SSgt Waller

Una cerveza por favor.

As always great work!

Mr. Hinter will be remembered. Good article by Mr. Subros. Also, why isn't my adblock working on that site?

Clicked on "see my options" on the ad, so I could subscribe to "The Grand Central Times".

Don't remember voting for this guy. I'll make sure to do so in 2020.

Republican scum. Roger, Roger. Unfortunately I'm working then. Really interested though.

for the lazy ones: https://rb-d2.itch.io/wingman

I know for a fact concerns about this were sent up the CoC before this thread was created - not only by me but others too. Unfortunately not everyone decided to wait for a response. I rarely send something up the CoC, because mostly I'm happy (or to inactive) with how things are going. But when I don't, Brueske hears from me. Although it doesn't bode well, that apparently most people do not use the CoC. In previous iterations of the unit sending stuff up the CoC was pointless most of the time. Your opinion was either dismissed or you were forgotten, due to all the other stuff leadership had to deal with. Maybe the current situation is a remnant of those times?

I agree on most of what you've said Captain Hart. Although I find the comparison with professional sports a bit lacking. I'm not getting paid millions to play Arma. This remains a hobby, where I'm trying to primarily have fun and not necessarily be the best. Also a hobby most of us have been doing for over 4 years, so a certain level of competence (and civility) should be expected. Sadly sometimes people get overwhelmed by their emotions and do stupid things. Like leaving the unit, before awaiting the results of what they've sent up the CoC and asking for their accounts to be deleted for a community they've been a part of for years. The grading thing is in my opinion not going to work. I understand the rationale behind it, but it will backfire. It's something that is even acknowledged in the announcement itself. It's going to lead to elitism, which leads to a further deepening of the "clique" mentality (Axios!) and ultimately the demise of this unit. It's a pattern I and others have seen repeated over the years, which is why I believe some people reacted so emotionally... because in the end they do care a lot about this community (or maybe I'm just projecting). Those are the fears some people have in a nutshell, there's obviously more to it, but that has been sent up the chain in pms. Unfortunately the trust in the institution that is CS has been shaken by all the incidents, that previous CS members have caused and it's easy to forget that new people are in charge. Although some of the decisions, that have come along, like implementing a classroom section and grading, don't necessarily help in that regard either. If I've wanted realism, I'd have joined the army (well I kinda did, but there's mandatory service in switzerland anyway). As you've stated yourself we use this as an escape for our shitty lives. Military life sucks even more than civilian. So milsim sure, but at the proper dosage. We can't lose track of fun. Also I want to make clear I'm not trying to halt progress or belittle the efforts, that have been made. Even though it doesn't show, due to real life constraints: I deeply care about this community and it's well-being. I know for a fact, that this hobby and this community has saved my life on at least two occasions. You've hit on depression in your post, so I thought I'd mention it. That is also all I'm willing to share publicly. Everyone has their demons. Even those you disagree with. Now I "know" you not as much as I'd like (again real life constraints), but enough to know, that you want what's best for the unit aswell. You've always been an excellent leader, good friend and even a role model. Not sure where to end this post, as I didn't expect to share so much. I guess thanks to all the people, who make this community possible? I see and appriciate you working. Even, if you think we don't. Time to go to bed now. Also I wish to echo what Cole and Van Dyke have shared.

When the meme thread hs been abused regularly to bitch about stuff or provoke people: Yes the irony of me bitching about people bitching in the meme thread does not escape me. Please - for the love of god - only funny shit from this point on out.

Just kidding don't have any friends.

I declare exterminatus! Very interesting stuff Cole. Completely agree on the Cyber Warfare Front. It needs to be it's own branch, with elements that would support the other branches. Although I'm also very sceptical (and afraid) of all the stuff they could come up with. We're already able to turn off iranian nuclear power plants from a distance. So proper oversight is needed or it's going to be the NSA surveillance scandal all over again, just worse because AIs will probably be involved. We're technically still only at the very beginning of AI with deep/machine learning, but a few years is all it takes. Especially with the proper funding, so really a Cyber Command is more a matter of when, than if. Personally I'd like to see nuclear banned from the face of the earth, but that's very unlikely at this point. And as far as Space Forces go: definetly not needed right now. Haven't gone to Mars and don't have a Lunar Base/Colony yet either. We've not even begun to scratch the surface of space exploration. Also pretty sure weapons like spaceborne WMDs are outlawed by a UN resolution. Not that the russians would care, some believe they already have WMD-capable spacecraft. So yeah I'd rather see that money going towards space exploration. Especially with climate change and limited ressources (and in the end time) on earth in mind. Also I wish you a fast and steady recovery!

Happy Independence Day everyone! Today, 22 years ago, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum finally defeated the alien invasion of our planet!

