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Your last sentence is a false statement. Not all online MBAs are created equal. Many of the AF square filler online degrees are exactly like what you speak of, but the world is a busy place today and there are lots of online degree programs that are challenging and filled with full-time working career minded students, just like those of us in the military. I would argue that one of the biggest perqs of my "online" degree was the networking it built. 2 unsolicited job offers from on-line student peers (not the random headhunter crap on link'd in), and I have connections that I've used multiple times. Bottom line, like everything, do your own research as there are pros and cons to both, but to dismiss all "online" MBAs as a waste of time is big false stereotype. Many do fit that description though and I would completely agree that if this is for square filler purposes, ACSC, ERAU, Touro, and the like are all excellent choices at achieving the desired result with minimal time, effort, and $$.

Sock measuring? Please...that's F-ing amateur hour. This is Army War College, we're at the varsity level of queep enforcement. TRAIN TO TIME, NOT TO STANDARD!

Personal view: an online MBA is a waste of time. If you need a square-filler for AF stuff, go do ACSC or ERAU or something. If you are mentoring the pups, advise them that the real advantages of a MBA are classmates and on-campus resources. They'll get neither through an online program.

So, are you looking to do 5.5 more years of active time to get a retirement? The IMA program itself is not going to get you that, but it will definitely open doors to other active duty gigs where you might be able to do a few months or a year or so of an active duty tour. But your IMA "bucket" of money only has enough money to pay for the stuff I was talking about in the above post. You might be better suited trying to find a full time AGR slot for 3 years and see if you can do that twice if they renew the slot. Cobbling together 5 years of MPA or RPA maydays might a challenge, but I know there are definitely lots of days out there depending on what you want to do and where you want to go.

You don't have to do all of your time all in one swoop. Depending on the unit and travel costs, you can break it up. There is an IMA guidebook somewhere with some more details, but they will usually only pay travel ONE time for your use of annual tour. And of course, just as a Traditional Reservist, you are on your own for any IDT training travel costs. So, just like a TR, you have the equivalent of one weekend per month, or 24 days (48 periods) per year to burn plus your annual tour of 12 days (this is for Category A IMA, Category B is 12 days/24 periods). So, in short, you are on the hook for 36 days per year, which can be done all at once or broken up, depending on the unit and your supervisor/scheduler. The big catch is that if you break it up into more little chunks, you will wind up paying more for transportation out of pocket if distance is an issue. Also, if you do all of your days in one chunk, you better be damn sure you have done all of your annual requirements while there (PT test, physical, training, CBTs, etc), because you will be SOL if you have to take a PT test 6 months down the road and you don't have any IDT or AT days left. And of course, since IMA jobs are usually tied to active duty units, there is usually no such thing as "drill weekends," which means most of your days will be done Mon-Fri. Most supervisors will let you burn a single period or two over the weekend for admin/CBT stuff, just to keep your lodging paid for by the IMA detachment. But a week of working your IMA job will likely only be 5 1/2 days of pay as opposed to 7 days of pay. Unless of course, you are in some exercise or in an office that works 7 days per week, then ignore my last sentence. IMAs, just like TRs, can whore themselves out and take on additional maydays in the form or RPA, MPA, or whatever days. Obviously you will deconflict with your IMA unit if you are going to take a longer MPA/RPA tour, as a lot of IMA jobs want you there for a specific exercise or time frame in order to maximize your usefulness and experience. nunya, I think I answered all of your questions, but just to summarize: no IMA jobs are really paid "full time" for any months. At best, you are paid "mostly full time" for 36 days if you shoot your entire wad of military days in one fell swoop. Of course, if you did an additional volunteer active duty tour, then you would be paid active duty for that amount of time. IMAs are typically not weekend warriors, TRs are the weekend warriors (unless you are like I was and did drill makeups during the week in order to preserve your weekends). Both IMAs and TRs are Reservists, and both are on the hook for 48 periods, plus Annual Tour each fiscal year in order to get a "good year." You will want to make all requests for IDT and active duty days well in advance - at least a month. And most people complain that working through the Detachment as opposed to their own unit orderly room can be a pain. This article might be worth a read: http://www.theboohers.org/my-start-as-an-ima-in-the-air-force/

Look at the big brain on Spoo...send him to war college and he becomes the acronym police...what's next, off to the Deid to measure socks?

Not exactly an F-15 suggestion, but along the lines of the post-flight write-ups... U-Tapao, 1974: Pilot (Big John, not Tall John) lands his U-2, debriefs with the crew chief and writes in the forms "Aircraft flies sideways" (actually meaning out of trim and flies with a slight yaw), then closes the book and leaves. Thirty minutes later, back at the trailers where we all lived, the Lockheed tech rep (Travis Mason, I believe, a great guy but not much patience and a poor sense of humor) storms in frothing at the mouth, looking for John, yelling loudly something about airplanes not being able to fly sideways and how can he clear such an idiotic write-up. John was conveniently absent so after about 10 minutes of frustrated yelling he left. I think the maintenance super cleared it by writing " Straightened aircraft" or something similar. I have to add that Big John was not Travis's favorite pilot to start with. Earlier in the tour he noticed several of the older guys wearing similar black watches that looked nice (actually some early Japanese digital watches they got cheap in Bangkok). Upon asking, they told him that they were "Lockheed U-2 watches" given by Lockheed to pilots who had flown operational missions. They told him to see Travis to get one. Of course, there was no such deal from Lockheed, and Travis didn't know anything about the joke, but for weeks John bugged Travis about getting his watch. The other guys told him that Travis did have the watches, but was just slow to respond and you had to bug him a lot to finally get one. Then came the "flies sideways" write-up and the Travis/Big John relationship went downhill from there. Big Jonn didn't really care, but Travis almost wouldn't stay in the room or talk with John by the end of the tour.

You guys need to cut Scoobs a break. Cadet 3rd Class year is very stressful!

Light greys deploy?

Clovis is a debatable combat zone depending on where you live.

This is so important and I'm glad I'm not the only one harping on this point. If you are checking the box with the easiest masters degree then do it in something pointless, don't get a crappy MBA to check the box. A good MBA can open up so many employment options you might not even be aware of but once you've done a crappy online MBA you have closed that door on yourself. If you can attend a part-time MBA from a legitimate top program that is one thing but an online only MBA is a bad idea in general. I think this tendency to check the box is why the Air Force is so vastly under-represented in terms of veterans at top MBA programs.

Well you certainly figured out how to post a statement. Next time follow the same steps, phrase it in the form of a question and put the appropriate punctuation at the end. Problem solved. Does that help? (See that's a question)