Andrew DesO

Mil pilot. Hobby machinist. Pfizer injured by mandate. I'm only smart because I realize I'm dumb.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

(1) While PPP loans are hot, lets talk about my former employer, Kalitta Air LLC. This company took millions of taxpayer dollars despite having about 6 times (600%!) the revenue during covid lockdowns! What did they do with this money? Fired vaccine injured people like me!

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@Oilfield_Rando I'll pay more for quality food that is ethically raised. So have been down this road. The CCP owns the US pork industry and its not even close. And guess which packers get special congressional passes?

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

The House is scheduled to vote this week on a National Defense Authorization that would integrate our military tech & supply chains with Israel’s.

Today, the Rules Committee will decide whether my amendment to strip section 219 will get a vote.

RT to support the Massie amdt.!

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@MCCCANM Wacaco Minipresso and a travel foldable silicone electric kettle, get the dual voltage one if you go international. A small grinder if you are that snobby.
You are welcome. Yes its worth lugging around.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@Oilfield_Rando All we have to do is pass a law that you can only vote if you paid positive taxes once in the last 4 years.
Just like how back in the day you had to be a land owner to vote.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@RoyDeaconQualls @KennethKessner Glad to see he is handling it. The Czar 52 comment is directed at senior leadership who just completely changed the game of "do what your career can handle" game of every wingman out there to, if its cool enough and gets enough social media likes, your OG can't do shit to you.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@thestinkeye @johnkonrad Its not a what if. Safety procedures were disregarded and violated. And you better have a good reason why you did something like that.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

We take offense to directly undercutting command to hold people accountable. Czar 52 would be a great case study to read. Imagine on one of your vessels someone did something reckless to show off to friends, violated safety rules and the SecWar posted how awesome that person is? What message does that send to the rest of the group?
Mark my words, in the near future one of the boys will fuck up their stunt, now that they now have no fear of punishment, and hopefully we only loose a jet and not a group of civilians. We can push limits without wiping all accountability away.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@MikeSchuler Czar 52 is a perfect example of why you don't undercut commands ability to put guys in timeout for doing dumb shit

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@thestinkeye @SecWar I still remember a flight commander as a T6 faip "don't fucking do that, you are good enough to pull that off, but the student watching you isn't and is going to kill themselves copying you"

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@Calibremag I mean depends on the impact angle and speed... we had an Iraqi student in a T6 do 80 degrees down at 350kts that beat quite a few

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@WhiteHouse @PeteHegseth Czar 52. And I do love America.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@thestinkeye Czar 52. He should probably read that case study. Bud by all accounts was an outstanding stick, that had someone in command actually done something that crew would still be alive. Including him who just probably needed a time out.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@thestinkeye Czar 52. If only there was a case study.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@MCCCANM Just search Czar 52. Unfortunately this generation will need to see it again.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

Its all fun and games until its not.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

@RoyDeaconQualls Very well said. Assuming command just sat those guys and not an FEB, undercutting command like that is never good.

[Roy "Deacon" Qualls @RoyDeaconQualls]

When I was a lieutenant, I put on a private airshow for a girl.

She had hair the color of summer silk cascading down bare shoulders kissed by a South Carolina sun that would have turned me into a raisin.

Impossibly dark eyes.

A smile that could melt polished steel.

A pair of jeans like they had been issued specifically for her.

I made multiple passes.

Lazy eights.

A few simulated strafing runs on her car.

She leaned against the hood looking like a movie poster.

I survived the airshow.

More importantly, I survived the consequences—because the only witness kept my secret.

Getting away with it wasn’t vindication—it was Providence smiling on an idiot.

Today, I look back and cringe.

Not because I wasn't a good pilot.

Because I wasn't yet a mature one.

Here's the part that may surprise people.

I almost don't trust a lieutenant who isn't at least imagining his next unauthorized airshow.

But I don’t respect a commander who doesn't rip the LT's head off if he's caught.

Youth has always been a mixture of confidence, talent, and just enough poor judgment to create great stories later in life.

But too often, young aviators confuse "It worked" with "It was a good idea."

They're not the same thing.

During my career I made plenty of mistakes.

People who worked with and for me made mistakes.

Fuel-planning errors.

Weather decisions that became emergencies.

Descents below the hard deck.

Once a lieutenant landed long and fast and briefly turned an F-15 into an ATV.

We debriefed those mistakes relentlessly.

How did this happen?

What barriers failed?

How do we keep it from happening again?

Then we moved on.

That's how professionals learn.

It’s also how organizations survive.

We were never a one-mistake Air Force--thank God for me.

But just as honest mistakes demand questions, willful disregard for flying safety regulations demands accountability.

And consequences.

Every commander eventually has to answer one simple question:

Which regulations are optional under my command?

Because the moment your people believe they get to decide which regulations are just suggestions, you've got a much bigger problem than one unauthorized flyby.

Photo note: The cockpit image is an AI recreation based on a long-lost photograph. The young lieutenant in the G-suit is, regrettably, authentic.

[Andrew DesO @andydeso3]

With you here. Sending the message your leadership can't sit you for a dumb stunt is not good order and discipline. Should they be FEBed? No, but a few weeks at a desk to think about what you did is deserved. Publicly squashing your leadership and posting the glamor shot is going to get someone killed.