An impossible ask . . . .

[robav8r]

Like many of you, I have followed this site, posted when I thought appropriate, pissed people off, revealed my biases and inclinations, and generally have been a jackass at times. But . . . . i'm also a passionate, retired Naval Officer and Life Long Learner that seeks to understand and be a better a person.

So, I thought it might be useful to start a thread where we can pull the curtain back a bit, and try to understand the opinions, and backgrounds of those we don't know very well, and understand less.

No personal attacks, no attitude, just some open thought and comments that might make all of us, better humans.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Did someone break into your account? Blink twice if you are in distress


j/k sounds like an interesting idea to me

 

[Jim123]

Fear is a powerful motivator in our decisions and actions.

Somewhere I read that between you and any of the bad guys in a war, you can probably connect a chain of real people (in the "degrees of separation" sense). That is to say you know at least one person, with whom you get along, but with whom you slightly disagree over whatever issues your side and the bad guys are fighting a war. That person can find another person who is farther along the spectrum, and so on until it ends in one of the bad guys that you're trying to kill. The total number of people in the chain is, well, not very many. All I remember was it was some kind of semi-professional reading about counterinsurgency and the context was about getting to the root of the problems that make populations discontent enough to rebel- or to support a rebellion, or to look the other way about "bad guys" in their neighborhood.

Whatever the issue(s) are, both parties are passionately afraid of what will happen to their world if the other side wins. Food for thought when it comes to understanding people you disagree agree with- whether you disagree a little or a lot.


Gotta ask yourself what is it that the other person fears and why are they so afraid of it?

 

[Griz882]

Often when I am passionate about a topic I try to step away from it. The recent conversation over the Afghanistan debacle had me on fire. I know people, lost friends there, and even left a little of my blood in Afghan soil. It was personal and because of that I had to be more of a participant than correspondent. There is a wide set of people here whose wisdom and humor I genuinely embrace - and I don’t agree with any of them on every topic discussed here, but through their wisdom and humor I have learned enough to either change my outlook, broaden the path I am on, or accept that we must agree to disagree.

On the other hand I take a perverse pleasure in the occasional troll. Sometimes I regret it…sometimes not.

Sorry.

 

[brownshoe]

I've been a member since 2005 and I miss some of the older posters that are no longer around; a4sforever (Can't give you his name), BZB604 (Hugh Magee), RonDebMar (Ron Marron), and many others. Met some members in person. Oh... and I miss crawling all over A4 Skyhawks?.

 

[SELRES_AMDO]

I have a question.

Why do people care so much about diversity initiatives? Some people act as if it is a personal insult and are incredibly emotionally invested in the subject. I don't understand it.

Why are people so concerned?

 

[Mos]

I fucking hate this board and the rat bastards that populate it. But I also love it.

 

[robav8r]

We’re off to a good start. Tomorrow is going to be a raw day for many in this country, and just another Saturday for many others. I find that as I get older, I am more interested in the history and tribulations that made our country what it is today. I absolutely hate to see our flag, and what I believe to be many sacred institutions trampled on by those who don’t seem to care about the sacrifices it took to protect them. I hope everyone has an opportunity to reflect on what happened 20 years ago and why we should never forget what happened, while finding a way to teach younger generations about why we were attacked and why we responded the way we did.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I think if we keep going down this road we are traveling, as a country, the end of this nation will be in our lifetimes. Maybe a lot sooner. I could go on a long diatribe about why I think we got to where we are, and maybe this is the place, but I'll save you the reading for now. Suffice to say that where we are headed is really bad. Citizens have been pitted against other citizens, none of whom are really the problem. We have been coerced into fighting/hating each other, rather than the people who are actually the root cause of all this bipartisan rage. We have a lot more in common than we think, and we would figure that out if we stopped parroting talking points of our chosen political party and blaming their chosen diversionary group of "others". If we made that change, I think "We The People" would identify and address what is really ruining our nation.

 

[nodropinufaka]

It’s very interesting to me about the war on terror.

I think it was a huge mistake to invade Iraq and Occupy Afghanistan after the initial Invasion.

It’s frustrating because it almost always seems to be egos of senior officers who think they can turn the tide just given more time.

What happened in Vietnam happened all over again in Iraq and Afghanistan with the whole COIN doctrine thing.

I wish politics wouldn’t be such a driving factor for stuff like this. And rather it be looked at as mistakes rather then “republicans did this or democrats did this”

The GPC is ramping up and major initiatives like Climate Change and Proxy wars are going to be major players but some people refuse to accept it because the politics tied too it.

 

[RedFive]

So, I thought it might be useful to start a thread where we can pull the curtain back a bit, and try to understand the opinions, and backgrounds of those we don't know very well, and understand less.

I did a month in AF ROTC, decided at the young age of 18 that the vibe was super gay and simultaneously discovered that I'd have to sign my life away before knowing if I'd have a pilot slot. fUcK tHaT. Discovered the Marines had this thing called PLC and guaranteed flight slots. Took the test, did the paperwork. Marine recruiter was stretched thin across multiple states. At some point I picked up @wink from KPRC, had breakfast, and later drove him to campus for a presentation on the Navy. I'm pretty sure at some point he told me my GPA sucked and that I'd be better off in the Marines because their GPA requirements weren't as stringent. I can't recall exactly. In my defense, I was very distracted by the opposite sex. Once I realized the Marines and Navy used the same test, I applied to the Navy. Got accepted after doing a year of research for NASA. It's really for the best because I would have been a shit Marine. Those few of you who know me in real life know my demeanor is way too lax. It's not that I don't care...it's just that I don't care to get spun up about dumb shit.

