Paul,
We too are pulling from HawgSmoke this year.
This is due to nothing other than poor patch version, regular CTD's, Client and Server Ping Timeouts and out server dropping from that shyte Master Server list system. The 74th members only just have time to fly with each other more often than not, let alone try to continue to preapre under these ridiculous conditions that have been presented with 1.1.1.1.
I'm also off to Afghan as you know, so i wont be here to lead. That, however, is not a showstopper for the 74th, we have very talented pilots who were looking forward immensely to the competition. Fact is, 1.1.1.1 has ruined it.
Good luck.
'T'