Episode Title: The Late For Changeover Show 05 Feb 2025
Date: Feb 4, 2025
My cat’s fuking up blood, I got to take him to the set, which is excuse number 24. Three, four, being late for changeover. Your weekly space news and variety show.
I’m your host, Marty Smith, and I’m joined by Mr. History, Eric Perot. Howdy, fellas. By the way, the cat died on the way to the back.
Oh, yeah. Now we’ve got to take a whole week. It’s morning.
And our man in the closet, Jake Wall. I’m filing for bereavement leave as we speak. Oh, I don’t know if you get that under this administration.
I get it on the previous administration. Plus you got to go back to the office, pal. Not the closet anymore.
You got to go in and file. We’re going to bring you the latest headlines and updates pertinent to AllGuardian and to the other lower branches as well. So take the seats, get them forward, and have a laugh and represent late for changeover.
I got to work on that. Oh, there you go. I like it.
Well, good to see you all here. Ana let us down again, unfortunately. And Juan is still cutting hair.
But I’ve got it. I was doing field research in Boston, isn’t she? Well, actually, she’s being a good grandmother or great-grandmother. What was it? I was told she’s great-grandmother.
She could easily pull off the great-grandmother. She wears pajamas when she comes on here. She probably puts those on at five.
She does puzzles for funsies. Oh, now it’s all coming into focus. Now it’s all coming into focus.
Hey, Ana, we love you. We miss you. Have a good day.
We do. We miss that foul mouth of yours. So get back soon, right? And good to see you guys.
You too, man. Jake challenged me a few episodes ago to count up how many episodes we’ve done. I haven’t done it yet, but I will.
It’s a lot of work. Sounds like a lot of work. I bet it’s, what, 12 months? 12 shows for three years? Something like that? No.
Well, this is our… Oh, I forgot. No. Well, 50-some shows a year.
I can’t count, but that’s why I joined the Air Force. That’s why you went to the Security Force. Yeah, exactly.
So all that criticism, like how many shows we do again? I don’t know. How many weeks in a month? These like 12 guard mounts a year. How many weeks in a month? That’s all right.
It’s 52 weeks in a year. That’s why I got the J-Day, Eric. 50 at least, missing a couple.
All right. We can just count the J-Day as we do this thing. Yeah, that should be the excuse number.
Excuse number 36. 36. No, because it’s going to go to 360.
Mm-hmm. All I know is we’ve done it a lot. Yeah.
We’re coming on our third year? Third year? You don’t have to go in the same order. You just have to go 36, just announce the J-Day. I should screw the J-Day up to see if anybody’s really paying attention.
I’m like, you dummies, that’s not the J-Day. And I’m like, oh, at least you’re watching. At least you’re turning it on.
You do take a lot of time to do all this random stuff. It’s my new hobby. Put it this way, Jake.
You know guys that have bikes that they can’t wait to get the next head cover or fender chrome piece. This is my chrome piece. I like it, bro.
I’m like, hey, 20 bucks up? I’ll add that on. Nice. Yeah, bedazzling their bike is more fun than actually riding it.
Oh, yeah. People come in, they’re like, hey, I got a new saddlebag mounts. Yeah.
Shout out, Glenn Richard. He rode 45 miles on his bike last year, put in $4,000 in accessories. So the shittiest bike is the least used bike by Mr. Richard.
Jake, you got a Butch and Sunny update for us? Oh, man. They did their first spacewalk. You could see it on YouTube.
Yeah, it was that finally everybody on the inside was like, just go earn your keep. Just go. Fine.
We need some space, guys. You’re up there for a reason. Tugging on the back of their spacesuit was like, hey, can I go? Can I go back in the back of the space station? Let the real astronauts do it.
Not the Strandys. We checked with Boeing. They gave you permission.
Go ahead. Yeah, right. Hey, mission commander, the toilet on the outside just had a blowout.
Somebody’s got to get it. They’re like. Yeah, it’s the tools that aren’t important.
Like, don’t give them the good tools, guys. Come on. Like, here’s a sponge and a squeegee.
Tough mission, though. But they are like seven hours on YouTube of them fixing shit. They filmed the whole thing, really? Well, horrible camera angles, but still.
Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. Well, good for them.
At least they’re getting out. They’re getting a little, you know, erring it out a little bit. Yeah.
You’re giving the regulars their space. Yeah, they’re always like. How long should we be out there? I was like, I don’t know.
We got to test these tanks. Just go until you start getting low. We’re going to play some spades in here.
Yeah, exactly. Lingerers. Jeez, give us some space.
What are they supposed to come back? April. So we got we got we got a couple more months of this. I know.
Which is poor guys. I feel terrible for dude, man. Well, well, they’re getting TDY.
You know, they’re probably on there. They’re putting it on their GTC, which we’ll talk about later. This better be tax free.
Oh, yeah, that’s good. It’s got to be with it. You’d think it would have to be.
Well, after four months out of the country, you get tax free, right? Well, I mean, Trump did away with tax for tips. So they’ll just say it’s a tip. You’ve been up there long enough to tip Jeff.
You can keep it off tips. I wonder if they’re filing interim travel boxers or something. Oh, that’s good.
Imagine being in space and dealing with that bullshit. Oh, yeah. The 60 days in.
They’re like, oh, fuck, I got to file this out or else. Like GTC will go. Exactly.
Let’s speak at all that. Let’s jump into the news and talking about this new administration. Lots of change is coming already three weeks in and lots of change.
Lots are affecting. I think a lot of them are good. I think a lot of them are just like, yeah, we need to go come back.
Maybe a little bit, but I leave that for you to judge. So, but this first story is just for you, Eric. Yes.
For you. I like it. Oh, from air and space forces magazine comes this story.
The Air Force conducts more deportation flights with armed security forces. Ravens on board. There it is, baby.
Here we go. There it is. The US Air Force carried out deportation flights to Ecuador and Guatemala last week.
That’s a Pentagon continues to fly migrants out of the country at the direction of President Donald Trump. US air crews participating in deportation missions have included armed Air Force security forces personnel known as Phoenix Ravens. Why they haven’t had the Phoenix part on.
Oh, yeah. I don’t have a good answer for that. Nobody calls them Phoenix.
