Search results

Hopefully a skipper did the right thing and gave that mission to the rock-star JOs and NCOs.

Oof. Yeah. So story time- Flying FLCPs in the mighty Goshawk at Kingsville, I can remember there was this offshore oil platform that on a dark night might look like your interval, and students would make aggressive moves in the pattern to avoid what they thought was an impending midair. I also...

It looks like the tower's lights weren't working, but it was NOTAM'd.

Crazy to think of how many airplanes and types of missions pilots jumped around to back in the "old days". New airplanes constantly coming out, opportunities to cross train into props, helos, jets... I wonder what they would think if we told them we have guys logging time in the same airplane...

The A in VMA means "Attack".

My advice is to tell everyone you're time is up and you're getting out and perhaps leave it at that. You can also tell them, "I'm looking at options to do some fun flying part time in my home state." There are those people who would say, "but why would you ever want to leave this amazing gun...

Any flooded out vehicle is a bad idea. Tesla batteries are vented, which makes them really bad in any type of a water scenario. SKI took note, and completely sealed their batteries, but they need a liquid cooling/warming jacket to stabilize their temperatures. That presents a much reduced fire...

Two things. One- I just talked to my brother. They staged at the Orange County Convention Center, along with just about every other unit out there. It was a good choice, the units that pushed to Tampa lost their roof and had to spend assets self rescuing. He's spent the night since about...

This. My brother just left this morning with his swift water and technical rescue task force team from VA to support FL with hurricane Milton. They're staging somewhere south of Atlanta, and pushing south from there as the need arises. They've been federalized and are "part" of FEMA. What...

Holy hell. I'm now an old(er) guy around here and I barely remember this tool. It took me a moment to figure out who you guys were talking about, but the Amazon link brought it all back. He is still around? I imagine he's still sitting on a stack of "become a fighter pilot" CD's And books in...

I'm not a helo guy, and the only thing my 1.5 in the Huey sim taught me was, "holy fuck, helos fly different" as I kept getting a master caution for over-torquing the rotorhead. But I'm declaring shenanigans that our dudes on the mil side in an H-60 with a winch and a hoist can't do what a...

This. I haven't done it but all of my friends who have, both soaring geeks and regular folk, say it's pretty worth it. If you're a soaring geek getting an instructional ride in HI is a cool thing to have in your logbook.

100% But that's also why we need to strengthen our relationships in INDOPACOM, and specifically ASEAN nations. I understand ASEAN is slow moving, and is tough to get consensus among the 10 nations. I know that the sea going Nations tend to favor the west/USA while the land locked nations...

3. Is going to take a long time. I also believe that China is playing the super long game- they'd much rather to eventually have Taiwan democractically elect to join the PRC.

This. And any tariffs on Chinese products will just hurt Americans, as we don't have any other options but to buy Chinese manufactured products. The smart thing would be to prop up Mexican industry and manufacturing capabilities, and shift the economic benefit to companies that move their...

What book? Perhaps share in the book thread for those of us who love the nitty gritty details?!

I completely agree. It surprises me how such a learned scholar has been silent over the last couple years.

Stable-ish. Trump had really thrown our ASEAN allies for a loop. NATO isn't far behind them if the "screw Ukraine" movement takes hold. Principled realism isn't legitimate, it's a buzzword to mask isolationism. We're not an isolationist country, and we never have been. We've been a liberalist...

I think both stories show how the military presents an avenue for the ability to climb the socioeconomic ladder. I tried to convince my friend to become an officer and take a crack at flight school, but he decided his path would go a different way. But it wasn't because he couldn't do it. I...

It's too restrictive and requires by line specific approval to even the simplest of tasks, like share academic papers for peer review, or attend conferences. The consequences now include China not sharing their latest moon rock samples with us- even though we did get approval to use some comms...

It prevents NASA, or any company that works with NASA, from cooperating with China in any space venture. I know the MO for China is to steal tech, and we'd have to keep a close eye on them. We saw a lot of success in relationship building with the Russians in space with Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab...

I've had a few long conversations with a former NCO I worked with about this. His background and my background are very different. I'm a middle class white guy who's dad was a career USAF/ANG fighter pilot. He is a lower working class black kid who's dad drove a cab and had an 8th grade...

