Would you go to combat with this officer???

Posted on by March 6, 2013

This one came over the transom a little while ago- From the mil-email set… 


Many years ago as a flight commander in an USAF F-4 squadron, I was required to write an OER (Officer Effectiveness Report) on each of the pilots and WSOs (weapon systems officers) in my charge. This onerous task was flawed from the outset since it was assumed that the rater would render a totally honest assessment of an individual officer’s unique skills and capabilities as compared to a baseline of his peers.

  


Of course this did not happen, as the slightest negative comment would almost always assure an undeserved denial of promotion… hence the infamous OER inflation creep emerged… where almost everyone was awarded “walk on water” evaluations. Consequently, continuing PME (professional military education), endorsements from higher headquarters, the officer’s official  picture, error free and perfectly typed and punctuated paperwork, assurance that every available space for comments was used, additional duties, and a dozen other irreverent factors that had little or nothing to do with the officer’s primary job as a fighter pilot or WSO.



All of this flawed process was exacerbated by the fact that this occurred during the “pre-computer era”, thus denying the rater with data banks of “flowery remarks”, synonyms, spell checkers, and printers. It was during this period that a Marine F-4 exchange pilot was assigned to my flight.


After about six months, I got a letter from HQ Marine Corps requesting that I prepare an OER for this pilot.

The USMC OER form was enclosed, with instructions that it was to be prepared by me, in my handwriting and returned as a single copy. There were several blocks to be checked, followed by a space for remarks that was only adequate for two to three short sentences… then above my signature block was a question with two choices: “Would you go to combat with this officer?” Check either “yes or no.”

Talk about cutting through the crap!  I was impressed at the time and to this day have never forgotten its bottom line simplicity and brilliance. Try applying that test to the current crop of “leaders” who are in charge of America ‘s destiny…

 Maybe it’s just me, but I damn well would not willingly go to combat with any of them. How in hell did we let this happen before our very eyes… on our watch? We as a nation had better get a grip, turn out in mass for the 2012 national election and throw these self-serving jerks out of power before it is too late. I fear that four more years of political correctness, blatant socialist/Marxist policies, lack of backbone and disregard for our constitution will do irreparable damage.

If we are to remain the greatest nation the world has ever seen, which was built on the loyalty, integrity and sacrifice of generations of patriots whose gym bag our current leadership couldn’t carry… we best get it done on Nov 6.
 
Can’t say I disagree with this one at all!!!

 

KTKC update…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Folks the days are counting down, and we’re not even close to our goal.  There are plenty of folks who you can help with your donation. 

I’m not offering any prizes, nor throwing myself on the altar of pandering, I’m just asking you to contribute to a couple of good causes.

Prostate cancer and testicular cancer are killers when undiagnosed and untreated.  Testicular cancer can strike even the young (teen males are NOT exempt), and prostate cancer tends to take older men (like your fathers and brothers).

If something is ‘not right’, get checked!  And during that annual physical (you get one don’t you?), make sure your PSAT is checked!

If you’re so inclined, hit the links at the top of this blog to contribute.

Thanks in advance, and remember you may help save a life of someone you really care about!

How to cheat the system…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Overheard on the airplane last night from LAX to IAD…

Two women sitting behind us in first class (yep, I actually GOT an upgrade), one asked the other what she did.  The answer?  “Oh, I’m collecting unemployment.”

WTF??? She’s collecting unemployment and riding in first class???

The woman then proceeds to lay out EXACTLY how she’s cheating the system (and not quietly either)…

Laid off school teacher, been on unemployment since LAST YEAR!  She said she has another 40 something weeks to go.  The other lady asked if she was trying to find a job, and the lady just laughed…

Said she was working part time under another name at a private school and part time for her boyfriend’s company, had a section 8 apartment (apparently owned by her sister), that was where her mail was delivered, and was also collecting welfare and WIC, splitting the section 8 rent with her sister, and living with her boyfriend in a “BIG” house in PG county.  She said she was sending out a resume or two a month, “Just to keep the unemployment people happy.”  And collecting ‘about’ $4000/month between everything…

She said when it runs out, she’ll go full time at a private school and will ‘miss’ her extended vacation! And the only thing she was pissed about was that she had to put ‘stuff’ in her sister’s name, like the car and the credit cards… Sigh…

I actually managed to keep my mouth shut, but it was REALLY hard…

I happened to be behind her walking out of the airport, and her boyfriend picked her up in a late model BMW 7 series…  

Sigh, somebody remind me again why I come to work everyday…

Concern or Paranoia???