So what you know what? Before you go any further, it’s interesting that this is a federal thing going on deportation. Right. Yeah.
You would think we’d be using some kind of an air marshal or agency. Yeah. Versus versus the military, which they called the Ravens.
Look at these boys. You can tell them why they’re they’re tactical khaki pants. Oh, I wonder if they’re are they cuffing them to the seats? I wonder because if they’re all loose, right, you got it on air right there.
Right. Those guys are they’re charging you. They don’t care anymore.
Right. That’s got to be because I’m Harry duty though, especially in that close quarters. I think their hands are actually zip tied in front.
Like. Oh, yeah. Okay.
It’s hard to it’s hard to tell from the picture. But you’re right. All their hands are in their laps.
So. Yep. Maybe zip tied in front.
But they couldn’t just like leave them unsecured. No, I think especially when you’re talking about potentially criminal frickin bad guys. Yeah.
Yeah. For your own for your own safety and stuff. You know, that’s a lot of room to maneuver in there.
Yeah. So I’d like that you’re tripping over other seats and just getting up. That’s definitely not a C 130.
No, I think. Oh, no. There’s no web seats.
Yeah, exactly. Let’s see what 30s you were lacing knees. Oh, it’s and you sunk down in.
Yeah. Your elbows are right here next to each other. You’re like, fuck, this is this is a bad position for my back.
Hope it doesn’t come back to haunt me when I get out of the military. Don’t worry. It’s only three hours.
That’s a C 17, man. That’s good. Big play.
Yeah. Let me see if I can get shake. There we go.
So what are the Ravens? You might ask for those uninitiated. I was just going to ask that. Good question.
Air mobility commands. Phoenix Ravens program implemented in 1997. Consists of teams, especially trained security forces personnel dedicated to providing force protection for mobility Air Force aircraft teams of two to six specially trained and equipped security forces personnel deploy as air crew members.
The Raven teams are entrusted to detect deter and counter threats to mobility Air Force aircraft by performing close in aircraft security and providing flight deck denial to onboard threats. The Phoenix Raven training course is conducted by the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakers, New Jersey. The intensive four week, 12 hour a day course certifies Phoenix Ravens across cultural awareness.
International legal considerations, embassy ops, airfield survey techniques, EOD. No, no, sorry. Explosive ordinance awareness.
So they’re not disarming. They’re just like, there’s one right there. Call it in.
Yeah, it’s got a clock on it. I can tell aircraft searches and unarmed self-defense techniques. Students are exposed to more than 70 use of force scenarios where stress is simulated by or using role players.
Training includes instruction and realistic practical exercises in. Listen to this stuff. Anti-terrorism force protection.
Weapon defensive principles. Verbal judo. No, what verbal judo is.
That is simply de-escalating a situation by talking or escalating to the proper level of force. Oh, no. Or using old timey English accent to de-escalate.
Nobody can be mad at that. What’s your problem, governor? Hey, I like that accent. I’m not angry anymore.
Okay, you can have the plane back. Combatives, tactical combat, casualty care, counterintelligence awareness and tactical baton employment. The ASP.
We used an ASP. Is that a flexible one? It’s a hard one, but it’s a collapsible three pieces. The clicky-click thing.
Can you flick it out with the wrist? I’m simulating being the English accented guy going, you got a problem, governor? What are you, the conductor of an orchestra? So think about this, fellas. Back in my day, before it became known as the Ravens, we only had broom handles. Before it became AMC, Mac did it using four days of training.
Well, at least we did it in Charleston, four days of training. Our training section put together a program that instilled weapons retention, the verbal judo stuff, ins and outs of the aircraft, where a potential bad guy could get in, where they could be storing themselves. Because most of the time, when it left the continental US, it was just two of us on a ride.
So one up, one down. Some of the places we went to, you went, what the fuck are we going to do? Sound the alarm, that’s about it. Kaka guys, kaka.
Hey crew chief, and he’s like, not me, baby. Can we guess it? Crew’s gone to crew rest, we’re just hanging. The first Ravens graduated in February 1997, so did they call you Ravens back then? No, the name came later.
But you’re essentially where the cornerstone of what they’re doing now. Absolutely. Since 1997, only 3,200 Air Force Security Forces have graduated from the Phoenix Raven Qualification Course.
It seems like there should have been more, but graduates from the course also include members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Federal Air Marshal Service. Upon graduation, Air Force Ravens are issued a lifetime numeric identifier for their accomplishment. I did not know that.
Have you got a tracker in your butt cheek? I don’t know. I get a tattoo. You get a tattoo? Your number, what number you see? Congrats.
This is getting prestigious. You do get a Raven tattoo. They were handing those out in Germany a while back too, you know? I got one over here.
The Phoenix Raven Program was called upon during Operation Allies Refuge, the massive U.S. military effort to evacuate more than 124,000 people out of Kabul, Afghanistan. During the last days, the United States longest war there. More than 150 Phoenix Ravens and flyaway security members were rapidly positioned to secure every mobility Air Force aircraft supporting OAR after more than 800 Afghan civilians swarmed an AMC C-17 aircraft in Kabul.
Drop it out of the wings. That had to be Harry. You’re like, do you want us to do what these guys are? They’re flying away on the outside of the aircraft with these guys.
They’re serious. Falling off the plates, man. That was crazy.
That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty cool, Eric, for that little foray into what you did. The close spaces has got to be some unique stuff, right? Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it’s funny, too, because depending on where you were going and the threat, you’d always get a threat from OSI prior to going. So you always had an aircraft commander telling you what he wanted and what he didn’t want at the location based upon the threat. So a lot of times we carried handguns.
Other times we carried handguns and long rifles. So maybe a shotgun at times, just really depending on where you went and what the mission was and how long you were going to be on the ground. It was interesting.
You know, Karen, the pistol does remind me of last week because one of the funniest scenes, you’re like, I just shot him in the back with my .38. That’s new. That old Sergeant Perot is still there, man. Yeah, he invaded.
There’s a waste in dependence. Don’t worry, sir. I put him down there like, what are you doing, Raven? He was an unauthorized suspect.
So I popped him. Because he ran by me while I was on the phone. Sorry.
