Thus we see the result of Reagan’s closing of asylums and mental facilities.

There’s a lot of nuttiness here, but my favorite is Major S, USAF Retired.  Anyone who served 27 years in the Air Force and retired as a Major…wasn’t very good at it.

He has not revealed his true identity

It’s old man Smith from the amusement park!

And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling Republicans!

This is what you get when views that immigrants and foreigners are coming to steal all the jobs away. Some poor shmuck who is actually increasing US sales and jobs getting screamed at by a low-level government official who sees no other way to remedy the situation.

The persistent nativist screeds from WND, LGF and other rightwing noise machines need to stop now before we end up with another Timothy McVeigh*. I think that most of the posters there don’t realize or don’t want to admit that they are allowing a culture of extremism that leads directly to domestic terrorism. The great majority of the domestic terrorists in the USA that I can think of haven’t thought that the government was valid for one reason or another**, they have felt perfectly justified in acting against it because they were fed a diet of lies from people who knew better.

I hope that the FBI has a good listing of members on those boards who posit violence in one form or another. It’s both funny and really really unfunny to see and hear this kind of hate spewing from people who shold know much better and who are otherwise liekly productive members of society

*ok, another nother… no one has yet met him for scope, but there have certainly been people trying…

**Roe v Wade was wrongly decided by “activist judges”, the NRA can’t take your money because it says so in arcane passages cherry picked from the constitution, Barrak Obama isn’t qualified to be president, etc.

What a bunch of nutbags.

My favorite is the one about murdering baybeeeez without any concern for the wars we’re fighting.  Baybeez only count if they’re white and born here in the US, apparently.

Do they not understand that Hawaii is a state?

I demand to see Bush’s birth certificate! And Reagan’s! We haven’t seen any proof that any of them are who they say they are! Good god, who knows how long this alien conspiracy has been ruling our country!

CSBCofAP: Hawaii is a state of non-white people and freaks good only for honeymoons, corprate retreats and television shows that need “exotic” surf n’ sand scenes so it doesn’t count. He should be from one of the continental states to be eligible. Ouch, wing-nut logic is painful.

Well, shit, how about we demand these people show their birth certificates before being allowed to ask our Islamofascisocialhomoverlord a question?

The lack of coherence in those posts is stunning.

... but I digress. That said ...

My inner copy editor just died.

He has not revealed his true identity

It’s old man Smith from the amusement park!

And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling Republicans!

Tyro on 03/18 at 12:18 PM

THAT’S funny!!!!!  Ta, Tyro!!!!

These people are absolute fucking crazy wack jobs. There should be a law against people like these voting. Or getting drivers licenses. Or hunting licenses. Or marriage licenses.

As an aside - why is it that the Air Force seems to get the distillation of the nutjobs of the United States military?  I seem to recall prayer breakfasts and other such Fundie nonsense at the USAF academy, and whenever there’s a real loopy ex-military officer muttering about Godlessness it’s usually USAF.

A completely unfair and predjudiced conclusion would be that there’s some high-altitude hypoxic brain damage going on there.

It’s a typical knee-jerk response to a non-white or “untraditional” person in a position of power or responsibility, the same as questioning the exerpience or credentials of a female surgeon or a brown-skinned pilot. The people who post this crap have never taken the time or put any effort into interrogating or examining their prejudices.

“We need more than Tea Parties, we need our Military to defend us against our enemies especially the domestic ones and that means the usurper and his cohorts.”

Oh sure. 

Saying something about Iraq that isn’t approved by the Reichwing during the peak of Commander Codpiece’s Yoo and Addington-based monarchy = TREASON!!!

Advocating a military coup in the US to remove President Barack Obama? = Just good common sense that any American would support…apparently…

Okay…

“He has not revealed his true identity therefore cannot be considered President of these United States.”

...just this morning I was joking with my daughter that wingnuts fear that Obama will take his coat jacket off and reveal huge leather-skinned wings, proving he really is Satan.  Little did I know somebody might really believe it…

I know!  His true identity is…he’s BATMAN!

What I love is the sense that these jokers think their point of view wasn’t heard before the election, that somehow the Decent Ordinary God-Fearing (White) People of the US of A didn’t KNOW THE TRUTH and were duped…to be honest, I couldn’t flick on any cable news channel without one talking head or another mumbling about possible gaps in Obama’s birth record or somesuch.

That being said, it must really gall them that the majority of voters heard their line of drivel and yet voted for Obama anyway.