This thread reads a lot like my ACSC courses. China is a threat to the USA and our allies within the IndoPacom region. How do we best counter this threat? Well, it's complicated. Our domestic politics don't help. ASEAN is important, AUKUS, the Philippines as well. Gray zone and hybrid...

Treat them the same and it won't matter.

Don't enlist if your goal is to become an officer. Get your degree, then apply for OCS, or try to get an ROTC slot.

The FRD concept was hard enough to execute at the VMUs with the RQ-21. I can't imagine the ass pain it is with the fleet of old broken Hornets. The fight for who gets priority mixed with a fight for up airplanes must be a ton of fun.

Those poor 8 souls...

I had 2 (furlowed, it was 2009) airline pilots in my class that failed out. Prior time might help. It might hurt. Plenty of zero time folks select and are successful in jets. Don't fly on the civilian side unless you can afford it and you want you do it for fun.

You don't want to fly an airplane that was deemed tactically irrelevant 5 years ago. Fly the -35.

Here's my take: it might get better, it might stay the same, it might get worse. You have to make a decision based on what you see. Remember that the military will be done with you one day, hopefully you've got a family and friends still around the catch you and bring you back into the civilian...

This. I was also told to wear whitey tighties, and I remember doing the duck walk with 10 of my newest friends. It was definitely the weirdest job interview I've ever been on in my life and I was a roadie for a couple of big rock bands right after college.

There is a new Apollo 13 documentary on Netflix. It's pretty good. A lot of footage and interviews from the archives that did not make it to prime time. Apparently Marilyn Lovell wasn't the excited and happy astronaut wife that NASA wanted her to be. It's definitely worth the watch

Go to the first officer in your chain of command and tell them you need the CC's help with this. Get this elevated to your commander's level. They likely don't know you're having a problem.

I, too, have airwarriors'd after a couple two three whiskeys. 😜

Use the search function. Your questions have been asked and answered many times over.

Well, they put them all in one place so that will make our job easier.

Here is what I would do: Generate a Naval Letter Format letter from yourself to the DCA requesting the age waiver. Have endorsements from your company commander, TBS CO, TECOM, to DCA. Make it easy for them to concur and move it forward. You could ask the TBS Adj for help, just let your SPC...

Wait. Are you saying you have used hard drugs within the previous year? What hard drug(s) are you talking about?

Wow. Even the AF won't do that.

There was a little bit. The AF needs to swallow their pride and ask the Navy how to do PR when it comes to Hollywood. Flight of the Intruder, Top Gun (1 and 2), Toro Toro Toro, the Bridges of Toko Ri, Greyhound... versus Iron Eagle, Good Kill, and this BS movie... At least the HBO Memphis...

It was as if his manager said, "you need to make some money - how about a Rambo movie?" RC: "Love it, but manager, I'm fat and old, can I be a drone guy? Also, let's make the military look like a bunch of bafoons while we're at it." Manager: "Say less, I know a couple of writers who will...

There was a lot of opportunity to get at least a couple of things right, only to fall flat on their face. A Reaper guy with the callsign "Reaper"? Come on, we're bad, but we're not *that* bad. The beard (folliculitis barbae is a magic word!), Hawaiian shirt, and a 60 year old O-3 who gives...

Land of Bad is.... Bad. Very bad. I watched it so you don't have to. Russell Crowe should be embarrassed.

I participated recently in an "innovation cell" for AI in COA development and wargaming. I saw similar results to yours. A red cell with AI is a thing of beauty. And AI understands game theory way better than your average field grade staffer.

It's worth a deep dive into the SCRA as your spouse can use your Home of Record address for residency. So the fact that your physically in Japan for telework may not matter. I know that my wife had to pay basic Michigan taxes when she got a job here even though we're still FL residents. There...

Mona Shores? I've got a lot of family up there. They live right next to Mona Shores High School. Didn't know you are a Western Michigan kind of guy! There's also a brewery next to the HS called "The Salty Pecker". Cool spot.

Don't suck and pray for a draft. Conversely, if there is not a draft, get your chapstick ready and work on suppressing your gag reflex.

The Yaw string- arguably the most important instrument in a glider/sailplane. You can train airspeed and altitude to a sound and sight picture. But yaw, and staying coordinated in a turn is a lot tougher.

In scientific terms- a shit load.