Yeah, sir. I got my ass got dirty at all. Please.
So I thought I thought that was fascinating. You don’t hear anything about those guys. Yeah, that’s that’s a pretty cool niche duty assignment.
Well, how did you do that for Eric? Well, the entire time I was at Charleston, from 80 when I get there, 83 through 87. So we started sending missions overseas, probably 85. So for two years, I went to Africa, a number of places, the Sudan, Liberia, Dakar.
I went to Afghanistan twice, Pakistan. And this was before the war, of course. Was this was this still during what the Soviets were occupying? Afghanistan? So we were just on the ramp.
Just not long. We didn’t say it alone. Yeah.
So I wonder if you go through that course, is that what you do for the rest of your time now? No, no, it’s still really heavily dependent on where you’re stationed. If you were to get an assignment out of AMC, you’re not going to be on. You’re not going to be flying aircraft missions anymore.
So I got you. Yeah. Wow.
But it’s it becomes certainly becomes part of your training record. You go somewhere else after that. Oh, yeah.
We can bring you back in. Oh, I see. It’s nice.
It’s not like, oh, you’re numbered. So that’s all you do now. No, no.
You’re still a cop first. You get to do it all. Hey, Raven.
We need somebody out the gate. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. All right. More changes.
And you probably ran into them. All the complaints, right? Especially if you go to Airmen NCO, senior NCO, Facebook page, you see all the complaints about all the changes. Well, there’s one of the bigger ones.
So from Air Space Force’s magazine, here are the new Air Force dressing grooming. See, God, it seems like we talk about this like every other month. Every week it seems like we address it.
Now they’ve made it official. So they put it out. So Airmen will be subjected to new uniform grooming and appearance standards starting Saturday, February 1st.
So among the changes, this is the one that everybody has a big plan. And I actually agree with it. I think it’s kind of a BS thing.
But among the changes, duty identifier patches are no longer authorized. That kind of sucks, actually. Hair cannot touch a male Airmen’s ears.
I don’t know when that was ever allowed. When was that a problem? I don’t know. Airmen must shave every day if they do not have a medical or religious waiver.
Bam! I like it. A lot of Viking conversion therapy. Female Airmen must comply with tighter restrictions on nail polish.
Remember when we did that show? Was it last year when it had all the different colors? Airmen with a shaving waiver will have to be reevaluated within 90 days of their next periodic health assessment starting March 1st. The updated appearance standards are outlined in the memorandum from Chief of Staff General David Alvin. The new guidelines come about three weeks after Alvin announced a review addressing appearance standards and said the Air Force will begin to more strictly enforce regulation.
We first heard that with the Strategic Air Command, right? When that general was like, start doing inspections. So now I think the wave is going. It was ACC.
ACC. Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.
So let’s go over a couple of these. Duty identifiers. Alvin released a video explaining why he was getting rid of duty identifier patches, which had become commonplace on the sleeves of many uniforms or many Airmen’s uniforms.
But they are no longer authorized as of February 1st. Now, I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you think of General Alvin, Air Force Chief of Staff’s explanation. So here he goes.
Recently, I spoke to you about some changes in policy and standards that we’re making to make us a more effective war fighting force. I also mentioned that when we do these things, I want to give you the why behind what we’re doing so we can be out there with the facts as they sometimes compete with the rumors. Today, I’m going to talk to you about the duty identifier tabs.
These are elements of our forceful… We’ve got two different camera angles. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Stepping up their game. That identify our individual specialty that contribute to the entire team. Over the years, we’ve continued to increase the number of approved tabs to where now we have over 134 approved tabs.
This is a lot of tabs. That’s the graveyard of tabs. Under the rule, the principle that we have of easy to understand, easy to comply with, and easy to enforce, this fails that test.
I don’t think so. But there’s a bigger issue with it. I don’t either.
As we identify ourselves as one type of human or another, with one specialty or one skill set or another, we really diminish ourselves. While that is a contribution that we make, our real value is our integral part of a winning warfighting team. And that’s what we want to emphasize.
We want to emphasize that we value the team over the individual. We value the mission over the function. And we do this to ensure that we are lethal and ready to fly, fight, and win.
Air power, anytime, anywhere. My first question is, is the Airmen’s Creed gone? Are they not? No, I don’t think they’re really doing it. No, not anymore.
Otherwise, he would have finished that whole thing off. So let me ask you this, too. When we first identified these tab identifiers, there was great, good reasoning for doing it then.
Yeah. All of a sudden, now it’s all bad and it’s not about the individual. Well, it’s about things.
But think about it. When you’re in your BDUs, you had your bottom pocket badges that would identify your wing and what you did kind of thing. Maybe not specifically what you did.
But at least your command, right? Yeah, and those were all different. Well, we had the function badges, too, each order. Right, right, right.
And those patches only came up, obviously, with the ABU and then whatever the new uniform they’re wearing is called now, OCPU, whatever it is. But I only remember it started with like, you always knew security forces at those patches. But they have dirt.
They have comms. And I was like, why are you guys wearing identifier patches? I don’t know if you need them. It made it easier at an exercise.
Yeah, sure, sure. If you knew who you were looking for, it was nice. Good point.
When they got out of hand, it was when there was call signs. I was like, okay. That’s dumb.
Call sign on it. Okay. The duty identifier, I can understand.
Right. You know, because you could have your space wings, but you’d specialize in a specific area. Sure.
You had your cop badge, but you never could identify what your specific expertise was. And that’s all that kind of helped with. I don’t think, yeah, that OCP has, I mean, the OB to use you had it some, right? Yeah, I don’t think they have it anymore.
I don’t think they have it anymore. So that’s why I think they started wearing it on their, on their arm. Right.
Well, remember too, we also had just the Velcro patch name, rank, air force, the shield. So for a long time it’d be usual. That’s all we had was just the name tag.
Yeah. The Velcro there. And it was all about being able to sanitize your uniform.
Yeah. Throw that away. And now I’m freaking clean.
Well, it’s funny because he, you know, he does that bit about, you know, while we’re all one team, we’re not, you know, we’re not individuals. That was just smaller teams within one team. Yeah, exactly.