The way I see it, every time a woman chooses an abortion, she prevents one of those fuckheads from entering the populace.

tannenburg, from the comments I’ve noticed in the past few months, the line of thought appears to be that us plebes knew that Obama would steal from the rich to give to us poor and that is why we elected him, our new Robber Baron.

The idea being that most Americans, especially blue liberal ones, just want someone to pluder Our Great Country and give us each our buck-oh-five and we’ll dance on the ashes over our meager rewards.

It’s a powerful persecution complex.

I think the Air Force contains the nutbars partially because it’s a bad idea in general.

The fundamental reason for splitting the USAF off from the US Army Air Corps was the enormous Strategic Bomber Command, combined with space work.  When the Strategic Bomber Command became obsolete, and NASA took over our space work, the USAF ceased to make any sense as an independent entity and should have been folded back into the Army.

The fact that it wasn’t was due to bureaucratic moronicity.  Thus, the USAF is currently staffed by the ideological descendants of the folks who held our country’s security hostage to their sense of job importance.

>BATMAN!
>jokers

i get it

...he’s BATMAN!

It’s all…part of the plan, tannenburg.

Essie Elephant—it is always, always, always projection.  Remember all the clowns proclaiming that they’d forego huge amounts of income to bring themselves below 250k?  They think everyone is that stupid.

HA, Tyro, I lol’d.

Someday, I’d like to see a study analyzing the overlap between assholes and poor spelling/grammar. Not that all people with poor writing skills are assholes, but assholes generally seem to have poor writing skills. Hmmm…

Floyd, what’s disturbing to me is how GOOD the spelling and grammar is in most of the comments highlighted here.  It scares me to think that one of these freaks is hiding out among people I consider “normal.”

Yeah, Punditus, creation of the USAF made so much sense that now the Navy, Marines, Army, and even the Coast Guard have thier own aviation assets.  Their only differentiation was strategic bombers and missiles (and even then the Navy edged in on the missile business by building submarines with ICBM launch capability.)

Poor Air Force.  My Army friends always thought they looked like doormen for a hotel with their pretty blue and silver uniforms.

“why is it that the Air Force seems to get the distillation of the nutjobs of the United States military?”

It’s the proximity to Colorado Springs which is infested by Dobson and his ilk. Don’t worry they plan on infiltrating all branches of the military. They have been making a lot of inroads with the army since the Air Force doesn’t get a lot of deployments in Afganistan or Iraq.

‘Tis true. The dumber ones do tend to be conservative, since they really are incapable of original/independent thought. My favorite is the unsigned one with all the all-caps and extra punctuation. If nothing else it reinforces my motto: never trust a sentence ending in more than 2 exclamation points!!

“what’s disturbing to me is how GOOD the spelling and grammar is in most of the comments highlighted here”

Check if the wmd submissions thing has a spell check tool.

Clearly these twits have never been near snopes.com, which helpfully links to this:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/Polarik/BO_Birth_Certificate.jpg

Yes, you guess it - a copy of his birth certificate.

“Mr. President, if we are not a socialist or communist country, what gives you the right to tell Americans they must volunteer…or serve in a Civilian Security Force? This sounds very socialist and/or communist to me. What gives you the right to dictate what we do with our time? “

lol is the draft socialist?

“Although I vehemently opposed you during the elections, you still ended up as the Commander in Chief “

HAHAHAHA guess your one vote wasn’t all that more important than everyone else’s., bud.

All together now:

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee———oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee———oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee———oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!..........

SarahMC - upon rereading - point taken. It may just be that I notice the poor spelling more because of a combination of career/pet peeve. Hmm, maybe another study there!

tootired, that’s a good explanation, but I’m too scared to go check it the WND site myself. Kudos to Pam for braving the assholes so we don’t have to.

And these people aren’t being rounded up and either executed as the traitors they are, or heavily dosed with powerful tranquilizers and anti-psychotic meds… why, again?  They sound even crazier than the nutjob who wrote into the local paper and had his letter published on their web site today. I’d wager good money he’s one of them.

>BATMAN!
>jokers

i get it

You’re supposed to say, “I see what you did there”.

katherine, they’ve seen it and they say it’s fake. which means trying to ‘convince’ them when they absolutely do not want to be is a waste of the president’s precious time. these nutjobs’ claims just don’t fucking matter to anyone.

