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I wish I had done that, at least once.  But I think it would only work in theory, you'd still get ed over somehow...forced out of your rental house/paying for a hotel out of your pocket, all of your shit not getting picked up on time out of said rental house, etc.  I think it'd be a great play for a single guy, probably not so much with wife/kids in tow.


Valid. It costs a little bit in hotels/incidental expenses. But the reduced stress that comes with saying “ it, they’ll cut my orders and I’ll report on time or they won’t and I won’t and it’s good either way” is amazing. Highly recommend; have not executed on an OCONUS PCS.
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9 hours ago, Jaded said:

I always wondered what would happen if people stopped jumping through their asses to get orders. Just do nothing, and when your DEROS is up or whatever and you don't have orders, you stay an extra week while the FSS gets fucked by some O6s. 

I racked up 10,000 in GTC charges on a PCS that went delinquent for like six months.  The commander asked me why my card wasn’t paid off and I told him because I hadn’t been paid.  When everyone realized I wasn’t going to pay it until I got paid and it started working it’s way up the chain I got paid within the next week.  

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3 hours ago, Snooter said:

I racked up 10,000 in GTC charges on a PCS that went delinquent for like six months.  The commander asked me why my card wasn’t paid off and I told him because I hadn’t been paid.  When everyone realized I wasn’t going to pay it until I got paid and it started working it’s way up the chain I got paid within the next week.  

This is pretty much my plan of attack with my GTC.  I don't put anything on it that isn't reimbursable.  If it's not paid, I just let it ride, and attach any late fees to the voucher.  Eventually you will show up on someones list and questions will be asked.  It usually gets fixed pretty quickly.  No fuckin way I'm paying 3k of my own money because of their incompetence.  So now I have a GTC that is cutoff and late fees are piling up (which I just add to my voucher).  Funny part is finance tried threatening me by saying I wouldn't be able to go TDY since my GTC was about to be cutoff.  

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20 hours ago, Jaded said:

I always wondered what would happen if people stopped jumping through their asses to get orders. Just do nothing, and when your DEROS is up or whatever and you don't have orders, you stay an extra week while the FSS gets fucked by some O6s. 

 

20 hours ago, brabus said:

I wish I had done that, at least once.  But I think it would only work in theory, you'd still get fucked over somehow...forced out of your rental house/paying for a hotel out of your pocket, all of your shit not getting picked up on time out of said rental house, etc.  I think it'd be a great play for a single guy, probably not so much with wife/kids in tow.

I see this happen all the time with members of the MXG here in Korea.  Usually the FSS just extends their DEROS, and the MXG middle management (junior NCOs) in charge of those young airmen don't mind, because they keep their "bodies" around.

I saw a guy PCS 3 months after his original DEROS, and only after a high-speed Top-3 buddy of mine overheard his story and started advocating for him.  Then we got to watch everyone act all surprised:  "WHAT???  THAT'S HAPPENING HERE???"  GMAFB.

When overseas on a remote, playing chicken with the FSS doesn't end well.  It **SHOULD** result in people getting fired, but leadership on that side of the flightline has been broken for so long, you can't expect much.

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8 hours ago, SocialD said:

 I don't put anything on it that isn't reimbursable.  

My plan was to never get a GTC card.  They said I couldn't pull it off.  When I retired Nov 2014, I proved them wrong.

Without a GTC, getting airline tickets to TDY was slightly painful for other agencies.  And the looks I got at Finance when I needed help were priceless.  But I made it work.  

One of the small victories is really enjoyed.  (The other was going 8 for 8 against AFPC).

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4 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

My plan was to never get a GTC card.  They said I couldn't pull it off.

You sir are my hero.  I had to bring my GTC to a recent deployment line as a required item for visual inspection.  "GTC Visa - I literally could not leave home station without it."

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I'm currently TDY for something like 55 days and I'm staying at a motel that costs $93 a night...  I just got the AmEx platinum card that gives you $600 in free points if you put $5k on it in the first 3 months.  55 x $93 = $5115; perfect!!!!!  Who needs a GTC!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/25/2018 at 4:32 PM, spaceman said:

I'm currently TDY for something like 55 days and I'm staying at a motel that costs $93 a night...  I just got the AmEx platinum card that gives you $600 in free points if you put $5k on it in the first 3 months.  55 x $93 = $5115; perfect!!!!!  Who needs a GTC!