You know, and if you want to go that for the uniform is like, okay, take that duty identifier badge off, but you can wear the trucker’s hat. You can wear the black. Exactly.
You can wear the booty cap. You can wear a stocky cap. You can wear, you know, it’s like, come on.
Well, you know, there was something to having, you know, unit camaraderie too. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, they had, you know, Jacob remember this when we were wearing flight suits when we were one Charlie six, which is the best fucking uniform hands down. Right. And we had the cloth patches that were Velcro, but you had the clock patch and your name and your rank and whatever skill level you were.
But there was a period of time. Which I thought was a great idea. They gave you a cousin.
In the early days of servers, people were making errors all the time. So they started to remember the error free pins. Yeah.
The error free patch was dumb, but there was a thousand hour pin such a complex system. And if you read something wrong, or if you included some scans that you shouldn’t have, you know, that kind of thing, you would get an error. So if you made it a thousand hours of crew time, right? Eight hours shifts, a thousand, twelve hours shifts, whatever it is.
You got a pin that you could put on your name tag. And that was a big source of pride. And they had thousand, 2000, 3000 hour pins.
So you, you would try a little harder. And that went for evals and training training scenarios too. So you would try to be on your game because you’re like, I got the pin.
I don’t want to lose it. Yeah. Or I want to get it.
And then some dick goes, Hey, I looked at the uniform right. And that’s not authorized. And then the command made them made us take them all off.
And it was like, morale is like, it wasn’t crushed or anything, but it was just like, well, that was unnecessary. Why not? It’s kind of a school incentive. It was.
Yeah. Yeah. And if they thought about it, they would have given you a thousand hour of like patch or rocker.
That would have been great. That would have been better. Yeah.
Crew patch or whatever. So it’s the same thing you’re talking about. It’s it’s, it’s a morale thing.
It’s I am big. I am part of big air force, but I also liked my team. I liked the guy.
I liked that. I don’t want to represent, you know, especially when you get into, uh, like, uh, you know, down range, you know, and you’re, and you’re out getting your three beers or whatever. Like, Hey, Dirk guy or a security force.
Yeah, exactly. I got it. That’s pretty cool.
But I got, I also got to ask what a four star knows about lethality and weapon and fricking fighting and. Okay. I think that they might’ve been getting out of hand, but if they have all gotten approved and they’re all the same color and font and all that, it’s not like they’re wearing morale patches that are.
Yeah, it’s crazy. Yeah, exactly. It’s all still standard.
Yeah. Anyway, the rest of this is a shaving waivers. The new thing on shaving waivers, basically just cracking it down, right? They’re saying, Hey, yeah, you got to have really that pseudo folliculitis, Barbay, PFP.
Well said, you did it. I can never pronounce that. I practiced a couple of times on it because I almost.
So what they’re saying is they want medical professionals to say, is this really PFP or is it just some irritation? And if it’s irritation, we can treat it with the devil or some other stuff. So you can still get a waiver, but after 90 days it’s going to be reviewed. So don’t expect this lifelong waiver.
So one quick question. Are the other services Marines army or their uniforms going to be, I know we’re just talking air force specific here, but I would venture to say with the new secretaries for each of the branches. Yeah.
Somebody’s going to be stepping in. So my point to you would be, I don’t know. You probably couldn’t do anything.
I know how, how important it is for an army guy to get a CIB if he’s in combat. Where’s that? Well, that’s so. I’d be right.
They better not screw with that. They always try that way back when, when they screwed with the berets. Yeah.
All more berets. Wouldn’t that be something? No. I mean, if you, why do you need to show a CIB on you? They got to be smarter than that.
Right? I hope so. It’s almost sounds like maybe the air force, the little brother of the service is trying to go. Look what we did, sir.
Yeah. We’re taking it one step further. Look at us.
I hope they don’t impact the rest. Some of the good stuff. I hope Hagseth comes down there and goes, that was dumb.
They can put them back on. Yeah. Right.
I like it. And nail polish. The new policy for nail polish restricts female airmen.
This is where I wish Anna was here. To clear or French and American manicure. I don’t know what American manicure is.
I think the French manicure is like the answer. White. Yeah.
But I don’t know what American manicure is. And this is like the big like Cardi B nail. It’s got a point to like a claw.
Yeah. You can hear him clicking on the floor if they’re crawling after you. So the move seemingly slashes dozens of colors that were approved last year.
I can live with that. Me too. Let’s be stupid.
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David A. Flosse issued a statement touting all new rules as necessary for readiness. He said our unmatched war winning capability is built on the strength and readiness of our airmen. Clear and enforceable standards are the bedrock for our ready and lethal flying force.
Our airmen live a life of service. We are the profession of arms. We are committed to defending our nation.
Deterring. Deterring our foes. And this is a part that’s weird.
And if necessary we will defeat them. I think it’s necessary all the time. Are we not going to defeat them? If it’s necessary.
Don’t make it necessary. I thought that was a weird part to add on to the end. I am only going to clean my weapon today.
If it’s necessary. But that’s only if it’s necessary to defeat your enemies. So.
All right. I really want to get your opinion on this and how it hits you this next story. So this next is.
From the beginning. Because when I first read it I was like. But then when I read.
Hegcess comment. I was like. Yeah I agree with that.
This is from stripes dot com. And this is a weird headline but. Identity months are dead at DoD.
As the Pentagon bans military tributes to minority heritage. So at first it’s like. This sounds pretty bad.
But. All official monthly celebrations related to race and identity in the Defense Department are banned effective when immediately under an order issued late last Friday saying such initiatives divide the force. Right.
The decision comes at the start of Black History Month. Oops sorry about that. Wait wait wait.
Such initiatives divide the force. That was basically the exact same argument that the last guy had. Two patches divide the four.
Oh yeah. They divide the force. Good.
So. So this is all in line. Yeah.
So what we’re doing is making a robot. Just. You look like.
But that’s. But that’s what basic training does. Yeah.
Yeah. Basic training supposed to do. So.
That’s why I’m interested to see what your reactions are to. The decision comes at the start of Black History Month. You know somebody on Friday was like get that memo out there.
It starts tomorrow. It’s great. And there’s people in the hallway with their decorations like are we putting these up? And they’re like.