Advocating a military coup in the US to remove President Barack Obama? = Just good common sense that any American would support…apparently…

Hey, if it worked in Latin America, why shouldn’t they use the same tactics here?

All this Obama-is-a-non-citizen/secret Muslim/whatever stuff keeps reminding me of the old Lenny Bruce routine in which he fantasizes about Barry Goldwater winning the election:

...that’s going to be Goldwater’s last step; gets in, gets before the TV cameras for the acceptance speech, and he rips off the mask and you see the big nose and the semitic look and the spittle coming out and [Goldwater screaming vindictively] YAHAHAHAAAAAA! WE’LL BURN ALL THE CHURCHES!

(Explanatory note: Goldwater was the GOP candidate for president in 1964. His family was of Jewish heritage but converted to Christianity.)

I love that half of these people can’t even manage to put a question mark at the end of their screeds so that they can even masquerade as questions.

I would also like to see these questions read to Obama, as long as the WND guy has to read them exactly as they are, grammatical errors and misspelled non-words included.

“Mr. President, if we are not a socialist or communist country, what gives you the right to tell Americans they must volunteer…or serve in a Civilian Security Force? This sounds very socialist and/or communist to me.”

I betcha that this is one of those people who is willing to talk for hours about how everybody is Constitutionally mandated to be allowed assault rifles, because everyone is in the militia…

Floyd, I notice it too, but you’d expect such batshit insanity to be wayyyy more difficult to read.  If you don’t take the content into account, these “questions” appear to be written by marginally thoughtful, educated people.

This may go without saying but marginally thoughtful, educated people still have to actively choose to examine their beliefs and question their privileges. I have heard some fucking batshit crazy talk coming out of the mouths of co-workers, relatives and friends because they had never chosen to think critically about what they are saying and/or no-one had taken the time (or had the opportunity) to point out other ideas.

Shorter WND readers:

“Dear Mr. Obama, I am a deranged stupid person and I hate you. Why don’t you take me seriously?”

By Cheese,  I may have selective memory, but besides all of the “I’ll move to CANADA” stuff I don’t remember those on the losing end of the spectrum in 2000 and 2004 being THIS off the rails.  Also, I have yet to hear a prominent Democrat say “Shut up, you GOP whiners, if you don’t support President Obama, you’re a traitor and you hate America, puppies, and freedom!”

“Also, I have yet to hear a prominent Democrat say “Shut up, you GOP whiners, if you don’t support President Obama, you’re a traitor and you hate America, puppies, and freedom!””

You would have heard it in reference to Johnson back in the ‘60s, before the war was so bad only the hardest-core Koolaid-drinkers still believed.  There were many conservative law-‘n-order Democrats back in the day.  (of course most of them became Republicans within a few years…)

Since then, it’s pretty much exclusively been a Reichwing phenomenon…

Quite.  At least the non-righties still can rely on their most potent weapon - irony and satire.  A world where Stewart and Colbert exists is not completely lost.  I do so enjoy how the “alternative” right-wing attempts have failed when overwhelmed with the ridiculousness of their own inability to be humorous.

Dear Mr. Obama,

I know that you and especially Mr. Emanuel are in fact Reptilian-Americans. For this reason, I voted for the Christian-blooded Mr. Barr. However, if we are going to have a New World Order, I am confident that you are the best person to frog-march us into the future. You have abandoned your hyphenated-American status, indicating an allegiance only to the United Socialist States of America and not to Alpha Draconis. This gives me hope that if even we enter the Trade Federation, you will at least cut down on illegal immigration by Tusken Raiders.

I trust that I will be allowed to keep my zero-point energy weapons under the provisions of the Second Amendment.

In solidarity,
Comrade asdf

dEAR mR pRESIDENT

wHY WONT YOU ADMIT THAT THE BAILOUT IS soylent green NOT MOENY?

yRS

a cONCERNED patriot!!!!

“Yes, you guess it - a copy of his birth certificate. “

These are the same people that think birth certificates have the babies foot prints on them and other stuff such as Hospital name and the attending doctor’s names yet have never requested a birth certificate from their birth state in order to get a passport or go to college.

They think a COLB is not a Birth Certificate for crying out loud. They proclaim the state goverment of Hawaii and the governer of Hawaii are involved in a conspiracy for crying out loud even when you mention the governer supported McCain and dissed Obama.