Posted on by March 6, 2013
A couple of us had lunch today and obviously the crap surrounding the attacks against the Embassies were a discussion item. More and more reports are ‘leaking’ that in fact there WAS foreknowledge of the ‘possibility’ of attacks, and apparently even an internal cable sent by DOS to the Embassy in Egypt. 

But, that segued into a discussion of the number of devout Muslims working at US and other airports.  And the ‘perception’ that all of us had that the numbers are increasing and both the women wearing the Hijab and men wearing the Taqiyah (many with full beards) are either controlling access/providing ‘information’ to working security lines or working inside the SIDA with full access badges.  I know IAD has a high number with many more ‘open’ about their faith. 

Others we’d been through in the last month included LAX, SFO, SEA, EWR, ATL, PHL, HNL, DIA, JFK, ORD, SYD, PER, LHR, MUC, FRA, FCO and CDG.  In the US, all of the airports listed seemed to have ‘similar’ sets working much like IAD does.  In Europe it appears there are less, and they are more ‘closely’ watched by security/police and are fewer inside the SIDAs.  In Australia, I don’t think I ever saw anyone like that with a SIDA badge…

One ‘incident’ one of the guys had last week at SFO was rather interesting, he was coming back from NRT via SFO and snuck down to have a cigarette on the lower level of SFO.  He said he walked out of the terminal and saw four Muslim males with taqiyah and full beards.  They were huddling in a corner out of sight of anyone from inside the terminal, and only visible from the street.   He said when he ‘surprised’ the four, they immediately stopped their conversation and moved off in different directions, and ALL of them glared at him as they walked by (and all of them had SIDA badges.

I do remember running across a couple of males at LAX out in the parking lot as I walked across to the USO, and they glared at me and moved off as soon as I walked out of the stairwell in the garage. They also had SIDA badges and appeared to work for one of the airlines.  

With everything going on right now, and the DOD/DOS travel warnings, and knowing how lax TSA is with folks with SIDA badges (at least at IAD), I can’t help but wonder if ‘things’ are moving in and out of secure areas without anyone being the wiser…

Are we being too paranoid???

Your thoughts/comments please!   
 

Back in battery, kinda…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Well, I made it home in one piece, but I think my body clock fell out somewhere between Sydney and LA on the way back…

Not that I was grumpy at work today or anything… Nah, not me…

Sigh…

And due to the ‘people’ I was dealing with today, this could have been my mantra ALL day!


A woman shopping in a supermarket repeatedly came across a grandfather and his totally obnoxious 3 or 4 year-old grandson. The kid was yelling for sweets in the candy aisle, then he wanted ice cream in the freezer section. Cookies in the cookie aisle. All during these episodes she’d hear the Grandfather saying very calmly, “Take it easy William…….Cool it William it won’t be much longer…..William we’re almost finished try to calm down.”

After one particularly loud outburst, and she heard the Granddad calmly say, “It’s okay, William, just a couple more minutes and we’ll be out of here. Hang in there boy.”  At the checkout the little terror was throwing items out of the cart, and Granddad said again
in a very low key voice, “William, William, relax buddy, don’t get upset. We’ll be home in five minutes William.”

The woman, very impressed with the Grandfather’s demeanor, was on her way to her car when she realized the the man was parked right next to her. She felt compelled to compliment the man. She said to the elderly gentleman, “It’s none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don’t know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive the boy got you just calmly kept saying things would be okay.

William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa.” “Thanks,” said the grandfather, “but I’m William …….this little prick’s name is Kevin.”


And this one is my favorite “Empty Chair”… LOL

Leave it up to a bunch of grunts to get it right…

And I’m working on a post from the flight back to IAD last night; but I’ve gotta take all the four letter words out of it first…

Over a VIDEO???