No. So the guidance was issued under the title quote identity months dead at DOD end quote. That’s the title of the memo.
Our unity of purpose our instrumental to meeting the department’s war fighting mission efforts to divide the force which I don’t think it was dividing but I guess you could see it is singling out. Right. For sure.
Efforts to divide the force to put one group ahead of another erode camaraderie and threatened mission execution. The Pentagon statement said the directive applies to all components and departments in the military which are prohibited from using official resources including man hours to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness month. So all they’re saying is that officially they’re not going to sponsor if you want to go do it off on your own.
You can be my guest walk downtown. Yeah. Part of like it’s not going to be a base official activity.
So yeah I did. I always did enjoy those at Vandenberg because they would always have like potlucks. Yeah.
You could get like Pacific. Oh yeah. The Pacific Islander month.
Hell yeah dude. I’d sign up for that thing all the time. Can I just take an arm full of lumpio with me? And at Vandenberg they had a hog problem.
Oh no way. The two guys on fishing game. One big guy was a Samoan on fishing game.
He was married to somebody on base. And then one. The tall skinny white guy was married to a Filipina.
And so they both ran fishing game at Vandenberg. Nice. So they’d always have a pig roast.
Yeah. That was so good. And they last forever.
Oh fantastic. It takes forever to roast it. Like overnight.
Like you know 24 hours. But then you just you feel like such a such a man. He’s just like.
That was a good potluck to be at. This is disappointing. This initiative is disappointing because of this.
They could still do it. Just not officially sanctioned. So okay.
So here’s the here’s the cap. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken aim at various diversity efforts since taking over the leadership of the Pentagon following the lead of President Donald Trump. In an interview last Wednesday with Fox.
Hegseth said quote. One of the dumbest phrases in military history is our diversity is our strength. He said our diversity is not our strength.
Our unity and our shared purpose is our strength. I like that. I agree with that too.
Yeah that’s pretty good. Yeah I like that. Yes be diverse but all come under a common cause.
Yeah be diverse just because of where we come from all over the place. But united together diverse. Under one purpose.
Under one purpose is the way to go for it. I like that. While the ban prohibits official events service members and civilians remain permitted to attend these events in an unofficial capacity outside of duty hours.
So it’s not like it doesn’t happen. Well you can’t have lunchtime politics. Yeah you can’t leave early.
You can’t go decorate. So other heritage months previously recognized by the military highlighted achievements by women. Asian American and Pacific Islanders Hispanics and Native Americans.
I never got a buffet in a Native American one. I must say. I’m not even sure I remember one of those.
Do you remember when that when did that occur? I remember emails going out for it. You know hey there’s gonna be this you know a speech or you know a presentation or something like that. Oh yeah.
I never went on but I saw so. So I don’t know when I first when I first read it I was like it seems like it’s going too far. But then when I read Hank says stuff and I was like actually that makes sense.
That makes sense. The military should be one collective body. And not celebrating bald guys you know or something like that.
What do you mean? What do you mean? I just hope that this. Where’s your bald identifier patch. It says so on my line badge.
And a guy every day goes yeah no shit. I can see that. Let me check.
Yep still bald. Still bald. Instead of rolling down your window he’s like take your head off sir.
Oh yeah. He’s good. Still shiny.
I just hope this isn’t the way ahead where like every time an administration comes in they’re just going to be like change this panel at all. I imagine the whiplash of if the administration flips Democrats. Yeah.
And we’re celebrating everybody. But you see the military is going to have to be like every four years just full. They’re going to spend the whole first year resetting everything.
Really. How much money are they going to waste doing. The military is always been like this experimental ground for.
Yeah that’s true. You know that they integrate women and men and they say to look we’re doing we’re all doing the same job and everybody goes yeah but we get different PT standards. You’re not quite the same.
But they doubt that all the time and they have you know first black unit for first is for a set. You know it’s like. Yeah.
Are we ever going to get to a point where we just can celebrate each other. You know it was just like. And it’s funny designators all the time.
You said it earlier. When you really feel that strictly united is when you all have no jobs and you’re in basic training becoming somebody right. Right.
Then you’re all the same. You’re just freaking losers. You’re stuck out on the flight line at night.
And I don’t care if you have a master’s degree you’re sitting there getting rained on just like me buddy. Let’s bond that way. You know what I mean.
That’s you know that’s where you see the more misery you got. Doesn’t matter if you came out of ROTC Texas A&M West Point. You’re all getting snowed off at the same time right.
All of your meals are late together. Doesn’t matter where you came. One box nasty is as good as the other box.
That’s right. That’s right. Absolutely.
Absolutely. I’m sweating my nuts off on this roof trying to shoot that that F-16 Colonel. That was such a funny comment last week.
You’re like you ever touch anything metal in the desert. You’re like yeah fuck that. You’re just going to catch on fire.
Yes. All right. One more one more fun one.
Right. So this one is from task and purpose. All right.
So you ever you ever see something coming and you’re like this is a bad initiative. Everybody knew when the GTC was coming out is like that’s trouble. That’s trouble.
So now when you see the results you’re like yeah I knew it. I knew that was going to happen. So it’s what task and purpose troops use government cards to pay for casinos online gaming and Super Bowl parties among other things.
An inspector general report found that military service members charged at least five hundred thousand dollars on gambling drinking and nightclubs in 2023 on the government travel card. Half a million dollars. That doesn’t surprise me a bit.
So how like that was the first thing we all got briefed when we got our travel cards. Do not use this at a strip club. Do not use this for right.
And those first few years were so strict. Where’s the receipt for that gas and I’m like I don’t know like tossed it like that. I don’t know.
Who lost receipt for lost receipt for right. So it was just a bad idea from the get go. It was right.
So for those that were not military generally military members are required to pay for all on duty travel expenses basically is your official away from home. You use your government travel card which is a Visa credit card essentially. And everyone gets issued one which is stupid.
But I mean so you got this thing you’re 19 years old. Oh dude. And you live below the poverty level.
Look at the taxation. I was so terrified of that thing. I immediately put it in a file folder.
Oh I did too. I never took that thing out. Yeah.
