Leaderboard

Easy Nancy, some of us O-4+ fighter dudes were EE degree dudes and kept up with it. I love the idea of shutting down the bad guys with computers, less death for everyone, but sometimes a GBU-31 is the ONLY way take care of something. Good luck throwing your mouse at a bad guy. Did I just open myself up to a cyber attack? Dammit.....

Hopefully this turns out Ok and just someone going overboard with holiday 'min manning' : Quick Google search indicates they went public with this early Sat 28 Dec. Sent from my phone using Tapatalk 2

I knew a missile guy turned rpa operator. He was the happiest guy in RPAs.

Also, can we split this thread since this isn't about the MC-12 crash in AFG?

Great response, until this: "Putting Congress back in control of America's purse strings ensures that we will be able to take care of the men and women in our armed forces." Congress is the reason multiple useless bases remain open that the DOD wants to close. . . and then there's the RQ-4.

Guilty until proven innocent

If I'm remembering the right picture, I thought it was 0,1,0,1

Shut off his pay, ID card, etc and let him go…24,999 to go in the cuts.

I thought she didn't say 25K for sure but it was a possibility. Of course my connection kept dropping during the force management discussions. Our leadership here has been telling us to expect the 25K cut upfront for over a month now, so it's been consistent. I understand them not wanting to put people thru the RIF boards year after year. The downside is how do they know that 25K is the right number? The budget landscape changes every year so the pendulum could swing the other way next year. If a major war breaks out next year, do they just recall everyone back to active duty? Without cutting the non-mission essential requirements (TIB, AF-level athletics, end of the year spending, commercial sponsorship) I just don't see an honest attempt to save $$. I often wonder how much of this proposed 25K cut is self-inflicted to make a political statement? This also reminds me of when Gen Moseley came out and stated his desire to cut people for the Raptors. How did that work out? Edited to ask the question: For the longest time we planned for the ability to conduct 2 simultaneous wars, that kind of went away a couple of years ago. What's the current goal and how will the 25K cut affect that goal?

Shit! I hope this doesn't reduce my chances of being force-shaped!

That's because if you are O-4+ then you are probably too old to understand cyber. Most cyber dudes in charge pretend to know cyber and make decisions based on the old COMM mindset. Some may be willing to listen and defer to the sharp CGOs/NCOs. The probelm is then their vision/mindset gets pulled down to the tactical level because those sharp CGOs/NCOs like to be down in the weed. Then there is the problem with the cyber chain of command. At this point, cyber is just a big money grab and job security for many people. Gen Welsh was right when he said he wanted to wait and see before dumping more $$ into cyber. The new 2-star in charge of cyber seems like a good dude though..

Renting is not throwing away money, especially if you're in a location for sub 4 years. To make up closing costs, taxes, and potentially new major expenses (roof, new furnace/water heater/AC etc) you need to stay longer term. Secondly, at my first duty station, a lot of the new Lts bought new construction housing... which was cool, until it came time to sell. They paid a premium for new construction, except 4 years later, houses were still being built. They couldn't sell to the next person who wanted new construction, yet couldn't all make up the new construction premium. Most broke even or lost a little. Third, build up an emergency fund. Your vehicle could need a new transmission, a family member needs help or whatever else may come your way. Common numbers are 3-6 months living expenses. Fourth, open and max out a Roth IRA every year. Call Vanguard and until you get smart, dump everything into their Target Retirement Fund 2060 or whatever year is your flavor. Finally, do the TSP or Vanguard account on your own. Day man recommends ETFs, I recommend Vanguard Index mutual funds due to the auto reinvest feature over the next 40 plus years. Each company and fund has their own benefits, see the Personal worth thread for reading recommendations. Good luck!

Oh for fuck sakes…Here’s what I just heard: If it’s attainable within “mission requirements” we’ll cut the active duty force by 25, 000 this year. Do you have any understanding of the current, or more importantly future “mission requirements”? Let’s get her thoughts on cyber: “On the move…important and growing…I have no well defined vision…seems like we ought to be in the lead…certainly important…yeah I don’t know anything about cyber…next” At least I have someone else to answer this for me, “You mind fielding this one for me, it’s a hard one”. I’m not sure what you guys are going to do, but HQ has a great plan for reductions of such magnitude…“mitigate” by eliminating vacant billets (mentally shown via facial expression “Fuck, why didn’t I think of that”). Enough of this asking me shit…that’s hard. “What would you change?” “Oh…good…good one…” “What am I going to change? Nothing, I’m just hear to field the softballs if you can manage to speak without a water. I don’t really have anything to say, but I do have a water I’m going to hold up in front of all you dry throated MF’ers. Burn!” “Okay…the pain of having no answers has worn off and I’ve decided to try another question…shoot: Retirement changes?” I saw this one coming, I’ve got this one… “Clearly, the growth in the cost of [retirement] benefits has been large.” “Definitely changes a coming…but only for new recruits” “Damn it, that already happened?” “That gripes me.” (Not said but should have been, “Huh, the growth of O&M costs are completely disproportionate to Mil Pers outlays? What fucking service is this again? The Army is worse? Oh, the Air Force…that’s good. Which appropriation category was that again?” “Anyone have an easier one?” “Great…moving on.” “How do we make civil service more enticing to younger people” Easy, dumb ass…we’ll “talk it up more”. Yeah, and “no more furloughs”….”I hope, cause you know I’m not in charge of that.” “What am I in charge of again?” I should have just given in and fallen asleep in the middle of that…or did I? Bendy

Would ya?

I think, at the moment, third party candidates just make it worse

Why not have a Roth IRA? Xaaraman why do you recommend doing a TSP on your on, I've heard that the fees were really low? If you don't know much about investing couldn't you loose money? And do you recommend target retirement fund over TSP?