Military Affairs & History

[tifosi77]

The Wild Blue, which focuses on B-24 crews, is also a really good read on the subject of the daylight strategic bombing campaign in Europe.

[tifosi77]

Congressional panel puts plans for a US Space Corps in 2018 defense budget

@Shyster @Kaiser

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

[shafnutz05]

[Kaiser]

Congressional panel puts plans for a US Space Corps in 2018 defense budget

@Shyster @Kaiser

In no way should this be allowed

[Shyster]

Congressional panel puts plans for a US Space Corps in 2018 defense budget

@Shyster @Kaiser

I'm still doing more research, but I'm leaning slightly towards "good thing" on this idea. From other articles on this subject, Rep. Mike Rogers's main goals seem to be reducing the cost of government contracting and streamlining oversight. At the moment, multiple branches of the U.S. military and intelligence community have their own space programs and their own procurement systems. While the Air Force is responsible for most military launches, for example, it is not responsible for all of them, and neither does the Air Force buy launches for the National Reconnaissance Office, which does its own contracting. And the Air Force's contract requirements can be entirely different that the NRO's, which increases the cost of launch providers like ULA and SpaceX and satellite manufacturers like Loral, Boeing, and Ball Aerospace, therefore drives up the cost of putting satellites into orbit. The idea of the new entity is to take the responsibilities that are currently scattered among at least half a dozen different entities and place them under a central command structure. It's actually one of the plans suggested by a 2015 GAO study. There's more detail on the plan at the links below:

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/big ... ogers-says

http://spacenews.com/rogers-calls-for-s ... air-force/

http://www.insidegnss.com/node/5532

[Old Baldy]

Masters of the Air by Donald Miller
The Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose

Thanks!

[columbia]

I picked an odd time of the year for my annual "Band of Brothers" viewing party. (In Bastogne on the screen and it's 90 degrees outside). Even though it's just about all on a soundstage, these two episodes really hit you hard.

[Shyster]

Air Force says F-35 pilots may be too reliant on oxygen while flying
http://www.duffelblog.com/2017/07/f-35-oxygen-problems/

[DigitalGypsy66]

https://twitter.com/WAVY_News/status/884743355984474112

KC-130 originating from Cherry Point MCAS crashes in rural Mississippi, killing 16.

[Shyster]

Multiple news articles I've read on that crash mention that the debris was spread over a wide area, and that link says that some bodies were found more than a mile from the crash site. From all of the episodes of Air Crash Investigation I've seen, a wide debris field means the aircraft broke up in the air, and the wider the field the higher the breakup. If the reports are accurate, that KC-130 came apart way up there.

This does raise some questions. I believe the aircraft in question was a pretty new KC-130J, which is based on the also pretty new C-130J Super Hercules, which has received hundreds of orders from all over the world. If this crash was caused by some sort of design flaw, there are a lot of aircraft out there that might be affected.

[tifosi77]

It's very rare for aircraft to just up and split in flight. What sort of external factor could cause a breakup? It was a refueling tanker, have there been any reports of a mid-air? Or an explosion of the fuel tanks?

[tifosi77]

Air Force says F-35 pilots may be too reliant on oxygen while flying
http://www.duffelblog.com/2017/07/f-35-oxygen-problems/

I read the headline and was like, "Whaaaa???" Then I saw the URL

[shafnutz05]

C-130s are an extraordinarily reliable aircraft, on the whole. That's tragic.

[Shyster]

Reports are now saying that the aircraft in question was an older KC-130T and not a KC-130J. I also see some reports referring to a "structural failure" at 20,000 feet. No mention that the aircraft was engaged in any refueling operations or collided with any other aircraft. Maybe something happened that disabled the control cables and/or hydraulics? I'm thinking something along the lines of United 232, where an uncontained engine failure in the tail engine of a DC-10 managed to sever all three hydraulic systems. We're going to have to wait for more information.

[Freddy Rumsen]

https://twitter.com/HopeSeck/status/887068324076695556

[columbia]

i watched "Stalingrad" (2013). Hardly an exceptional film, but it's a pretty compelling slice of history.

[columbia]

Note: that's in Russian. shadwik wouldn't need subtitles, given all of "special training" since Jan 20.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I've always wanted to see the huge Mother Russia statue there.

[Freddy Rumsen]

[Freddy Rumsen]

[dodint]

teehee

I got very little barracks life. Just Boot (open squad bay, duh), MOS school, and then our four man cans in Iraq/Afghan.

My only experience in real barracks life as depicted there was being the duty NCO. And we shared a barracks with 3D LAAD. Ugh.

[Freddy Rumsen]

My barracks experience (since I was a pogue) was like being paid by the U.S. Government to be in a frat.

[Kaiser]

This screen name was born from barracks alcoholism

[Freddy Rumsen]

I used to drink two of these a day, at the least.