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01-17-2008, 04:31 PM

#27

Moondog

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Jun 2007

Posts: 558

Quote:

Originally Posted by ⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

"...True. I didn't mean it that way. Obviously, it can happen. My point was that it's ridiculous to just give these guys everything they want and it's ridiculous for them to want the world at the expense of everyone else. But I guess it's part of the ME ME ME generation..."

I totally agree with you.

"...I think that comes out to around $13 per pilot. I thought it was kind of weak actually. I sent in $40 (not a ton but that's what I sent). If everyone did that (like a capt. can't afford that?), it would have been around $120,000. $40,000 is pathetic IMO..."

Now that you put it that way, yeah I guess it was kind of weak. How does a multimillionaire senior captain rationalize not helping a new-hire fighting cancer? A guy who’ll have to feed his family on mutual aid based off of his ~33K this year? I hope some were simply unaware of the poor guy’s situation.
So let me rephrase my earlier statement – it’s the guys/gals who chip in to help fellow brown aviators in need that make me proud – that’s the group I want to be associated with. The others – well, they are either unaware (

) or selfish – and if so, fate will catch up with them – karma does not discriminate!

“…Going into the military is a CHOICE. You do sacrifice a lot but you also chose to go in. Your flying is paid for as well. There are advantages and disadvantages to both (mil. and civ.) but there is no doubt, going into the military is a CHOICE in the US. I do think that their military retirement should be a large amount though…”

On this issue I’ll never agree with you or with your future father-in-law (marriage in sight after all

). Yes it is their choice to serve our country and I for one am grateful they decided to volunteer.

However, you cannot think of that service as just another profession where they do their time, get their benefits and move on to the next gig. Instead it’s a life-altering service where they might have to move to any corner of the earth on a very short notice. It’s a service during which their families can be left alone for months and months at a time, and unfortunately a service where some of them never come back from a deployment. Notice I said service not a job or even career – because it’s much more than a job – and therefore the rest of us must adjust to their working conditions and not the other way around.

Trust me, with the current military buildup in China, the resurgence of pseudo-communism in Russia under the leadership of KGB Putin (albeit under the more attractive name of “Russian nationalism”), the fermenting Islamo-fascism in much of the Middle East, etc. we’ll need the protection of our armed forced even more in the near future.
They will choose to serve just like they do now and they will still need to know that once their military commitment is over with they’ll be welcomed into the civilian side of their profession – welcomed with open arms. They earned it, they deserved it and we should always remember it. Just my worthless ½ ¢ on this issue.

Well said Av8or!

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