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Chiming in a bit late on this one, but I can’t help but wonder…

“Indicators” say that AMEMB Libya was advised at LEAST three days (9/7 or 9/8) before the attack that there was a ‘security’ issue and problems were coming…

And why were the Marines disarmed???  Seems that now nobody is owning up to being the one that put THAT order on the street…

Another point to consider, if this was ‘really’ spontaneous, there must be a lot of folks walking around in the middle east with RPGs, hand grenades and full auto AKs in their backpacks…

AND they all happen to be in the same place at EXACTLY the same time, not once but a bunch of times world-wide???

This crap all came down on 9/11, and I’m betting it WAS orchestrated by either AQ or MB; but over a ‘video’?  I think not…

But it’s interesting to note that Obummer has all but apologized for the video (that no one has seen), and has been too busy campaigning to even put out at statement about the dead being transported home.  

And don’t get me started on Hillary’s comments…  This administration has got it’s ass backed in a corner and has absolutely NO idea how to get out…

November 6th can’t get here soon enough!!! 


 

Sequestration, it’s real and coming…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Sadly, I don’t see any congresscritters actually working ‘productively’ to stop sequestration…

Here’s the lead from the Washington Times-

With excruciating detail, the White House’s budget office on Friday laid out exactly where it will have to cut $109 billion from federal spending in January, including $11.1 billion from Medicare and $54.7 billion from defense spending.

The defense cuts include $21.5 billion from operations and maintenance for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and the reserves and National Guard, and nearly $1.4 billion from military aide to Afghanistan, with tens of billions coming from procurement and other Pentagon accounts.

“The report leaves no question that the sequestration would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments, and core government functions,” the White House’s budget office said in the report.



Full article HERE.  

What many may not understand is what the terms operations and maintenance really mean in a military context…

Operations includes those little things, like buying gas, oil, etc…

Maintenance funds are those base dollars that allow the services to perform their normal functions, like maintaining the equipment when it breaks, performing preventive maintenance inspections e.g. 90 and 210 day inspections on acft,  inspecting/replacing safety/survival gear (including body armor).  OBTW, the Navy is ALREADY something like $450M behind…

And any continued ‘wars’ will no longer be funded by a separate appropriation… It’s now coming out of BASE budgets (e.g. about another 10% hit)…

You can read the whole 394 pages HERE.  But go to page 9 and look at the non-DOD cuts… Almost all are either Medicare or student loan increases (7.6% I believe), and not a SINGLE cut to an entitlement program!!!

As always, I just want to ask, if DOD is 20% of the Federal Budget, why is DOD taking 50% of the cuts???
  

It’s not JUST in the US and US Embassies…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This picture was on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph in Sydney this morning…


Religion of peace my ass…

Give the Marines back their ammo, give them the ‘big’ guns, and break out the TACNUKES…

Just sayin…

And DOD/DOS have issued a world wide travel warning for Americans!  

Less than impressed…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
As a matter of fact, I’m pissed…  

Screwed by the Crowne Plaza in Perth to the tune of A$105 a night on the reservations was NOT the way to start this day…

The manager basically said they ‘reserve the right’ to change the amount charged at any time!  Asshole!!!

And I’m now sitting at Sydney airport in a hotel thanks to Qantas note being able to actually MAKE a scheduled takeoff time (again)… I missed my connection to LAX, thank you very much…

And trying to change an international flight is TRULY a PITA!!!  

Four flights on Qantas and only ONE was actually on time.  

I don’t EVEN want to think of how @#%^ much those phone calls cost…

And people think travel is “so” exciting…

Grumble…

Kilted to Kick Cancer Bleg…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Thank you to those who’ve donated for me to the two organizations, it’s truly appreciated…  

And thanks to those bloggers who’ve done posts linking about KTKC.  

Having said that, we’re WELL short of our goal with two weeks of the month gone already…  

I don’t have any prizes or anything else to give away; all I’m asking is that if you have a few spare bucks, please donate to either LiveStrong or the Prostate Cancer Society through the links above…

It’s not anything we get out of this, other than possibly a cure to one of the cancers, which just might save either yourself or someone you love (unless you’re a pilot and then it’s one in the same)…

Please hit one of the links above if you can even for $10… Let’s pull together and help make that $50,000 mark by the end of the month!!!

Thanks in advance, 
Old NFO