Just be sure you have the funds to pay it off at the end of the month because you know it'll take at least 60-90 days for your voucher to pay out.

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10 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Contractors = no need for long term govt healthcare and other expensive shit

 

also..

cP9OJjD.png

Uhhhh

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10 hours ago, YoungnDumb said:

That's as close to smiling as I've ever seen that man, except right before he hooked me as student.

Dude you're a FAIP, you know better. JJ didn't hook you, he just wrote the gradesheet.

Edited by Boomer6
The English language
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3 hours ago, jonlbs said:

State declined to prosecute, USAF declined to prosecute, so the SVC’s and the man hater Hillibrand is again trying to circumvent the judicial system again by getting their frivolous Art 120 convictions. I hope that Convening Authority planned on retiring at his current grade.

https://mdcourts.gov/sites/default/files/unreported-opinions/2017/1015s16.pdf

Edited by Azimuth
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38 minutes ago, Azimuth said:

I hope that Convening Authority planned on retiring at his current grade.

You know...he could have, and could be using it as a "fall on sword" kind of moment point out how ridiculous this whole situation has become.  That would be cool.

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33 minutes ago, 17D_guy said:

You know...he could have, and could be using it as a "fall on sword" kind of moment point out how ridiculous this whole situation has become.  That would be cool.

Which is sad that doing something, well within a Convening Authorities discretion, is now considered "fall on sword" moment. 

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So from the filing Azimuth posted... The two alleged victims then are presumably the accused's children, and the mother in question is the ex-wife who he has an ongoing custody dispute with and who he accuses of trying to alienate the children from him. That is some pretty significant context that is missing from the USA Today story and the quotes in it from the various members of Congress, Don Christensen (the ex-AF prosecutor that tried to railroad Lt Col Wilkerson at Aviano), and the SVCs.

Not a lawyer... But it appears to me that advocates for the ex-wife, including the AF SVCs, are taking advantage of the fact that the news media has a professional standard of not identifying the alleged victims of sex crimes who don't wish to be identified. They in effect counted on the fact that the press would leave the divorce/custody dispute context out of the discussion to try to win a losing case in the court of public opinion. I don't know if the congressional members quoted knew about that context, but Christensen probably does and the SVCs definitely do. And I kind of have a problem with that.

Prosecutors are supposed to have a professional obligation not to "win," but to see that justice is done. i.e. If a prosecutor finds out that they've probably got the wrong guy, or that their office convicted the wrong guy in the past, they have a professional duty to dismiss the charges or seek to have the previous conviction overturned. How does that work with the obligations of an SVC? Obviously an SVC is supposed to be an advocate for the alleged victim... But in an Air Force that allegedly believes in "Integrity First," surely one has an obligation not to make arguments one knows are specious to try to win in the press when you're losing on the law and might lose on the facts. If this is considered "Okay" by the Air Force, then I have a problem with SVCs as a career field just like I have a problem with OSI. 

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14 hours ago, Disco_Nav963 said:

So from the filing Azimuth posted... The two alleged victims then are presumably the accused's children, and the mother in question is the ex-wife who he has an ongoing custody dispute with and who he accuses of trying to alienate the children from him. That is some pretty significant context that is missing from the USA Today story and the quotes in it from the various members of Congress, Don Christensen (the ex-AF prosecutor that tried to railroad Lt Col Wilkerson at Aviano), and the SVCs.

Not a lawyer... But it appears to me that advocates for the ex-wife, including the AF SVCs, are taking advantage of the fact that the news media has a professional standard of not identifying the alleged victims of sex crimes who don't wish to be identified. They in effect counted on the fact that the press would leave the divorce/custody dispute context out of the discussion to try to win a losing case in the court of public opinion. I don't know if the congressional members quoted knew about that context, but Christensen probably does and the SVCs definitely do. And I kind of have a problem with that.