” think the Air Force contains the nutbars “

It wasn’t until Focus on the Anus moved nextdoor that they got infested with whackos. Numerous lawsuits have been put forward by Jews and Christian denominations about the whackos who have slimed their way into the Air Force Academy. Used to be the Air Force was one of the most secular branches.

Smartalek:  Ha!! Ha! Ha.

</wingnut>  We viewed a news video from CNN tonight…that gave details on this so called “amnesty” bill. Have you folks in DC completely lost your minds?!!!!!! They are ILLEGAL.Stealing jobs from legal US CITIZENS that could use the work/jobs.Add to that fact on the amount of money they cost the taxpayer in the form of welfare/food stamps/free medical,and on and on.The burden they put on our law enforcement folks and the courts…and the prison system. ADD TO THAT fact the amount of money these freeloaders SEND BACK TO MEXICO….all in the form of cash,from they jobs they have. Now…with this sham of a bill,they’ll get MORE assistance,privileges…and other entitlements. Good god….if there was ever a reason to revolt..this would be the last nail in the coffin. </wingnut>

Hope the quote above isn’t too confusing. I tried all variations, and finally just put “wingnut” to indicate that it’s from the story above.

Anyway, ahem. I LOLed so hard when I read that quote, because that happened to me personally! I have a wingnut uncle (yes, one of those) that sends out emails such as the one above.  He sent me a video from CNN and accused the “liberals of the family” of supporting such a thing.

My first reaction, as a political junkie, was, “what amnesty bill? wasn’t that two years ago?”

So, I did some research and I found out a few things.  1) the CNN video is at least two years old.  On the scrolling bar on the bottom, it mentioned that “Monica Gooding went to trial today”.  Monica Gooding went to trial in March 2007.  2) That it was a republican sponsored and approved bill, and 3) there was no such amnesty bill at this current time, under the current administration.

(Someone tell me if I’m wrong)

Anyway, I did all this research, and then I knew I had just PWN’D my uncle in a major, major fashion.  That was the most enjoyable email I had ever sent for a long while.

Of course, he didn’t respond.

But he hasn’t sent me any of those right-wing crazy screeching emails for a while now, at least, not any kind of email where I could possibly disprove him.

WIN~!

It scares me to think that one of these freaks is hiding out among people I consider “normal.”

I have two brilliant, well-educated, and generally lovely stepsisters, both of whom I adore. 

Strike One: “You’re not going to vote for Obama, are you?  Because he’s a terrorist.  Seriously, I saw it online.  You should look it up…”

Strike Two: “Now that Obama’s been elected, I just really want to make sure and go out and buy a couple more guns.  I mean, you never know, right?”

Seriously, if it escalates any further I might have to actually report my own family members…

Regarding the creation of the USAF, Punditus Maximus on 03/18 at 10:25 AM got it largely right; nitpicks follow.

1) The United States never had a “Strategic Bomber Command” under any jurisdiction. “Bomber Command” was a division of the RAF during World War II. We had the “Strategic Air Command,” aka “SAC.”

My dad, USAF (retired—he also served 27 years and I wouldn’t put it past him to contribute another of these screeds—not mine, via WND I mean!—but he did reach full Colonel, FWIW) was an interceptor pilot; he characterized SAC as an “asshole organization.” (My even more right-wing uncle was a SAC officer, in the missile division…) Be that as it may, it was indeed the basis for the rationale for spinning off the Air Force as a separate service; the theory was that strategic bombing could win a war. A very dubious theory; the latest issue of Air Force Magazine has an article claiming they finally did it in 1999, driving the Serbs out of Kosovo. But you need overwhelming air superiority and still, people claim it was the threat of a ground invasion that finally tipped the scales.

On paper SAC doesn’t exist anymore, since early in the Clinton years, when the commands were reorganized.

2)

...combined with space work.  When the Strategic Bomber Command became obsolete, and NASA took over our space work, the USAF ceased to make any sense as an independent entity…

Actually, in 1947 when the Air Force was formed, no one was doing “space work” in this country as such, at least not officially. The Air Force never led the way until the ‘60s; the real competition was between the Navy (which was eventually awarded the right to pursue the nation’s official space effort, Vanguard, in the late 1950s) and Werhner Von Braun’s team at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, which was an Army base; he worked on Army missiles. In all this during the 1950s the USAF was nothing more than a customer for certain missiles produced strictly for strategic-weaponry purposes. By 1960, the Army had been edged out (despite having the team that actually made the most progress and put the first US satellite into orbit—a functional scientific research probe at that, versus Vanguard which did no more than Sputnik I, that is, orbit and beep…) and strategic missiles (intra- and inter- continental range) became the responsibility of the Air Force, with the Navy having its own submarine-launched missile program.

