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davidalman.bsky.social
Airman + consultant + aero engineer interested in national strategy, domestic policy, environmentalism, good food, and all things aviation. Views = mine alone. #airpower
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Minor grievance in comparison, but don’t forget direct commissioning tech executives into the Army
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Great read, thanks for sharing!
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Looks fascinating - have you done any writeup on the thesis elsewhere? Congrats!
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The requirements process is there to prevent fraud, corruption, and waste. It’s a nice soundbite, but most things exist for a reason. Since the military takes money from the mouths of the hungry, etc. we try to be good stewards of it.
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We’ll software our way out of it
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What a lineup of articles lmao
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I’ve almost thrown up like infinite times reading it
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The hubris is un-fucking-believable: “The arsenal of democracy needs its architects back. Who else will answer the call?”
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“My dad helped people live the American dream, so I honor his legacy by supporting authoritarianism and xenophobia”
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Technology is holding the line in Ukraine, idiots
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Gotta duck walk with those knees
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You don’t even need to promote people. Just give them the chance to make an impact.
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And, if the Army needs some tech execs to tell it that, then everyone above O-4 should be fired (including these new O-5s). I’ll do it for free - in fact, I can already do it as an O-3 since I signed up.
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I respectfully disagree. The military does not need more O-5s, nor does it need more managers, nor does it need more people with visions about how software could work. It needs some bureaucratic reform to enable its already bright young service-members to make needed change.
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What is the needed skill set? What does the Army currently lack that will be fixed by putting four managers in uniform?
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I’m personally unconvinced the military needs more technical expertise, honestly. We get plenty of bright programmers, we just don’t enable them or give them the authorities / budget / network access / freedoms to do things. Then they get frustrated and quit.
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We have these which are great, if they work... (otherwise trusty piddle pack) www.omni-defense.com/skydrate
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Yeah but if anyone joins the Navy to fly F-16s then they're also an idiot and shouldn't be sworn in as an O-5 lol
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Now, if I am flying business class....I'd take that everyday. Plus, it's nice having someone bring you snacks, drinks, etc.... The biggest perks of the fighter (relative to the airliner) are the awesome view, afterburner, and ability to roll upside down to look at stuff!
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Depends on length of flight. The fighter gets really old above like 3 hours in my opinion. Shorter than that and I prefer the fighter with more leg room and, crucially for me, more shoulder room. The F-16 had a nice recline too! But, you can't get up on a fighter and going to the bathroom is a pain
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Also if you watched Top Gun you would have wanted to fly F-14s, A-6s, A-7s, SH-60s, SH-2s, SH-3s, F-18s, E-2s, C-2s, or F-35s....not F-16s (Air Force). But hey, sounds like folks should join up. Knowing basics of airplanes isn't important for the American way of war or anything.
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These people are insufferable. Just say that you wanted to prioritize your civilian career, thought the 10 year commitment to Uncle Sam was too long, you liked money more than fighter jets, or something that can at least sound kind of true.
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I just can't wait for the observation mission for one week in some backwater followed up by a bronze star to launch a senate campaign as a decorated veteran
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And, tech executives could also just volunteer their time on one of the many boards or advisory groups that already exists. But then you don't get to wear the uniform and say you did the thing....
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Such an insult to everyone else in the military
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Their IADS already got wrecked a few months ago - and unknown what Israel used to strike this time en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/October...
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Fighter pilots, on the other hand, generally know what the other fighter pilots want to hear. They then think that the AWACS is useless if it can't provide the appropriate picture comm.
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The classic example is calling, "Darkstar, picture" to which you get some mouth breathing on the radio as the situation rapidly deteriorates. Many ABMs (air battle managers) are awesome, but some are not, and the anecdote based fighter pilot community only recalls the bad times.
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AWACS then use that greater situational awareness to provide warning and control to fighters. This is where fighter pilots typically get themselves in trouble, because sometimes AWACS - due to a variety of reasons - don't do as good of a job at controlling as fighter pilots do.
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They, first and foremost, provide greater situational awareness with their large radars. While technology can shrink radars, bigger is generally better. Governed by r^4 in the denominator, you quite simply need more power if you want to see farther. AWACS have radars you can't have on a fighter.
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It's wild considering how many of the folks who disparage Pax Americana studied history / law / political science...but we literally created Pax Americana out of the ashes of WW2 to benefit us..... It was built for us. We were benevolent, so everyone accepted it, but it was built for us first.
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Doesn’t matter. Any military leader has an obligation to demonstrate to the American people that the military tries to be non-partisan.
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“We only cite the policy when we disagree” means it is not policy.
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That meme, but all Americans…..
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We need more woke in Taiwan / Guam to get reinforcements there
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My mental image of Marines rolling into LA:
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Here's the menswear guy's post on being undocumented.