I never took that thing out. Well for the cops they put them in their mobility section. They took it all to the mobility section.
Oh yeah. Those security measures. Yeah.
No. You put them in your folders. Smart move.
That’s where they were. Oh man that’s a good move. Before that GTC card came out.
Eric you’ll remember this. When you could get a travel advance. Oh yeah.
Well you were in. You got travel advances. Yep.
My first. So you had to beg for that travel events and you knew if you. Well the first time when you blow it you’re like oh shit.
Now I’m into my whole life. So maybe I should be more careful this time. But then the GTC came out and you’re like oh my God.
Look at this. Until you realize that compensation doesn’t come back all that fast or all that tightly. No.
And then you’re doing quit. Yes. I wish I had that meme you sent Jake because.
Yeah. It did it perfect. It was like the government issues a credit card.
You’re responsible for it and if you don’t pay it if they don’t pay you to pay it then it goes on your credit report. Yeah. That said it shouldn’t even touch my credit report.
So. And yet dude some of those payouts would take so long. Oh if you screwed some paperwork up.
You knew you were going over 60 delinquent. Yeah. You knew that.
OK. So the report which was the audit of the D.O.D. government travel card program colon the visa interlink Intel link compliance management system or V.I.C.M. Viking. The investigation and this is too bad on us not here because she knows GSA GT or G.T.C. and all that stuff too.
The investigation found holes in the watchdog program which allowed fraud and unauthorized spending to slip past officials. Many were minor like paying for online gaming apps or drinks on holidays or during a Super Bowl while others kept up fraudulent chargers for months. Who would have guessed.
Let me tell you that. Let me give you this example that they gave for this one air force card holder investigators found managed to use this card for a five month gambling spree that one that went undetected by their base finance officer or their commander. So this this guy I’m going to say they it calls them they but it’s got to be a guy.
There’s no woman doing this. So I’m going to call him a guy on April twenty twenty three the Air Force card holder took out two hundred bucks at a casino ATM at MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Later the same day he took out another two hundred which was the first of more than twenty withdrawals at the casino.
So now here’s the way with transactions on ATMs are generally flagged by that system vikum that I just said but the airmen in Maryland began withdrawing in early twenty twenty three at that time the company behind the National Harbor ATM had just changed its name from global cash access to every and the vikum system didn’t update the name didn’t fly. So four days after this kid went on his first casino visit he went back and he tried to withdraw three hundred in cash and then just two hundred against the travel car but both requests were declined. He wasn’t deterred.
He went back Saturday. Keep going buddy keep going back. And on April twenty nine the airmen charged the card for four hundred in cash.
The next week he took five hundred out and then the following Monday he was back for another five hundred. So one he’s a terrible gambler. He’s a terrible gambler.
He’s a great GTC scammer but he’s a terrible man. Marty Marty Marty I think I think back two years ago when we talked about a certain crazy defense contractor using his government guard. That’s right.
That’s right. For the prostitute. Yep a prostitute.
A bull. A bull. That didn’t flag.
That didn’t flag. And he was cool Eric. Yeah that was awesome.
Entertaining her all over the place man. On his GTC. A few.
We had somebody use him fraudulently but they would pay it off before the bill cycle. Oh yeah yeah. So.
And you could still do that. Yeah you can still do that. And then but that’s.
But I think they review it and they’re like yeah you’re at zero balance but these transactions are. Yeah but but. You’re doing this.
When the commander prints out that report. That the end of the month they’re all looking at just the balance. They’re not looking at all the individual.
No need to go because it’s like. All right. Because on the commander slides you’re like hey where wall where are you out on this travel voucher.
Like oh it’s on this this in this person’s office. Because they’re signing it. I called yesterday.
You know. That’s the old Pimmer stats wasn’t it. Yeah.
Pimmer stats. So if you pop red on that. Yeah.
All right. They’re going to chase you down for it but if you never show up on it. That’s the thing.
Yeah. The zero if it said zeros. Yeah.
They were using their card consistently throughout the month. But. And then pay it off immediately.
Towards the end of the month. Now let me. It would hurt your credit if you didn’t.
If you didn’t pay. Did it help your credit. Using it all the time.
And paying it off. Did your credit score go up. I don’t know.
That’s a good credit. Like a normal credit card. You would have thought.
If you keep it current. Take the good. Good point.
I bet some people were trying to raise their credit scores. Yeah. I bet very few were trying to raise their credit scores.
Yeah. With hookers. Is that how you raise your credit score? You consistently face hookers every third Thursday.
And he pays the card off. It’s good. He’s steady.
He’s a good credit history. Hotel rail. Hooker rental.
Pay off. Hell, give him another card for Christ’s sake. Let’s give him a higher limit.
Let’s raise his limit. Yeah. Raise that limit up.
Up to orgy limit. You’re up. Oh, okay.
Look at that. You’re, you’re praised in the next Commander’s Call. I’d like to give a shout out to Marty.
He’s now officially orgy status on the GPC. You could do it too, I’ll show you how. Well done.
Well done. A few days later, this Air Force guy made fifteen hundred in cash charges at the casino and then another thousand over the next week to close out the month of May. In June, the Airmen, now he’s in Bolden’s, right? In June, the Airmen charged two thousand two hundred sixty seven dollars against the card.
In July, they charged thirty seven hundred. In August, he charged nineteen hundred when IG investigators spotted the account and alerted the, I don’t know, alerted the Airmen’s finance officials and commanders, including ATM fees, Airmen charged ten thousand six hundred and thirty three dollars. Holy cow.
At National Harbor, he didn’t even go to several places. He went to the same place. Holy cow.
He wasn’t hiding it. No, the Airmen, the IG’s report said was given an article fifteen and just called it good, I guess. I don’t know.
But listen to these facts. No, you didn’t if they were paying any of that. I’m sure he did.
Yeah, I’m sure he did. They probably garnish his paintings. Hell yeah.
Hell yeah. Military members hold about two point three million travel cards and spent about six point four billion in twenty four million transactions in the twenty twenty three fiscal year, the vast majority of which were still the IG found eleven thousand charges totaling roughly half a million dollars, slip past monitors ranging from buying drinks to online gaming to cash withdrawals. The IG also highlighted seven thousand high risk merchants like casinos, nightclubs and online app stores that had not been spotted.