In the other direction—well, the Air Force was keenly aware of what would happen to it if intercontinental bombing became obsolete (as it practically did when Soviet interceptor missiles got good enough to shoot down U-2 scout planes…) and that’s why they grabbed dibs on all IRCBs and ICBMs that weren’t launched from ships. Once they did that, they quickly developed experience in launching big rockets and so I think you will find that considerably more tonnage has been launched over the decades by the Air Force than NASA. The Space Shuttle program was heavily influenced, not so much by Air Force demands (the Air Force was indifferent to it) but the efforts of NASA officials to lock in funding for the program by selling to the Air Force. Had it not been for the requirements the Air Force stipulated before they’d sign on in support, the Shuttle might have been considerably lighter and simpler. Even so the Air Force was unhappy at the plan to phase out military launches using their “disposable” rockets, and when the Shuttle had problems, culminating in the Challenger disaster, they were able to keep their capability and to this day are the main launcher of military and intelligence satellites.

So if anything they are much more the space command now than they were in the ‘50s.

The Russians, on the other hand, created an independent Rocket Force (I don’t think they call it that, quite…) for their ICBMs.

To /nitpicking, I think your point, Punditus, actually emphasizes both the propensity to wingnuttiness and the deep roots the Air Force has. It still has the strategic bombing mission, which amounts to threatening to kill everyone in the world if “we” don’t get our way. So I think the proximity of FotF and other Wingnut Central outfits in Colorado Springs is as much symptom as cause of the disease; I would not be surprised if they located there precisely because the Air Force community there particularly (the Academy plus Cheyenne Mountain, the deep bunker HQ of NORAD) was congenial. Or perhaps CS was always a right-wing bastion and that’s one reason the Air Force put these assets there.

Growing up an Air Force brat, I always figured it was a right-wing force, but while I met a fair amount of religiousity there, I think the tone has definitely shifted since I left home in 1983. This does worry me.

Actually I think the appeal for wingnuts of the Air Force is because it is the easiest ride of the 4 branches.
Basic training is considerably less strenuous than either the Army or the Marines and there are no infantry combat positions. Outside of the people flying the aircraft, you are a lot less likely to get killed in the Air Force than one of the other branches.
Of course now all their fundie buddies are in positions of influence so it has fed on itself.
That being said, I don’t intend to malign people in the Air Force. I used to hang out at the reserve base in Pittsburgh for weekend drills (okay, for the parties after weekend drills) and number a lot of those folks as friends. I’m not saying they do an easy job, but it’s certainly easier than being an infantry soldier.

FWIW, I could be full of shit. I have never actually found cheetos in the MREs my roommate used to bring home.

SarahMC - one of the scariest parts of the last year for me was discovering that two people that I like and otherwise get along with (in the karate dojo) are exactly this kind of nutjob. One at least has the excuse of being brain-damaged - functional, but his brain really does not function as it ought in several noticeable ways. The other I don’t know what to make of. She’s bright enough in other ways, but her hatred of Obama seems to know no bounds.

Since I have to deal with these people, I’m very careful to stick to safe conversational topics.

“I’m not saying they do an easy job, but it’s certainly easier than being an infantry soldier.
“

It can certaintly be a boring job. The USAF has a shit ton of cargo planes that transfer soldiers, equipment, supplies. You also have the airmen whose job it is to fuel those planes, take the sewage out of their toilets. Also the Air force maintains a lot of remote bases that infantry and marines would go nuts in due to boredom.

“independent Rocket Force (I don’t think they call it that, quite…) for their ICBMs.
“

Since they were mobile they had to have their own force they had to do a lot of orders in the field. No command center like in the US.

Mark Foxwell on 03/18 at 08:13 PM “I would not be surprised if they located there precisely because the Air Force community there particularly (the Academy plus Cheyenne Mountain, the deep bunker HQ of NORAD) was congenial. Or perhaps CS was always a right-wing bastion and that’s one reason the Air Force put these assets there.

I grew up in Colorado Springs and as a military brat so let me clear up some points.

