DB

@BuzzPatterson Bit unrelated, but do you recognize aircraft by their sound? I never got closer than "jet," "not jet" and "helicopter" until I got to brief an AirForce General on our jobsite. New Years Day. Inside, with blowers running, he said, "F-4 overhead." He made me learn and listen.

Air Refueling: The Most Unnatural Act in Aviation You’re at 25,000 feet, 300 knots, tucked in tight behind a KC-135 or KC-46 like a remora on a shark. The tanker’s boom is dancing in your windshield like a drunken conductor’s baton. One wrong input and you’re either sliding off into the slipstream or kissing aluminum in the worst way possible. This isn’t gentle flying. This is fingertip precision in a 200-ton machine while the tanker is bouncing through moderate turbulence. Your right hand is on the throttles making micro-adjustments, left hand on the yoke, eyes locked on the director lights and the boom operator’s signals. No autopilot. No margin. Just you, the boom, and pure concentration. I’ve done it for 30-45 minutes straight in weather that made the boom look like it had a mind of its own. You’re soaked in sweat even at altitude. One moment of lost focus and you lose the contact — or worse, damage the receiver or tanker. We’ve all seen the videos. Nobody wants to be that guy. Air refueling is where comfort ends and warfighting begins. It’s ugly, sweaty, intense… and when you finally top off, disconnect, and slide away with a thumbs-up from the boom operator, you feel like you just won a knife fight in a phone booth. Now, put the autopilot on, grab a cup of coffee, and exhale. Who else has “danced with the boom”? Drop your wildest refueling story below.

@thomas_garrard Never been there, but yes ... places "feel" different. Wake Island, Oahu, Luzon, Nha Trang, all water but all feel different. Bangkok vs Manila, Chicago vs WashDC. Not the sights, the ... feeling. Note that @jockowillink discussed looking into the face of Evil. It ... is.

After my post last night about the places I’ve been, people have asked about the feeling of ancient evil in the desert. It’s hard to describe. Not everyone who has been there, feels it. Many of us do, though. I was in Iraq. Mesopotamia, or often called “cradle of civilization.” Geographically, and maybe Biblically speaking, there’s an argument to be made that the Garden of Eden was there. If our human story started there, then the original sin was committed there. That old serpent, the devil. I’m not an archaeologist or an historian. I know what I felt. It’s a weight on your shoulders that you can’t shake. When the desert sun hits the horizon at sundown, you see the heat vapor reflecting off the sand, at last light. You think you see things that aren’t there. Babylon still holds its secrets, and you feel it. Don’t know how else to describe it.

@carlypearce @opry Li'l lady, I'm very impressed! You followed me, long time ago in a different account (I wuz disallowed forever) and I've listened ever since. You or Laurin Alaina = lady version of Toby Keith? There's void. We need another Toby. Thanks for your happiness.

11 years ago today, I stepped into the circle for the first time. Last night, I took a photo in the room where my picture hangs as a member. Life is pretty dang cool. I 🤍 you @opry

@elonmusk Minimize w/humans aboard.

RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) events are not unusual in the rocket world

@thomas_garrard You're American. You have absolutely EVERYWHERE to go! As my li'l brother and I used to do, drive around with the windows open, radio turned to max ... play opera or classical stuff.

Got my truck back after 2 and 1/2 weeks in the shop. So excited until I remembered that I have absolutely no where to go.

@carlypearce @RileyGreenMusic I've been with you for ... a while. This is US 250. Can you do Toby Keith for us? I hope others will also try, @TGrahamBrown @Lauren_Alaina @ Garymuledeer @potus

Some relationships you know you shouldn’t stay in…but walking away is the hardest part. ‘If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay’ with @RileyGreenMusic is yours. Stream and watch the official video now. carlypearce.lnk.to/IfIDontLeave

@JordanBrace8 Jordan, I wish you could've met James N. "Nick" Rowe. He was about the most humble & polite guy I ever met. In "Country Team" meetings, the U.S. Ambassador would call us, "Bill? Jim? Ed?" for comments. Then, "Col. Rowe? Sir, any remarks for us?" Hope you read his book. Hero.

God bless the Heroes and angels.

@BurninTRanch She's either a Hanoi Jane or a Toby Keith. And she ain't no Toby Keith. I miss TKeith. He felt it, he knew it and he made it into music.

Who cares if Martina McBride backed out of the Great American State Fair. She hasn’t been relevant for decades. Remember she performed for the Clintons and the Obama’s. She is a partisan hack who is out of touch with her base. I miss Toby, a true patriot!

@BuzzPatterson 45 LBS and you're Air Force?! Salute, Sir! - from a worn-our long-time-ago Army NCO.

The correct answer is 45 pounds. I put that thing down whenever I could. My Marine buddy ran with it! 🤣

@okiepatriot_76 Wow. Just ... wow. Please re-post that at least once a week. Where can we get another like Toby Keith?

