Via Digg, who say "Paging all scientists: please explain." I just think it's a waste o' good beer. They coulda used Coors Light or some other flavored water. Wait. Mebbe it's only BEER that does that.
And then there's this:
Sorry. Couldn't resist.
"Jane, you ignorant slut!"* There's this, in the point-counterpoint category, from the Usual USAF Source:
Gates Versus the Air Force
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' book, "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War," paints a highly unflattering picture of the Air Force; a service he describes as "one of my biggest headaches" during his five-year tenure as head of the Pentagon. USAF, in Gates' view, was an unwilling partner in the wars in Southwest Asia, "superbly" but begrudgingly performing airlift, aeromedical evacuation, and close air support. He upbraids the service for a preoccupation with big wars and a practically insubordinate performance on supplying intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. But Gates' book reveals he brought a distinctly anti-Air Force bias with him to the job; despite his being a veteran of the service. His attitudes caused real problems for USAF, as Gates proceeded to slash its most important programs and decapitate its leadership. (Read the full report)
The full report is a bit of an eye-opener, wherein the former Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley... both of whom Gates fired during his tenure as SecDef... give their opinions on claims and observations Mr. Gates made in his recently published memoir. It's some serious "he said, she said" stuff, if you like high-level gossip.
* The young'uns might not recognize that so there's this, by way o' explanation.
Now that was funny/silly; whoever made that video clearly has too much time on their hands. And we are glad for it! As to the SNL clip/quote: Those were THE days of SNL. It's never been as good as it was with the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.
ReplyDeleteAs to the SNL clip/quote: Those were THE days of SNL.
DeleteAgreed. Back in the day we would cut Saturday night at the bar short so we could get home in time for SNL. We just moved the party from the bar to the house, actually. Those were some fine, fine days... '77 & '78... arguably the best years of my life.
With all due respect Mister Secretary, bite me.
ReplyDelete(I'm way behind in the commenting department. Sorry for the rudeness. Now I didn't really like Rumsfeld, but when Gates came along, I really missed Rumsfeld.)
I have mixed emotions about Gates and I base that on a one-hour interview he did with Charlie Rose while making the "flogging the book" rounds last month. He comes off as a sincere man who has the values and principles, and he sticks to them. OTOH, I absolutely HATED his decision on the F-22, among other things. If the balloon ever goes up between us and the Chinese I think Mr. Gates will have a LOT to answer for.
DeleteOMG. I just watched the beer video. Really? Seriously? Wasting Newcastle Brown Ale! That's not science, that's...
ReplyDeletethat's...
Just WRONG!
Wrong, indeed!
DeleteWhat fool would even think of frying beer?
ReplyDelete...and you're right about using Rocky Mountain Kool Aid instead real beer.
What fool would even think of frying beer?
DeleteI gotta admit the thought never occurred to ME. I'm too busy drinkin' the stuff to waste any of it like that.
I can get real nasty in describing my USAF career. Suffice to say, I was not impressed with any officer above the rank of Major. I think Lt Col was the worst rank to expect any leadership out of. The French word lieutenant comes from 'lieu' (as in lieu of, au lieu de, in place of) and actually means "holding place" and, by God, they should be held away from real troops if I had any vote in the matter.
ReplyDeleteUh oh. SN1 will prolly pin on Lt Col pretty soon and SN2 is already there, albeit as a Navy CDR. That said, my experience with colonels, both light and full, was pretty good.
DeleteWow! That whole AirForce Magazine thing was a thing of evil beauty. It was possibly the most jampacked with falsehoods article I've ever read and I've read the Sunday NYT. I used to work for Wynne. He used to call. His response to the firing was appropriate. It was business. It wasn't personal. The farce where people just pulled nuclear bombs out of a nuclear bomb magazine, bolted them on a bomber and flew cross country with them without ever ANYBODY knowing that they had nuclear weapons, that was massive fail. That was the worst nuclear weapons fail in our history. That was every soul involved should have been fired and sent to prison.
ReplyDeleteI worked at Space and Naval Warfare when the USAF tried their Executive Power Grab over the drones. It wasn't just the Army fighting that tooth and nail. The NAVY was all over that in a very negative way since it spelled disaster for any but USAF programs. The USAF has a track record second to none for wreaking havoc in its wake as it "takes over and manages" its " core" competencies such as Close Air Support and Just-in-time Carrier service support which is why the army flies helos and the Navy still has transport aircraft it can call its own. Did the article mention that Gordon England was formerly SECNAV at the time they approached him as Gate' deputy and pitched the idea?
Every single word of the Times article was cherry picked. I notice they didn't produce any numbers. Army drones rotate home for maintenance and repair and training. USAF drones are high end beasts that deploy with their own considerable maintenance and repair shops and 8 out of 100 deployed in theater is something of a joke and how did this huge pilot shortage materialize out of nowhere with so few drones in theater? I read the Early Bird every day back in those days and took lunch with some of the PEO Space staff and the words for what was going on in the great unpatriotic war was very ugly from the point of view of an outside observer. Why give us 5 maybe, not more than 10 years and this Gorgon Stare thing will just knock your socks off Army.
You should have like a maximum word limit on replies...:)
You should have like a maximum word limit on replies...:)
DeleteWe report, you deride!
But seriously... you're much more dialed-in than I ever was, Curtis. I also acknowledge you may be operating with certain biases, perish the thought. ;-)
Re: "Rocky Mountain Kool-Aid" Isn't the brew called "Cours Light" needless over-kill? I mean, how much "lighter" than the original can it POSSIBLY get? Must be approaching the 90% H2O level, lol.
ReplyDeleteI guess it simply means people will pay good money for bubbles & water, lol..
DeleteIn re: Coors, the original. Back in 1964 a buddy o' mine and me used to drive from Keesler AFB to the Texas state line one weekend a month to fill up the back of his Ford Econoline van with that shit. Back in those days Coors had a limited distribution and was only sold west of the Mississippi so it had a certain caché about it. We sold every can we brought back for a buck a piece... in 19-sixty-freakin-FOUR... when you could buy a case o' Carling's Black Label for about $3.50 and every Wednesday was Nickel Beer Night at the Airman's Club. That was my first adventure in smuggling/bootlegging. It was profitable, too.
Delete