Prosecutors are supposed to have a professional obligation not to "win," but to see that justice is done. i.e. If a prosecutor finds out that they've probably got the wrong guy, or that their office convicted the wrong guy in the past, they have a professional duty to dismiss the charges or seek to have the previous conviction overturned. How does that work with the obligations of an SVC? Obviously an SVC is supposed to be an advocate for the alleged victim... But in an Air Force that allegedly believes in "Integrity First," surely one has an obligation not to make arguments one knows are specious to try to win in the press when you're losing on the law and might lose on the facts. If this is considered "Okay" by the Air Force, then I have a problem with SVCs as a career field just like I have a problem with OSI. 

“It’s called a court of law, not a court of truth.”

That’s what I was told during my court martial by one of my attorneys and it’s a very true statement. Lawyers will fight tooth and nail to get evidence “in” or keep evidence “out” under Rules of Evidence. Christensen is a POS who’s on the SJW #MeToo movement trying to get retribution for losing the Wilkerson case. If you ever read the record of trial, his theme was that fighter pilots were rapist frat boys that got to break the rules because that’s the mentality they have.

The SVC position is an odd one. They don’t have legal “standing” in a traditional sense in law since they are neither the prosecution or the defense. They were part of the 2011-2012 knee jerk reaction by the Air Force (and eventually adopted by the military) from fall out of the Wilkerson case and the documentary “Invisible War” where Sen Hillibrand and Sen McCaskill branded a sexual assault epidemic in the military. The SVC position, in theory, is a great resource to a victim about legal rights (self-incrimination, how the military justice system will progress with the case, expedited transfer, etc). However, it’s turned into a personal Kirkland & Ellis law firm for the victim to have the accused prosecuted completely at their personal whim, not what the evidence shows the Government or the Convening Authority. The SVC’s aren’t supposed to align with either side of the adversarial judicial process, but they end up doing so with the Government a lot of the time. Another problem is that a JAG can go straight into being an SVC without ever spending time as trial counsel or defense counsel.

This recent Air Force case U.S. v. Vargas shows that the SVC conspired with the Senior Trial Cousnel (lead prosecutor) and the NAF/SJA to have a certain military judge removed from a docketed trial because of how he has ruled unfavorably, in their own opinion, in previous sexual assault case. Then the actual military judge who knew about the conspiracy to remove the previous military judge, was the one who did eventually remove the military judge from the case and then presided over the case himself. He then declined to be deposed by defense counsel to be challenged to be removed fro the case due to his person involvement.

In the civilian world that would get you removed from the circuit of trying cases, let alone a bar complaint. In the military they just PCS you or a allow you to retire. I believe that non-judicial punishments authority should be Commanders on G-Series orders. However, major criminal activity under the UCMJ (Rape, Murder, Sexual Assault, etc) should be given to the DOJ because of the misjustices that the Military Justice allows to happen since it’s a Commander ran system that are advised from incompetitent attorneys who aren’t doing ethical actions.

Edited by Azimuth
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Yeah... True story, I was stuck at a hotel in Bloomington, Illinois with nothing to do one weekend in 2013, so I no shit read everything about the Wilkerson case that HAF had released via FOIA: the record of the trial, the clemency package that went to Gen Franklin, the videos of OSI interrogating Wilkerson and his wife, etc. Huge freaking "2" on Christensen being a POS. Now, I strongly suspect Wilkerson was guilty of some kind of collateral misconduct under the UCMJ (i.e. adultery and/or swinging), but the AF couldn't prove that to save their lives, and Wilkerson/Mrs. Wilkerson obviously had a disincentive not to admit to it in their defense because to do so would risk his membership in the check of the month club. Doesn't excuse blatant prosecutorial misconduct. Gen. Franklin is one of my all-time heroes for doing the right thing then and falling on his sword in 2013 on another case. Got to hear Mr. Franklin, USAF (Retired), speak at WIC 2 years ago and am still sad I never got the chance to shake his hand.

Made the mistake of weighing in on this current case on the Doctrine Man facebook and am currently getting eaten alive by the "Won't somebody please think of the children!" crowd.

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