In the world full of Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, Morris Day, Young MC, and The Commodores be like Toby Keith 🇺🇸 He performed for Both President Donald Trump and Barack Obama. In 2017, he refused to apologize for doing Trump’s inauguration saying “I don't apologize for performing for our country or military… I performed at events for previous presidents [George W.] Bush and [Barack] Obama and over 200 shows in Iraq and Afghanistan for the USO."

@thomas_garrard Bro', I'm old. My parents were even older (oddly enough.) They had OLD school books, maybe their parents' or older siblings. I'm not sure College kids would pass the old 3rd grade. HARD STUFF! Also, old Civil War diaries & stuff ... PVTs quoting ancient Greek stuff. Geesh.

Something I’ve always felt strongly about, as my father did before me, is literacy. In the generational arguments of which generation had it better, or worse, one thing is often over looked: education. While technology and cumulative knowledge have vastly improved, comprehension has gone down. A high school diploma from 1970, is worth more than a high school diploma from 2005. Go to a 30 year old Sunday School class and hear a 30 year old struggle to read a Bible verse out loud. Then, go to a senior citizen class, and hear an old lady read. The difference is night and day. We destroyed the fundamental education system, and then expect the same results of the people, from the time before that destruction. On a device I carry in my pocket, I possess the cumulative knowledge of all mankind. It’s no good to someone who doesn’t know how to read. If we start at that basic, fundamental level, just reading and writing, we can possibly save future generations. That’s my $2 thoughts (2 cents adjusted for inflation).

@JordanBrace8 @LeoNaranjoIV As we have seen, people can be more evil than they appear. Old TV show said, "Trust No One" and that may be correct, as much as it hurts. Trust = earned. Sorry you had to experience so much [military language deleted.] With hugs & tears,

I have been repeatedly attacked by someone I used to care about and respect. I now need to take legal action and I have reported him to X. Please report and block @LeoNaranjoIV who is acting completely unbalanced. I can’t believe this is happening.

@Arkypatriot Ma'am, some of us kinda cuss a lot, especially when we are alone. We also judge "leadership" on its merits, and did even before we met @jockowillink and his podcasts. Check gig line. Brasso that buckle. Spit shine! But most: I miss SOS. The civi kind is close, but ...

Sarcasm is hard for some people because it requires a sense of humor, timing, and the ability not to take everything personally. For veterans sarcasm isn’t a character flaw. It’s a survival skill with better delivery. It got us through chaos, bad leadership, hurry-up-and-wait, and stupidity dressed up as procedure. So no, I’m not going to water myself down for people who can’t handle a little sarcasm without getting defensive. Learn to laugh and scroll on. And if you can’t, I’ll help you.

@thomas_garrard Nothin' more American than fist fighting neighbors! Fireworks were cool, too, until we started getting them all from Red China or Canada or such. And the factories in Ohio kept blowing up. Fireworks = illegal. Americans = oh, yeah?" Punch a neighbor for me, Bro'!

If rising prices mean you will be celebrating this Independence Day as one of the poors, welcome. We grill Vienna sausages instead of hamburgers, and in lieu of fireworks, we fist fight our neighbors, to establish block dominance. Door prizes include loose, assorted batteries, and a key chain of a bank that no longer exists, circa 1993. BYOB.

@Allison_Brennan You hit it! "No-brainer" ... cc: @RNC @DNC @POTUS @VP DST was tried before and it caused children to die. It's more like a TST, Terrorist Saving Time. It is abnormal, it is bad and it's just ... weird.

We should be on year round STANDARD Time. This is a no-brainer.

Circadian rhythms are not for sale.

@arthur_sew97913 @thomas_garrard Is red a subset of orange or is it the other way around via the InfraBlue orthogonal wrap? I remember the baboons with the orange auras both divergent and esdivergent from/to the CERN Edicts on alborn. And 7-Eleven Japanese Egg Salad Sandwiches are legit.

@thomas_garrard The color red only comes in sets of monkeys nuts. It’s a variation of a capital offense to deny facts. Blue ass slinging 💩…

If everything we post is collected data to improve AI, we should start posting random nonsense, to make AI retarded. “Letters have specific colors, depending on which foot has a sock on.” AI can neither confirm, nor deny, my lived experience. Checkmate, terminator.

@ScoutMotto @thomas_garrard You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd.

@thomas_garrard You can't bake a tricycle and call it Baton Rouge, because the score is still Q to 12!

@emperorthesteve Daylight Saving Time should be called Terrorist Saving Time. It hurts people and it should be prohibited.

Daylight savings time is an abomination that needs to be abolished.

@oliviajones_06 Ban it and consider it as a terrorist activity! It HURTS people, including children - proven during an actual test. Doesn't anyone look at history??? STANDARD time was made a Standard for a reason and by rational people. Let's reduce the rainfall. Just call it Heavy Dew.

Would you support completely banning Daylight Savings time?