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I am in a similar boat as you (going CONUS instead of OCONUS however). TMO here at Maxwell said the same thing you heard last year: as long as your family is listed on the orders in block 17 at a different address, they will move from two locations. It appears that you have to build it as separate moves on move.mil however - likely 3 for you with the unaccompanied baggage? I will have the third on mine for the partial DITY/PPM. There is some verbiage listed in the AFI that swizzle posted about putting "request agent review" in the remarks for a somewhat related situation, but no idea if that will draw the ire of the logistics and finance demons who will subsequently smite you. Granted, this is all YMMV and has not encountered first contact with JPPSO/finance/etc but that is how I intend to press.

Colombian AC-47 is a Basler conversion with pretty interesting capes. Tough ol' Spooky Gooney bird. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/39236/theres-one-place-in-the-world-where-ac-47-spooky-gunships-still-fly

Interesting. The realignment seems like a good change. Kind of interesting that the last class' outplacement was so Scott-heavy. Bode, trying to do your follow-on at McGuire will come down to a roll of the bones. It has happened recently, but definitely YMMV and not a guarantee.

If that is on your radar, keep in mind that both the EC/EOS and CRW are at McGuire as well. That includes all of your air advisor, contingency response, AOC, and combat training positions, as well as the EC A-staff. Many of those positions are API-6/8 slots too. A good friend graduated ASAM a couple years ago and then rolled right into AMCTES (also at WRI) and is about to pin on O-5. Granted, the flying in those attached positions is essentially quarterly if you don't fly the -10 or -17, but it is an option as well. One aspect of ASAM that is not well known is that the EC commander (2 star) personally works your outplacement, in conjunction with the EOS commander (O-6). I know this is a bet on things aligning in the future, but you can and should be very frank with them on what is best for you and your family. Scott and Ramstein are the most common outplacements from ASAM, but with a DT co-chair directly working your follow-on, your probability of success is pretty high to get something else more in line with your hopes/desires.

DFAS appears to not have an IG, but rather an Internal Review office (DFAS IR). This page steps you through the process, and as always, DoD IG is also an option.

To echo what @otsap said, don't take what TMO is saying as gospel. All they do is input that you are moving and then your regional JPPSO will then divy it out to the moving contractors. One of my people was told on Monday by TMO that they were SOL after some en route training was added, moving their dates up a month. After much freaking out and calling moving companies over the next couple days, the government moving contractor called up yesterday saying that they can do a move next week. I would be willing to bet that they are telling everyone looking to move in June and July to pound sand because it is the busy season and not necessarily based on any facts. The actual scheduling is up to JPPSO and the moving contractors.

You know, that's an argument that I have heard for a long time and completely disagree with. A lot of people in the tanker community also believe that for some reason as well. The Bone and Buff hold a crap ton of gas (~265K and ~312K, respectively), even compared to the legacy tankers (~200K for the -135 and ~340K for the -10), in addition to their weapons loadout. A large aircraft with weapons doesn't equate to a leaky gas can and a lit fuse. Edit: Adding weapons decreases fuel capacity, but still, each bomber holds a lot of gas The P-8 has both hard points and a bomb bay, and is a great model for future weapons employment methods for large aircraft. It is absolutely do-able for a platform like the KC-46 (sorry, C-46...).

Airbus has definitely gone all-in on the MRTT as of late. They are currently flight testing an automatic version of their boom, as well as an avionics and aerodynamics upgrade. While the KC-46 may be the "next-gen" tanker, the 330 MRTT is definitely going to make up a large chunk of tankers worldwide. Just off the top of my noggin: Australia and England have been flying theirs (with the UK looking to add a boom as well) for a while,the European consortium is doing a bulk buy, several middle east countries are flying/have bought, India finally paid for theirs, the South Koreans and Singaporeans are buying, etc etc. Oddly enough, they have one big LIMFAC: landing gear configuration. They are twin-tandem just like the -135 but weigh about a hundred K more. They are gross-weight limited at a huge number of military airfields worldwide as a result.

Got mine added this past December at the Philadelphia FSDO. FAA Order 8900.1 figure 5-88 on the most current version (02 feb 16) shows that the KC-135 equates to the B707/B720 types.

David Clark is currently testing a one-ear version of the DC Pro (http://www.go-dcpro.com/passive-headset-features). There are a couple test sets floating around both McGuire and Travis. A lot lighter than the current DCs, so we'll see if they decide to market them. I personally am not a fan of the Telex. Definitely miss the Bose A20 from my previous jet. The KC-10 comm system uses a non-standard PJ-051 plug, that as far as I know is not used on any other military aircraft. While many commercial aircraft have similar one-ear setups since their cockpits have decent noise insulation, the -10 fleet is limited to either the specific DC or Telex options due to that plug. The jet basically has a bunch of military equipment shoehorned into a FAA-cert'd airframe, so without going into a big history lesson, this is one of the "solutions."

Completed my ATP at Tulsa Community College a couple weeks ago. To echo all of the other reviews on here, overall it was a great course for a great price (~$2500 including flight time, examiner fee, gas, hotel). They have a newer model Seminole with a G500, and they are setup to "teach to the test" - exact words from their chief pilot. They love us military pilots since we show up more or less instrument proficient and are able to get thru all of the training in 1-2 flights, and then press to check. Couple LIMFACs to be aware of: 1) Aircraft availability - only 1 plane currently, they are working on getting another leased with a G1000. I had to mx canx flying on my first day due to a shredded alternator, and it took about a day to fix. 2) Evaluator availability - the DPE is a Southwest check pilot with an extremely busy schedule, due to supposedly being the only ATP-qual'd DPE in all of Oklahoma. She only schedules 2 weeks out prior to the next month. However, she is an awesome pilot, extremely knowledgeable and fair. They are all full up until January, but PM me for evaluator/TCC contact info to schedule.

Definitely agree. Hampton goes into incredible detail about the development of both SAMs and the Weasel mission from day 1 until the Vietnam War ended. I bought it purely on a whim at a bookstore because I recognized the author's name from "Viper Pilot." I happened to hear Col Leo Thorsness speak at Maxwell a couple days earlier, and the book explains the events that led to him being awarded the MoH. I've already bought a couple extra copies and handed them out to people. Highly recommend.

I suggest you find a tanker patch (I swear they exist) and have an actual discussion about that.

The former Vice Chief of the Army, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, is on a similar crusade in his retired life. That article is an excerpt from a terrific book written by the Starbucks CEO called "For Love of Country," which is a collection of stories of both organizations that are looking to advance veterans' issues smartly, as well as some combat stories. There is one story in particular about a op gone wrong in Afghanistan after they landed in the middle of minefield while attempting to roll up a target. Read the whole book in an evening after reading the initial article, it was that good.

How easy was it to schedule dates? Lots of openings or something you have to lead turn 6-9 months?