Lost Link

Traditions feel to be slowly losing their importance these days. Whether that's a product of the naval-gazing that comes with being in a peacetime military or a failure to educate new airmen on Air Force history is uncertain. What is certain, though, is that heritage is what makes the Air Force great. It's what makes people sacrifice for the greater good. On this episode of Lost Link, Muff and Yogi discuss some of the struggles with heritage and tradition in the MQ-9 community and casually toss out a few ideas on how to improve things.

There's little humor to be found in the last two weeks in Afghanistan, but Shiva was able to find what scraps of it he could. Muff hangs out with Shiva Trimble to talk about getting piss on your boots, losing 15 pounds in two weeks, C-RAMs as entertainment, and a few other bits of gallows humor. They also talk about the AFA conference, the future of the MQ-9, Manned-Unmanned Teaming, the AFFORGEN concept, and how compassionate, understanding friends can be the best bulwark against self-harm.

The Guard Mafia is real. Weapons stashes, backroom dealings, national networks of contacts, budgets larger than you'd think, convoluted accounting tricks, and an indecipherable lingo only insiders understand! McFly Bolda teaches Muff the secret handshake and let's slip the secrets of the shady world of the Air National Guard. They discuss the pros and cons of joining, what Guard units are usually looking for, how MQ-9 Guard units contribute to operations, and more. Get a spoon ready 'cause there is a lot of acronym soup to be had.

Muff sits down with his long-time friend Fuse Stellwagen and they have a wide-ranging discussion that hits what being followed by an MQ-9 must feel like, requal'ing in the MQ-9, airmanship, being the air boss at the Dubai Airshow, working at AFCENT staff, getting passed over and subsequently selected for promotion, planning to retire from the Air Force, and other subjects of, undoubtedly, great import.

Large organizations have long struggled to ensure they promote the right people. The Air Force is increasingly relying on forced stratification to identify individuals with high promotion potential. There are benefits to this system, but also numerous significant drawbacks. Muff and Yogi get together to discuss the Nellis Effect, “halos and horns”, impacts to innovation, historical alternatives, and other issues.

The RPA training pipeline began in late 2009 with the establishment of what is now called the RPA Fundamentals Course. RPA students now also attend Initial Flight Training in Pueblo, CO and complete the RPA Instrument Qualification course before heading to Holloman AFB, NM for Initial Qualification Training. Yogi is still deployed so, on this episode, Muff loses link with Tink Hammons to describe what the training pipeline looks like from commission through IQT and share a few stories from along the way.

Yogi is deployed so, on this episode, Muff loses link with Hendro and they discuss Hendro's early career flying UH-1 Hueys, his famous strike on a mortar team that pretty much every RPA crewmember ever has seen, his involvement in the first days of RPAs at Holloman, his command style, mentorship in the Air Force, and how the service's violence prevention program is inadequate to achieve its stated goals.

Following significant issues with the control of airpower during Vietnam, the modern air operations center was created as a means to centralize and improve that control… and improve it has. Times they are a-changin', though, and the AOC construct now finds itself struggling to maximize the capabilities of assets like the MQ-9 that blur the lines between ISR and strike. Muff and Yogi discuss why this is the case, why the A32 and the A33 can't get it together, and what may be done to unleash the capabilities of the MQ-9 in the immediate future.

Both Manfred von Richthofen and Hans-Joachim Marseille are airpower exemplars from a time when aviation was young and much of the way we think about ourselves today has its roots in the conflicts during which these two men dominated the skies. Muff and Yogi disable command link, wax poetic about these two enemy aces, and contemplate what eternal truths can be learned from their experiences dominating the air during WW1 and WW2.

Muff and Yogi lose link again, this time over Afghanistan. (Who hasn't?) They discuss our noble entry into the conflict, talk about some hard truths regarding American preeminence and the shifting global power balance, recount some personal stories from their time flying the MQ-9 over the country, and wonder if we actually learned anything from failing to meet our stated objectives.