The Air Force is not the only military service in Colorado Springs. The Air Force Academy lies to the north; Peterson Air Force Base (formerly Peterson Field) lies to the east; Fort Carson (formerly Camp Carson) lies to the south; and the Cheyenne Mountain headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (a joint Canadian/US military force) is buried 2,000 feet inside a solid granite mountain to the West. The city is surrounded by the US and Canadian military. Believe it or not in the ‘70s there was a Naval Air Station located in Colorado Springs as well.

Colospgs has always had a very poor economy. In the early 1980s Mayor Bob Issac (the Colorado Springs version of Daley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Isaac) actively attracted conservative Christian organizations (mostly from Orange County California) to the area. The City Council at the time was unpaid and composed mostly of Real Estate Agents from Oklahoma and Texas. They thought the Christian organizations would bring jobs. What they didn’t bargain on was that the Christian organizations, being churches, did not pay taxes. After his retirement I heard a radio interview with Issac where he admitted he made a mistake. The organizations (focus on the Family, et. al.) required government services but did not pay taxes—oops.

Focus on the Family is basically across the street from the United States Air Force Academy and over the last decade or two has exerted considerable influence. Yes there are Air Force officers who are Dobson clones. Unfortunately you can find the same boneheaded fools in any branch of the military. Do shots of whiskey with an Army Major someday. You will be disturbed.

Growing up in a military town I have interacted with many members of both the Army and Air Force. The Air Force members (officers and enlisted) were, on the whole, more intelligent, thoughtful and open minded than their Army brethren. While I have not lived in Colospgs for decades I do still interact with both Army and Air Force personnel. On the whole I still find Air Force personnel to be more educated. Let’s face it, fools do not earn degrees in Astrophysics.

The officers in all branches of the military are very conservative. The enlisted are much more liberal and, being from predominately blue collar upbringings, some of them are downright Wobbly.

My post was not meant as a diss against members of the Army, Navy or Marines. I know some ginormous Marines who are the gentlest and kindest and smartest people I know. They honestly wonder “what the hell are we doing over here.”

Let’s not forget that someone who signs a post on World Net Daily <Maj S - Retired USAF</i> is likely neither.

Mark Foxwell on 03/18 at 08:13 PM Or perhaps CS was always a right-wing bastion and that’s one reason the Air Force put these assets there.

No, it is an economically depressed town with a military presence. Due to the military presence young adults do not have roots in the town and when they turn 18 they leave. The young adults who stay in Colospgs are not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. Have a couple of decades of that type of exodus and you will have a conservative, tradition-laden populace.

Kal-Obama was born on Krypton, of course. @. @

Thanks, CD, for the local history.

“. What they didn’t bargain on was that the Christian organizations, being churches, did not pay taxes.”

What the fuck kind of Christian organizations pay taxes? Wouldn’t the Christian part indicate churches and not paying taxes as well as not hiring tons of people or any people at all?

Ah, yes, Cheyenne Mountain.  How can you contemplate such a place and not think in Biblical terms?

Specifically, Luke 23:30, “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.”

As an aside - why is it that the Air Force seems to get the distillation of the nutjobs of the United States military?

It’s safe(r).
With almost 50 support personel to every combat personal it’s much easier to avoid being shot at.
These wack-jobs get their military “cred” while flying a keyboard.

These wack-jobs get their military “cred” while flying a keyboard.
cynickal on 03/19 at 11:53 AM

Mind you, I still have great respect for the low-ranking, underpaid, often non-white or poor-white background women who type stuff up for Squadron offices, and the radar techs and engine maintenance people etc.

FWIW, my Dad’s job in the USAF was about as risky and front-line as it got in that service.

OTOH, he was actually in just one war, for 8 months—in which.despite his remarks about SAC being an “asshole outfit,” he essentially did strategic bombing himself (from a “fighter-bomber” to be sure…and not for SAC but whatever bailiwick managed overseas forces in Asia in 1968).

And his academic qualifications? An English degree from a second-tier college. The Air Force had him get a couple more degrees—in Business Administration! Because you see, I’m just nit-picking again; cynikal is right; it’s largely office work.

Honestly my Dad saw being able to fly a fighter-interceptor jet as something he was just incredibly lucky to be able to do.

But some of the enlisted people who did clerical and other scutwork were fine people I was lucky myself to get to know; Dad sometimes invited staff people over for Thanksgiving…and we also socialized in church with fellow Catholics anyway.

Which brings us back to the whole “is the Air Force a bunch of god-botherers” question; I guess I have to say it has always seemed so to me, but then again I knew mostly the Catholic members, so…And I still think it has clearly gotten worse, especially under Bush.