Though bars and casinos fit the traditional mold of off-limits spending for government credit cards, the largest single merchant with unauthorized charges, the IG found was casino. Google from twenty twenty to twenty twenty four, the IG found troops spent nearly one hundred fifty thousand on Google Play apps using their GTC. It’s not like Google Play.
Is that music? Oh, gaming. Wow. It’s a lonely dorm.
That’s a wow. Why would you load your GTC under that? What? Google Play apps. That’s just nuts.
That should have been flagged right off the bat. Like what? What required purchase would you have on the GDC card and a Google Play account? I cannot. But you know how the how the daily duty goes, right? And they’re like, I’m not going to sit down with these hundred people in my squadron and look through every one of their charge accounts.
Is he is he delinquent? Nope. Pass. Go.
Whatever you want. Just go. We’re not out of any money.
We’re good. Are they not doing that anymore then? I don’t know. I doubt it.
You know how busy things get. Who’s going to sit down there and go through their GTC? I mean, we had that report in Commander Staff meeting all the time. But that was just delinquents, right? Well, don’t you think technology has come to the point where you could search for dirty words or something on that report that says, oh, shit.
That kid that flagged for 10,000. Yeah. I mean, that was over like two quarters.
Yeah. Of the year. Right.
I can understand maybe missing it for two months. Sure. Half a year.
Six months. Ten thousand dollars. Like all these stories.
They spin it and go. This might seem bad, but it’s better than it used to be. A 2015 audit, the IG noted, found nearly one million dollars in gambling charges and nearly one hundred thousand where at strip clubs.
Oh, yeah. And like a hundred thousand seems low. I’m getting up the eight years.
What’s disappointing is literally that’s a generation going like a generation went by and you went from strip clubs to Google Play. You went from strip clubs to Google Play. And only fans.
Yeah. You can have both at the same time. Well, you know what? After after the stripper, you were getting no play.
Moving on down the line. I mean, I could get the same effect. Right.
You know, I can’t touch it to strip club. I like how we were just talking trash about all commanders not doing their job. And then you were like, yeah, but it was way worse under our regime.
I get club charges. We don’t have any of that anymore. But I tell you, I’m sure strip club is replaced by only fans because I’m like, without a shit, we got a quarter of a million dollars in only fans without a doubt.
The losers, anybody you want. Who’s this mister history site? Holy. That’s a good a lot of hits on that.
Only fans. At full price, I might. Oh, yes.
Oh, yes. I thought you guys would get a kick out of that It’s a problem we all do what’s coming and it’s still good Yeah, still going you put a credit card in the hands of an 18 year old. It’s just like I had nothing else to do But join the military.
Oh, look at this. What are they gonna do to me? Yeah, right You didn’t know it at the time Yeah Let us go it is and it’s been a good six months since we’ve done I thought well actually I think we did the Military movie auction game sometime last year. Oh, yeah, but we didn’t do a regular auction game until Like last January, so we’re going to do yeah.
Yeah, we’re gonna do a regular Auction game. I like auction games. Whoo But let me add the Wasting too much time.
All right, so the way we’re gonna play it Let me lean in for this The way we’re gonna do it this time. I mean, this is my twist on the game this time Your job is to pick the item That was the lowest price No, okay So not the highest but the lowest And these were all these are all recent. I think they’re all from like August on from like, okay So I like it still over some of them some of the groupings.
I had a little trouble playing in the same items You’ll be able to figure those out. That’s fine. All right first lot of three is Seventy two pairs of cold weather boots.
Okay 72 pairs the brand-new vitamin souls all that kind of stuff Gore-Tex or 58 pairs of Danner combat hiker boots. When did those become a baby? I never got the word Danners are nice. I never got them.
But Dan is a man. You said cheaper which one’s cheaper Do you got to pick the cheapest one? Those cold weather boots are cheaper or One pairs of combat boots. All right.
All right, so we’ve got hiking boots Weather boots cold weather a pair just regular combat boots, but there’s 351 of 351 you can that’s where he’s tricking you cult there. I Cheapest That’s the cheapest. Are you tricking us? I’m going with the cold weather boots.
I always try to trick you know All right cost of the cold weather boots $1,105 was 70 to of costs of the Danner combat boots. These are expensive. Oh Same I may be using the wrong.
I think I’m using the wrong display No, I had the right one god dang it I had the right one so you quit coming back I did we’re coming back Hey, all right, that’s 1105 so price 72 pair of cold weather boots are the same price as 58 pair of dinner. Well, that’s what the lots Yeah for that’s what okay. I see what you’re saying.
Not the party. I had a lot of a different one But it’s auction. Yeah, I got you.
So I think that middle one was a different price 11,000 155 So it was supposed to be that one because the middle one was supposed to be 11 15. I had the wrong price Wow So the cold weather boots is the winner Jake is that pulls ahead of Eric. I’m amazed at 350 pair of combat boots only cost Well, here’s a dozen boots that sell for a thousand or here’s 2,000 boots that sell for a thousand Yeah, look where it’s from to Pennsylvania That’s true.
That is a secret weapon. That’s true. A lot of these are in Vegas.
All right next lot is a Surefire hellfighter Weapon light. I didn’t even know what that was. I looked it up.
You can mount it to like a 50 cal It’s a flash thing. Oh, right. It’s like this big weapon light.
Yeah or three Nikon monarch rifle skills Wow, or this is where I couldn’t find it an item equivalent 46 air a survival vests Air ace Just one of those lights The hellfire hellfighter. Yeah, it’s just one All right First yeah, I’m gonna go with the scopes are the cheapest scopes are the cheapest for Jake Now see if you think about it an air survival vest is nothing but some woven frickin nylons Yeah And you can start a fashion channel, it’s a Kenyan Air Force right I’m gonna that’s stupid hellfighter weapon lights the cheapest by God Grandpa it’s only one 1060 for the nycons. Okay 1004 Hellfighter weapon light more or less than a thousand six.