At some point between API and Primary @PhrogLoop gave me a personal tour of HSC-21 and showed me all the cool shit they were doing with the brand new Sierra. I ended up deciding I wanted to drop SEALS on rooftops and kill terrorists. After all, I was motivated by 9/11 and felt I had already kind of missed the bus by going to college first.

Got to do all of the cool shit you can do in a Sierra. Got some great JO-JO squadron mentorship from people like @hooflys. Changed my view on the war on drugs by touching it personally. Got a little existential having "detainees" onboard for months at a time and contemplating the morality of the situation. At some point I realized it was a really good fucking thing I was never placed in a position to take a life. It's just not something that's good for my constitution. Spent a long deployment at sea reading a book on all of the world religions. Dug deep into a few. Realized that the only thing which really spoke to me was Buddhism and to some extent Taoism. Been a shitty Buddhist ever since.

Somewhere in there my ex cheated on me. Had to figure out what forgiveness really meant. Pro tip: It's not something you do once and move on, it's an ongoing process.

Anyways, I got my EPs. Got my bad timing. Felt pretty burned by NAE treating me like a number and giving no shits about my career. You all can look up my long ass thread in Private NAs about trying to choose between simultaneous acceptance to VR/regionals/AF Tankers. @PhrogLoop (as well as many of you) showed up again for advice and told me if it was him he'd be rolling his sleeves the dumb way and going tankers yesterday. Got the same advice from all of my mentors.

Now I get to throw gear at the airlines and pretend like I know what the fuck I'm doing as the AC during long 8 hour transits from Guam to Hawaii and back giving fighters gas. Meanwhile, met a beautiful woman who runs a winery in Mexico. I know more Spanish than I used to, but she's not shy and is happy to let me know (in her perfect english) it's not enough. I have four college buddies working for Jet Blue who have been badgering me for years -- at first it was telling me to leave the military and come fly commercial. Lately it's been to apply to bigger airlines -- JB, AS, WN, UAL, etc. I can't even play a round of Call of Duty with them while I'm at the hotel on a trip without one of them giving me shit about applying. Now the fiancée is ALSO asking me "when are you going to apply to a bigger airline?!"

Fuck me. I'm tired. I'm really fucking tired. I've learned two jets in two years, I've built a 1br apartment on top on my garage as an effort to supplement my income and survive my regional paycheck, I've figured out how the fuck to play AF, I bounce back and forth across the border to ensure my relationship survives because the US gov't has "closed it for COVID" for Mexicans, and the one goal I've maintained through all of it is to make sure my dog, the one I got at six weeks old with my ex, is taken care of by someone I trust during each and every airline/AF trip I go on. I would never have gotten a dog single, but shit happens and I have a commitment to her.

I know they say seniority is everything in the airlines, but honestly, I just need a break. One day I'd love to have another conversation with @FrankTheTank about going Purple, but I don't have the hours and right now I just need to do my time. It's late and I've been playing all day long in a strategic nuke exercise (and we get to do more alert responses all day tomorrow), but I appreciate all the advice you guys have given over the years. I really do appreciate the amazing opportunities Naval Aviation has provided me, even indirectly via the AF, but it all started here on AW. The AF is an amazing opportunity, but there's nothing like the fraternity of Gold Wings. Not sure if that's what @robav8r was looking for, but thanks guys.

 

[PhrogLoop]

@Red Five when this crap’s all over let’s meet up again at that winery!!!

 

[RedFive]

@Red Five when this crap’s all over let’s meet up again at that winery!!!

As long as you ain't scared of Mexico!! Deal ?

 

[Python]

I think if we keep going down this road we are traveling, as a country, the end of this nation will be in our lifetimes. Maybe a lot sooner. I could go on a long diatribe about why I think we got to where we are, and maybe this is the place, but I'll save you the reading for now. Suffice to say that where we are headed is really bad. Citizens have been pitted against other citizens, none of whom are really the problem. We have been coerced into fighting/hating each other, rather than the people who are actually the root cause of all this bipartisan rage. We have a lot more in common than we think, and we would figure that out if we stopped parroting talking points of our chosen political party and blaming their chosen diversionary group of "others". If we made that change, I think "We The People" would identify and address what is really ruining our nation.

This legitimately is on my mind constantly and causes lost sleep. It really is scary. Thanks for bringing it up so succinctly.

 

[HSMPBR]

I think if we keep going down this road we are traveling, as a country, the end of this nation will be in our lifetimes. Maybe a lot sooner. I could go on a long diatribe about why I think we got to where we are, and maybe this is the place, but I'll save you the reading for now. Suffice to say that where we are headed is really bad. Citizens have been pitted against other citizens, none of whom are really the problem. We have been coerced into fighting/hating each other, rather than the people who are actually the root cause of all this bipartisan rage. We have a lot more in common than we think, and we would figure that out if we stopped parroting talking points of our chosen political party and blaming their chosen diversionary group of "others". If we made that change, I think "We The People" would identify and address what is really ruining our nation.

"The cliché blurs the difference between truth and untruth. If it were not for clichés, there wouldn't be demagogues and public lies, and it wouldn't be so easy to play politics, starting with rhetoric and ending with genocide." — Karel Capek