LInks of Interest 31 March 15

You can't inspire anything with the defective, paper-tiger Stryker. This is a joke.

USAF BMT was fun when I went through. Ol' TSgt Self our TI made sure our flight of 51 only graduated 26. You had to score high on the ASVAB for many USAF jobs. That didn't get you through USAF basic training except the part where you would fail all the classes if you could not read and write. The sister flight across the way thanked god every day they were not us. I was told later that the reviewing officers were puzzled when our tiny flight marched by the reviewing stand on graduation day. About three-quarters of the way through training, TSgt Self was relieved of duty. One night he decided to out-run the San Antonio PD on his Harley. Before that, you would hear that Harley at 2 am in the morning. Then the yelling at the guard door. Then him yelling at us for any slight infraction.  But he did do his job. I would suggest that as our tiny flight went our separate ways through the rest of our USAF service, we 26 might have had a bit of a different outlook on the importance of the job. Thanks TSgt Self where ever you are. Lack of attention to detail in the complex USAF jobs most would do, would get people killed. Pretty sure he went back to his old job of repairing A-7 engines. That jet as you may know only has one engine. So I do understand where he came from with HIS method of basic training. He wasn't micro-managed by the training squadron either.

How are things in USAF BMT today? Well not being there, I can't say. But, it sure does sound different. And, maybe, not for the better.

Quieter Chinese subs. Good grief. And really, mankind's skills at finding a properly run diesel-electric boats have never been that great since oh...WWII. Worse since the end of the Cold war with now, tiny amounts of P-3s, S-3 gone and no SOSUS.

Welcome to our new joint partner. Shouldn't we routinely invite these guys to the U.S. for exercises? Get that paperwork going for your exchange tour in Iran.

How are those other guys doing? One of the more worrying first paragraphs for the local urban renewal program. We have to clear space for more U.S. tax dollars to rebuild what we bomb...

...in Operation:USELESS DIRT. Ponder this.





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