Also as far as pilot retention goes: I would argue it's a number of factors. Not only mission scope and type. There's a somewhat long training pipeline, that scares people away. Add to that the fact, that Arma 3 is in it's end cycle as a product and the fact, that there are tons of other units out there. Being a pilot is very much a niche in Arma. Hopefully making the mission less repetitive for aviation is something that'll help.

Thank you Gunny for this opportunity! I haven't really been active with the 3d MRB yet - due to real life commitments-, although my understanding is that things haven't really changed much from how we did things back at the 506th or 13th - when it comes to aviation at least. Still take everything I say with a grain of salt. Also please note I'm trying to help improve things and not trying to demonize everything that has been accomplished so far. This post might sound very negative in the end, but it's not all black and white. There are a lot of things that work just fine. Unfortunately the nature of posts like these only show the things that don't work and not necessarily those that do. Aviation is and has stayed throughout the "iterations" of the unit as a supporting asset. Which is something all aviators understand and accept when they join. This role as supporting asset leads to a whole bunch of challenges for aviation however. The way things worked at the 506th made things very repetitive, although they did some things right, which balanced that out a bit. Most operations there would look like this: Insert with helicopters, do some recon for ground elements along with some CAS with a final exfill back to base. Aswell as a pilot on resupply/reinsert duty - which, while I enjoy doing, I've never found to be an elegant solution as most of the time you just sit on an empty airfield. There have been times, where I've sat on an airfield for 40 minutes at a time. Now admittedly this is a rarer occasion and doesn't happen every time you're on reinsert duty and isn't really something S-2 can fix as this has more to do with mission plaanning and how we handle reinserts in aviation. But this is really something that should not happen - ever. The thing that S-2 can fix is the repetitive nature of the missions and tasks aviation has to handle. Repetitivness is in my opinion really the thing, that is killing aviation (and the unit). It leads to routine and that again leads to complacency, which again lead to mistakes. Which spoils the fun for aviation and ground elements alike. Which in turn lead to a dwindling number of pilots (which is one of the major problems aviation is facing), which in turn directly affects how well we can support ground elements. It's a vicious circle really. What's really needed is something, that breaks that routine once in a while. Not every mission needs to be a "moldbreaker", but some variety is desperatly needed. Again this sounds really negative, but some progress has been made in thaat regard in the last few months. Here are a couple of points of what I'm specifically talking about: Transport: With the switch to a marine unit the air assault portion and reliance of helicopters for transport of troops has dramatically diminished. This makes sense in the milsim aspect of things, but you can and should use aircraft to your advantage and surprise the enemy by dropping friendlies unexpectedly behind enemy lines. SF use helicopters a lot for that very reason. Again this doesn't mean you have to use helicopters everytime you need to move to the AO, but you can and should also use them while the mission is underway: Dropping off a sniper team with an AH-6 on an elevated position for instance. Also fast ropping would be a cool thing. This was very underutilized in the 506th due to different reasons (I understand there are limitations with mods and servers), but I think we do have the size to try this sort of thing more often nowadays. We are in this regard still very much in a line infantry unit on infantry unit mode instead of "raider/sf" mode. CAS: I can't count how many times I've spotted enemies and was told not to engage, as those targets were destined for ground elements to destroy. I understand the rationale behind it - we are a supporting element, but nothing hinders you to drop down a QRF trying to reinforce, which aviation then is able to take out, while ground elements are busy with their fights. This is something that once worked well, but somehow got lost. Once again not every mission - but once in a while would be nice. Also the tactical destruction of roads/bridges and railways to cut off enemy supply lines would be something cool to do. We do have a wide arsenal of airframes at our disposal - so let's use them. Air-to-Air Combat: This is something we rarely (never) do and it is a shame. I understand the last couple deployments would have been difficult to introduce something like this as we were fighting non-conventional enemies (with the exception of China), that don't have access to airframes or qualified pilots. But during the last deployment this could have taken the form of an air combat patrol forcing a smuggler plane to land back on a cartel airfield, which scrambled to take off after the initial assault by ground troops. I understand S-2s ressources are limited, but with the right immersion specialist this scenario could have been a prime example on how to switch things up and make things interesting - even for ground elements. Resupply/Reinsert: I've mentioned this above. Not much to say on it. It needs to be planned better. Again all of this might come across as very negative. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, because mostly things are going alright. Once again thanks Gunny for the opportunity to finally write all of this down, as you can see I've been thinking about it for a while. Also sorry for the lenghty essay.

Looking at EAs E3 sales pitch: Shamelessly stolen from @Sgt Purcell

What aviation hopes for

506th theme song. Good old times.

When you just bought the SG-1 complete collection so you can bingewatch it for the third time.

Me after getting my 4 wisdom teeth removed this morning at the now foolish age of 25. Also every Arma OP ever with ACE medical.