Oh, it’s it’s Good job, Eric That’s still a lot for that ringing back the robot They only sold one robot That I could find it was only one you’d probably get flagged for buying one even Every purchase comes with a freakin Federal war it we’re trying to get rid of a brother. How do you need this? 1042 assorted cold weather under shirts Yeah, I buy a thousand forty two grouping that you would get you guys That I’m putting this together or 80 assorted All right, Eric you’re up well, here’s what I know fucking toner cost a lot of money I’m gonna go I want to say that robot, but I’m gonna take a thousand forty two assorted colored Open this robot is cheapest. Give me the robot 61 By $5 Two to one Jake Here we go Training mannequins you get seven.
Oh shit. Look at that case Is that here you start your own CPR training course? No, you’re good a mall parking lot. I do 39 assorted commercial ranges.
Oh So ranges or 34 Sony camcores are these really that close? Yes, they are. Wow. Well, not that close But it’s close enough to make you have to think about that’s what I want Assorted commercial ranges.
So Sand like something like cooking ranges. Well, yeah Yeah, okay Industrial cooking ranges pulled out of every rat infested Jake you take this one I think those I think those ranges are the cheapest The stove I don’t want to be that’s a bull like the mannequins are throwing me off The number the number on the camcorders versus the ranges Yeah, the quantity is really close. So it’s toss-up, but the mannequins are throwing me off That’s tough man, I mean if you wanted to start your own Mall parking lot CPR course Seven of them to pump staying alive on their chest.
Yeah, exactly Or another one bites the dust. Oh, yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Yeah What’d you say Eric I didn’t wait Ranges, okay. Yeah. All right.
What do you got Eric? It’s a tough ask I’m with him with you when you look at the volume just the size I know the numbers ranges you’re like, it’s got to be the ranges you think But because the camcorders are sitting out there. I’m gonna go camcorders Camcorders and ranges, let’s count them down 8200 for the training mannequins Vegas is going to 7090 for the commercial ranges camcorders more or less 72 I’m going with my first thought for now I’m going to go back to the vehicles, right? 2018 grand design Wheel travel trip. Okay, and these are all close.
I like that a 2021 26 foot bay boat with the trailer and I think it had engines 275 or Four-door hardtop a stolen Humvee That’s true. Oh, it doesn’t say where is it? Oh, it’s California. Yeah, you’re with California.
It’s That’s where they rail had all the equipment going to a national training center Just one day forgot or the band took it I don’t know you got California you got Arizona in California I’m going with the boat is the cheapest believe it or not Boat as going as the boat is the cheapest. That’s a bold. That’s a good one.
Yeah, I think it’s good I think that’s a good choice. Hmm. I think that Rv I don’t I want it to be the Humvee but The Humvee’s probably the most expensive the Humvee is probably the most expensive What do you got Jake you go to the RV all right 24,000 for the boat 23,000 for the boat Just assumed you were being They’re gonna guess the highest price, but then I switched I was like make him guess the lowest I threw Eric for a loop.
I don’t think you can recover from it. I failed miserably Wow, Jake you’re on top It’s like three to one man, I got smoked that’s unusual Eric, I hope that sticks in your craw for next time I’m coming back Anna would have won just because she didn’t care about it. She would have just like Humvee I Eric you got history today.
I do it’ll be a quick one. I think you’ll like it. Yeah, it’s gonna go back a little ways Let’s go back.
I’m sorry to cheat you on history. That was a good history that child last week Yeah, I didn’t see a lot even coverage on it and like news or anything. No, I didn’t either take truth So let’s go back to 1945 February 4th Okay So we know what we’re talking about too.
That sounds like Battle of Bulge time or somewhere around there It’s close. We’re gonna talk about it’s the Yalta conference the Yalta conference Yes, you did made up World War two conference of the three The World War two conference of the three chief allied leaders Franklin Roosevelt of the United States Prime Minister Winston Churchill the United Kingdom Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union which met at Yalta in Crimea Yeah, the plan the final defeat not patient Nazi journey. So the biggest outcome of this thing Was the divided zones if you’ll remember? Oh So yeah, it had already been decided that Germany would be divided and occupied zones administered by the US British Soviet forces.
Do we know there was one more? There’s one more. Yeah, I Wasn’t aware. I thought there was three.
Yeah, US British French and so They did that just sympathetically Come on come on guys. Yeah. Yeah So you guys in here to you The conference sees accepted the principle that the Allies had no duty towards Germans except to provide minimum subsistence and declared that the German military industry would be abolished or Confiscated and agreed that major war criminals would be tried before an international court which subsequently Presided at Nuremberg and the determination of reparations was signed to a commission So the bottom line here was how to deal with the defeat or liberated countries of Eastern Europe and what’s the main was the main? problem discussed at the conference The agreements reached which were accepted by Stalin called for interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements of the population and The earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people Britain in the United States supported some Polish government in exile in London while the Soviets supported a communist dominated Polish Committee of National liberation in New blood so you notice right off the get-go after this thing Stalin was running his own garland And he said I’m taking it and of course what happens yet East Germany with a wall and all that bullshit That’s where they went East and West Germany, but then they divided up Berlin, too.
Yes 1945 I think that was the year Stalin won best mustache of the year, too Yeah, it wasn’t a category until they met at this conference it was always a toss-up because stylistically You know, they both have the market cornered on where they’re going. Yeah, you know back when Patton said Ladies and gentlemen, we should be taking on the Communists. We already got the army over here.
We should just fight him Bingo, I wish he would have been able to attend the Yalta conference It’s really fascinating if you read some of that I Guess call it opinionated history where you know, I don’t know enough to know if that’s valid But when they talk about like the Yalta conference and stuff like that and how What’s his name for the Brits Churchill Churchill kind of got pushed out of some of that decision-making And I don’t know why I can’t remember why I know I read it once but it was like They kind of had a plan without Churchill Well, it was it was well known after the war that The the England wanted it gone. I know right they wanted him during that time and then once they were done They you know, just discovered him. So yeah Crazy history.
That’s that’s cut down. What crazy mr. History. No, I nice nice All right, so we call that an end-up The big three will discuss your future on you’re always welcome.
I’m on Sold out Okay, fine, I’ll hold out for margarita tacos We need the little So on behalf of all the Next week that you Love the intro and exit You