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Signal Chat Leak Angers U.S. Military Pilots
- josefritzishere 2y agoIt paints a picture of comically inept stooges running around like Larry, Curley and Moe, bonking each other with ladders, and dropping anvils on each others heads.
- Jtsummers 2y agoGift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/pilots-signal-leak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7U4.xHyf.pHlINveYh4UU&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/pilots-signal...
- kragen 2y agoThat just says "We've updated our terms" for me and invites me to consent to a contract of adhesion.
- mediumsmart 2y agotaken to the air on behalf of something called the United States and worried someone might get killed. You couldn’t make this up pre llm hallucinations.
- readthenotes1 2y agoI would imagine that some people in the military, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, have an idea that it is the enemies of the country that are trying to kill them not their leaders
- protocolture 2y agoThey have an Assumption of Risk, which includes that the leaders of the USA wont be actively leaking details of their flight plans.
- _thisdot 2y agoArchive link: https://archive.is/2025.03.27-220826/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/pilots-signal-leak.html https://archive.is/2025.03.27-220826/https://www.nytimes.com...
- kragen 2y agoMore trustworthy link: https://archive.fo/cxvG2 https://archive.fo/cxvG2
- sandworm101 2y ago>> Signal, a commercial messaging app, A commercial app? I've never sent a complaint to a newspaper but this seems a little much. It is a free and open-source app, not commercial.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- kristopolous 2y agoI think they mean "widely available for public usage"
- threeseed 2y agoIt is developed by Signal Messenger LLC which is a for-profit company. That company is then owned by a non-profit but technically you could argue it's commercial.
- nickthegreek 2y agoNo argument is even necessary. They take payments, not donations. It is a commercial enterprise. https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360057625692-In-app-Payments https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360057625692-In...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tsimionescu 2y agoIn this context, commercial stands opposed to military, I think.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rl3 2y agoIt's great to see a retired Tomcat driver interviewed for this article. For those unaware, the F-14 was featured in Top Gun and is an absolutely iconic aircraft that's no longer flying [in the US military]. That pilot's quote sets the stage in a way that confers an almost timeless quality.
- gukov 2y agoThat quote can be applied to so many areas in life. Also, a Tomcat “driver?” Is that a thing?
- alabastervlog 2y ago> Also, a Tomcat “driver?” Is that a thing? Air Force nerd slang. [edit] and I guess also naval aviator slang if they use it, too.
- defrost 2y agoOh, yeah .. humble brag from one side, dragging on show ponies from the other. https://old.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/p2joju/whats_the_backstory_of_pilots_referring_to/ https://old.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/p2joju/whats_the_... There is no military position immune to dragging.
- rl3 2y ago>That quote can be applied to so many areas in life. Couldn't agree more. >Also, a Tomcat “driver?” Is that a thing? Yup: https://www.quora.com/I-am-told-that-an-F-15-pilot-was-called-an-Eagle-Driver-Were-pilots-of-other-aircraft-Falcon-Drivers-or-Tomcat-Drivers-or-did-they-have-other-nicknames https://www.quora.com/I-am-told-that-an-F-15-pilot-was-calle... To qualify, my usage of the term was intended with nothing but respect. It also sounds cool as hell (IMHO), in similar vein to "gunslinger".
- RobRivera 2y agoYes
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
- travisgriggs 2y agoEnswampification. I’d write a witty blog article about it if I had one.
- alfiedotwtf 2y agoLet’s all be honest with ourselves… if the only difference in Signalgate were the people involved, there would be a different outcome altogether. Anyone in the military would have told you if they were in this situation, they would have been court marshalled by now along with months in prison. Put another way, Republicans are the untouchables. They always have been, and as Trump’s Third Term will show - no matter WHAT they do, “what are you going to do about it”! Bitch and moan all you want, and downvote me to hell… and then what? And if you’re American, put you perspective in Greenland’s, Canada’s, Mexico’s point of view. MAGA hasn’t figured it out yet: Today Canada, tomorrow America. They’ve figured it out. They won, and now they’re planning on how to carve up the spoils. I’m betting Trump and family gets a huge slice of the pie while MAGA celebrates by proudly goosestepping at his military style birthday parade. Good luck America… you used to be cool, but now you’re just the high school bully who’s in his 30s still driving around his mum’s car while looking for kids to beat up for their lunch money: “…compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans”
- theshrike79 2y agoI can guarantee that nobody involved in this will face any consequences. The reporter might, but no one else.
