure don't miss it, because I know all the stress/BS/sacrifice that goes along with that flying. They were night flying last night and when I heard the first burner light for takeoff, I raised my whiskey from my campfire in my backyard, while I was "working" (long call) at DAL...go get'em boys!

Good stuff, not the right system then but the idea, a relatively cheap per shot system matched with a Hail Mary short range system (DE, guided AAA, suicide drone)

Just so we're clear, my proposal blocks out 90+ percent of the people illegally immigrating into the country right now. So the "landmines, shoot-on-sight, indefinite internment, light them on fire, whatever makes you happy and deters others" would be directed towards the unskilled immigrants coming from south of our border, who would realistically have no legal method of getting to the USA. Sorry, but there are more unskilled, uneducated people who wish to move here than we have room for (economically, not physically), and latin americans aren't the only poor people in the world. The millions of immigrants would have to be spread over a wide variety of countries and cultures, to ensure the disproportionate importation of one specific culture does not allow for creating critical-mass communities that are able to escape the forces of assimilation. The vast majority of those who wish to be here will simply never get to. That's what I thought. You are advocating for unlimited immigration with this statement. See above. Once again, comparing the social, political, and economic conditions of 1910 to 2024 is silly. Its a different world, and more importantly, a different USA with different needs. We weren't $34T in debt back then, and bringing in a bunch of low-income immigrants will not help that. And we don't need a bunch of raw labor. Your 20% additional income tax would bring them up to... 20%, since those making less than $40k pay no net federal taxes: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/who-pays-and-doesnt-pay-federal-income-taxes-in-the-us/ Even the additional 20%, which you know will never happen, would not do anything to fix our budget. So aside from not being able to effectively join the American community if you can't speak to Americans, you will never see meaningful numbers of immigrants make enough money to make their admission to the country worthwhile if they can't speak English.

Air to ground news https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-BB1jFMjO Could you adapt a Stinger (or similar type missile) to provide a short range defense to these stand off weapons? Considering these are relatively inexpensive and deployed in decent numbers you would need a defense against them similar in cost to avoid an economic exchange imbalance

It seems I did not get the VRRAD email because of my line number for O-6. After I retire in 2 weeks I assume I could come back as an O-5 minus my line number. There is zero effort at retention. They only want the bored and the desperate to comeback so they can be abused with crap assignments without repercussions. Rumor is 5% of my O-6 year group had retirement orders prior to the results and they lose even more from the O-6 gameplan involuntary PCS. This may not seem like a lot, but that is 15-50 fewer Colonels in an already undermanned AF. I'm sure the restructuring with a new MAJCOM and three more 3-star commands will help alleviate the staff shortage. If you think you have no control over your career, the O-6 assignment process and the Colonels group ramps that up to 11. PCS every 2 years with a 2-year ADSC. If you have a 90-day ADSC past assignment notification as a Col(S), you cannot 7-day opt out. If you 7-day opt an assignment mandatory retirement in 90-120 days. Once you accept a PCS as a Col(S), they only way off the train is to submit for retirement 1-year into your assignment before the next gameplan. Don't want to gamble your pension on a command tour, opting out requires deputy MAJCOM approval.

Let's start with Emergency Medicaid. Also school meal programs. Pregnant women and young kids get WIC access. Free room and board in certain cities. You think a mother living in Haiti is more worried about rapists and murderers in Mexico than the rapists and murders she has to endure if she stays in Haiti? States seems to be struggling: https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/denver-hospital-system-may-collapse-due-to-migrant-crisis-we-are-turning-down-patients-southern-border-trump-biden-colorado-denver-health-post-donna-lynne-immigrants-illegal-migrants-asylum-seekers-resources What country do you live in that you think this is anything like the 1950s? And if the burden of illegal immigration is so low, why are the Blue Cities in the north melting down over 5-digit inflows of aliens being sent to them by Florida and Texas? What demand? There was demand for dirt cheap consumer goods from China, and that 30 year experiment decimated the American middle class and industrial base. The short term price suppression of cheap foreign labor is not worth the long term disruption to the economic balance of the society. And through all of this everyone ignores the effect on the originating country. What hope do these countries have of pulling out of the 3rd-world death spiral if their hardest workers and strongest men all flee to the US? Is cheaper lettuce and construction labor really worth the long term impact of having an entire continent of heavily populated, unstable countries perpetually feeding low/no skill workers to our southern border? Do you believe that the United States can handle the addition of... 100,000,000 low-skill immigrants? Because there are far more who wish to be here. Exactly how does that play out?

I agree that it's having short-term negative consequences for Republicans, but strategic considerations are generally long-term, not short-term. Strategically, this issue has been removed from the national conversation, *if* the Republicans can get it through their big fat stupid heads to keep it a states rights issue. You say that the dems aren't going to let it go, but then you also say that it's a fringe issue. It's either one of the other. It doesn't matter what the activists scream about, what matters is what actually impacts the average person. The average person now has a much greater ability to live somewhere that agrees with their abortion views, if they consider those views so important as to move to another state. This experiment has been run already in Europe, where the various countries have various laws, and it's just not a part of their normal political discourse. If the Democrats want to make this a national issue, that's all well and good, but they will suffer the same short-term consequences the Republicans are suffering now. Change is seldom good for those doing the changing. The alternative was to have this issue hanging over the heads of Republicans for all time, forced to accept a world of completely unrestricted abortions for all time. That's not a moral proposition that many conservatives can accept, but at least now they can redirect their moral concerns to the local level, as it has been meant to be. I can't speak to the forecast of the Republicans who pushed this, but if they expected no fallout, or even crazier, the adulation of the masses from killing Roe, then they were idiots. But I think many knew that there would be short-term consequences, and those consequences are more than acceptable for completely solving the legal problem, and partially solving the ethical problem. But I think this will be the last presidential election cycle where abortion is a headline issue. The abortion advocates will absolutely hate that reality, as will the pro-life absolutists, but the rest of us will be better off.

I am a current AD 62E Officer who was lucky enough to get picked up for UPT on this year’s Active-Duty UFT Board. I am thrilled to finally be living out the dream but am seeking advice for those who have been in my shoes.....late to rate. I am a 1st Lt who, pending any drastic UPT scheduling delays, should be completing UPT right around the time I hit Capt. As someone who is currently removed from the flying community, I have all of these aspirations for making the most of my flying time, and hope to get plenty of operational experience, and even have hopes of potentially attending WIC. I also (potentially naively?) plan to retire, as I sit here at a little over 2.5 years AD time under my belt. I say that because I want to be sure to check any boxes required to ensure desirable career progression (things like a staff tour). Seeking out any and all tips/tricks/insight on making the most of my initial operational time and becoming an asset in my MDS, while not derailing my career. Unsure if advice would differ by platform, but for contexts sake, the dream is to strap into the Viper, but after 2.5 years of driving exclusively my keyboard, I would be happy flying anything. P.S. I know this is likely unnecessary stress this early in my career, but I am a planner, what can I say.

You're describing my career exactly. Previous 62E. Late-to-rate. F-16s for approaching 18 years now. NBD. I would say don't worry about becoming an asset to your unit. There's good pilots, ok pilots, shitty pilots, great pilots...you get the idea. Don't buy into the AF's idea that you need to go to UPT the day after you commission in order to be somebody, because it's not true now, nor was it ever. The AF's ideal model of career progression is obsolete to those who believe it is; so believe it's obsolete, and it will be. Get 4ucked with that staff-tour talk though...for realz.