- tokioyoyo 2y agoSide effects of being angry that there’s another country, by almost all metrics, took the lead. Next step is forcing a war, I guess.
- gsky 2y agoIf it's China, why angry? America welcomed it into WTC and gave business, IP, training and investment to get rich. Either America wanted to exploit China or help it get rich. Which ones true?
- tokioyoyo 2y agoThey were successful in taming Japan. I guess, a good chunk of the government thought they could do the same with China? But again, it’s been more than two decades now, the people who made that decision probably don’t have a major stake in the game anymore. It’s all conjectures, I’m not American (have relatives over there though, so have to keep up with the news), and not enough skin in the game. Just sad to see, as I’ve met incredible people throughout different parts of America.
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoThe wild thing to consider is how entirely fucked we are if we're actually attacked in our current state. It's clear the DoD is rudderless. So is our IC. Our military-industrial complex hasn't gotten the ketamine treatment yet, but that seems to be imminent.
- rimeice 2y agoDw, more guns than people, it will be fine.
- bradydjohnson 2y agoThe ketamine treatment?
- amingilani 2y agoKetamine implies Musk which implies DOGE. It’s a play on the rumours that Musk abuses his ketamine prescription. Note that I’m not advocating for the rumours. Merely explaining.
- clort 2y agoThe person driving the destruction of the government services in the USA is apparently self identified as a heavy ketamine user.
- AlecSchueler 2y agoI think they mean vastly reduced in size and scope by DOGE, since Mr Musk is apparently doing all of his government work in a state of ketamine induced mania.
- sitkack 2y agoThere were some other guys that famously got a lot done on stimulants.
- AlecSchueler 2y ago
- gagagah 2y ago[flagged]
- Loic 2y agoFor me, the best part of the article, this applies in so many places in life. And of course, I am guilty too. “The whole point about aviation safety is that you have to have the humility to understand that you are imperfect, because everybody screws up. Everybody makes mistakes,” said Lt. John Gadzinski, a retired Navy F-14 pilot who flew combat missions from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. “But ultimately, if you can’t admit when you’re wrong, you’re going to kill somebody because your ego is too big.”
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ThisRealLife 2y ago[flagged]
- JohnTHaller 2y agoTrump doesn't know the definition of the word humility. And he's brought in loyalists that work the same way. Their initial defense was 'are you going to believe a Demoncrat?!?'
- esalman 2y agoTrump is such a polarizing figure that people who are actually competent don't really want to work for him (and yes Elon Musk is not one of the competent ones- he is biased at best). He has no choice but to value loyalty over competency. It's a pity. He's more unhinged day by day. He's taking big risks. He's betting tariffs will benefit US manufacturing but it's more likely to increase inflation. He's betting crippling universities and NIH/NSF and such will fix science somehow, but in reality it's more likely to drive competent researchers out of US. Growing up we considered US government and it's officials as examples putting county above loyalty and wanted our own country's politicians to follow suit. The tables are turned and the highest offices in the US government are following third world country politics playbook.
- Terr_ 2y agoI feel that rather under-states things in Trump's favor. > [As a polarizing figure] He has no choice but to value loyalty over competency Technically true, but importantly the kind of "polarization" has nothing to do with partisan politics, it is self-generated by his own actions, and his problems retaining competent people are wayyy older than his 2015 entry into the Republican primaries. He values "loyalty" because he needs people who aren't going to refuse or turn him in when he wants to break the law. A fair number have been convicted of it, like his CFO Weisselberg or his personal lawyer Michael Cohen. > He's betting tariffs will benefit US manufacturing No, he believes a trade-deficit means the US is "losing" profit to another country which is taking the value of trade. He's imposing new taxes onto the American people because that's a readily-available lever for him to pull, as he extorts those other countries for favors. (He was even impeached for soliciting such favors before.) > He's betting crippling universities and NIH/NSF and such will fix science somehow I've never heard Trump even make the claim that the quality of US science and R&D needed fixing, and none of his recent actions are consistent with that explanation. Instead, every illegal impoundment of federal funds can be traced to things like naive keyword searches for "diversity" or "women", or trying to punish/extort universities over DEI policies and transgender-athletes. Columbia's recent "academic receivership" has nothing to do with science. Further evidence for this non-science motivation comes from how his administration started targeting people for their political views (i.e. violation of the First Amendment) to deport both permanent residents ("green-card" holders) and foreign students on valid visas.
- nickpp 2y agoI wonder how the US military will react when they will be ordered to attack a previously friendly nation like Canada or Greenland, or to help and support a previous enemy like Russia in its wars against Europe.
- PeterStuer 2y agoAsk Germany.
- blooalien 2y ago> I wonder how the US military will react when they will be ordered to attack a previously friendly nation like Canada or Greenland, or to help and support a previous enemy like Russia in its wars against Europe. I wonder how they'll react when ordered to attack American citizens on American soil just because they offended Trump's fragile ego or psychotic xenophobia. Judges, journalists, protestors, "gays", anyone with brown skin? Here's hoping they'll refuse, but who really knows for sure?
- aceazzameen 2y agoWe have a front row seat to see how it all played out in Germany a century ago. It gives us a better understanding of how people cowardly and pathetically turned on each other and their neighbors. Hopefully the end doesn't have the same conclusion (except for Germany losing of course). It's up to everyone here and now to make a difference in how this nonsense plays out.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> wonder how the US military will react when they will be ordered to attack a previously friendly nation like Canada or Greenland Same way the Department of Justice did [1][2]. The honourable ones step down. Eventually, someone obeys. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Massacre [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_U.S._Department_of_Justice_resignations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_U.S._Department_of_Justic...
- justlikereddit 2y ago
- Sloowms 2y agoThis is such a great example of why a lot of main stream press sucks. Who cares about what military pilots think about this? This would only be interesting if they thought it was no biggie. If a journalist wants to keep this rolling there are other angles to take. Make a listicale with all the different parts where the law was broken or operational security wasn't followed. Make an article about the people involved and why they were in this group chat. Write about what this means for other classified information. They really want to make this into a story of military personnel vs Trumps team so they can avoid saying this is bad.
- rl3 2y ago>Who cares about what military pilots think about this? Because they still command near universal respect, even if the law lately unfortunately doesn't.
- cess11 2y agoNo they don't. https://imgur.com/a/EOmBJ0i https://imgur.com/a/EOmBJ0i This is a group known for spewing dioxin over civilian populations, bombing weddings and hospitals, &c in large parts of the world. They inflict enormous violence at a huge distance, and unlike infantry they aren't forced to see the consequences of their actions up close. Huge amounts of resources have been spent to make these people and what they do seem cool rather than cowardly and atrocious.
- senordevnyc 2y agoThe majority of Americans have a favorable view of the military, and I suspect it's even higher for fighter pilots (Top Gun!) https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/the-u-s-military/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/the-u-s-mili...
- cess11 2y agoSo? Are those the only people that matter?
- rl3 2y agoIn keeping with F-14 discussion, this submission just disappeared off the main page faster than the U.S.S. Nimitz going back in time to December 6th, 1941. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film) I like to think this development will inadvertently alter the course of history such a way that it manages to make HN less censored.
- justlikereddit 2y ago"you're going to kill someone" Said the guy who flew 15000 miles away from his home to bombe a foreign political figure and his family in his home because of a political disagreement
- ThisRealLife 2y agoOur only ally is Russia and we've got a whistle blower including journalists on classified group chats. I'd imagine any remaining Americans are angry.
- Arnt 2y agoGoing to kill someone… the messages said there was a spy there, someone who watched a target go into a building (and not leave). Is that spy still alive?
- jmisavage 2y agoThis reminds me of the old military phrase "different spanks for different ranks". The higher up in the chain of command the less consequences you have. Any enlisted person or junior officer would lose their job and face federal charges.