Scooter14

I stand corrected on the Article 15's for the Powdered Pantons, that is what I had heard from a friend who had a friend in Korea. I'm glad that only LOR's came out of it for those folks.

Don't get me started on DTS, especially at Vance... I got my W-2 last year and it looked sketchy, but I had transitioned from AD to the ANG, sold back 30 days of leave, had a DITY move in there, etc. I went to Finance, and they were all "Oh, it's good to go, sir." With that W-2, I ended up owing like $700. I thought that was strange, since I file Married/2, but whatever, I send the check out 10 April. The check clears 14 April (wow, that was fast!) 15 April, I get a corrected W-2. I redo my taxes and find out I only owe $36. Nice. So, I file an amendment. Mid-August I receive my $664 check. 4 days to cash my money, 4 months to return what's mine. :mad:

Ah, the paperless Air Force, what a joy!

How are you gonna afford a plane AND a kid? Oh, and let me know when you get the plane so I can get on our AMS graduation trip and fly with you!

Like hart11B said, know the Boldface/Ops Limits. There is NO EXCUSE to not know it on the first day. Not just you, everyone in your class. We had a couple of brain surgeons that spent too much time at Scooters and continued to hook the daily boldface. We checked each others work, but when you read thirteen boldface in a row, THROTTLES and THROTTIES looks the same. Anyways, we ended up having to turn in three a day for a while, and if someone messed up, they were up to five. It pisses the IP's off to no end, not to mention the rest of the class, who is trying to get ready for that next sortie. Get your class to know it BEFORE you hit the flightline, and get together on the weekends and pound out (sts) some in advance, and check them over, with more than one set of eyes. I would check them, and others would still find errors. It worked for us. Talk to senior classes. Work together. The pattern stuff, systems, etc. will come (sts) with time. Know the Boldface. Take Friday night through Sunday morning for yourself, except for those hellish Instrument tests, it will preserve your sanity. Don't say "Well, civilian pilots do it this way", especially if you are flying with a former Cobra pilot as an IP. You WILL get your ass handed to you ;) Good luck. It's a lot of work, but someday, you will miss UPT. Or so people tell me. :confused:

Without knowing what's in the GNC shake, I know that some of those supplements used to give me headaches. At least that was my conclusion when I stopped taking them and they went away. I'm not sure what ingredient did it and some do it to me and some don't, hit or miss. Try maybe Simply Whey or someting basic and move up from there, see how it works for ya.

The guy at my UPT base called a guy in my class right before we started and wanted to take us all to Pizza Hut because he was a retired IP and wanted to talk to us about flightline expectations. He never identified himself other than his name, so I go home and call him (he'd been hounding guys in my class for a couple days and they kept bugging me about calling this dude) and the receptinist picks up the phone... "First Command, how may we help you?" Ohhhh, I see how it is. If he'd been up front, I would have set up the appointment and let him feed us, but the fact he never identified himself as a FC guy really pissed me off. I started a mutual fund with them 10 years ago, and that's it. One guy in Omaha continuously called me, and it just alienated me more and more. Listen up, kids...Starting a mutual fund IRA early is very good, having a monthly allotment to it is very goos as well, just find one of the other 894 companies out there to do it with.

BLASPHEMER! Curtis LeMay is rolling in his grave, Mack. Hey Bergman, still got that SAC patch, heard you took some shit for it at UPT...

Tyler, Congratulations on finding something worthwile to do with your life; promoting the glorious and noble profession of aerial refueling. Other good (and not so good) SAC movies: A Gathering of Eagles Strategic Air Command Dawn's Early Light (Rebecca DeMornay holds a special little place in my heart, as a BUFF copilot and as an insane nanny) Just go to an online gaming site. When the computer asks you if you want to play a game of chess, type in "Global Thermonuclear War" and see what happens

Clicking on the support Baseops helps this site, though. Hw do you think we can afford to have that wonderful Avitar on your screen name, and don't forget your Moderator pay...

If you serve 20 AD, and retire then serve in the Guard, there was a plan I read somewhere that accomodated this. Yo would forfeit 1/30th of your retirement pay on the days you pulled Reserve Duty. Also, kind of in line with my first post, it is my understanding that if you serve 15 years AD, do 5 years in the ANG, then do 5 more full time AD years and retier, you can draw your 20 year AD pension immediately, then when you turn 60, your Guard points then get factored in. Any help would be appreciated. Just when I start to get the Guard pay system figured out...

OK, I know the traditional Guardsman does not normally receive retirement pay unitl they are 60, but, my question is this, based on a statement I heard the other day... If you have 20 full years of retirement points (365 x 20 yrs) and you retire, do you start drawing pay immediately? Example: Let's say you join the reserve component off AD, you've got about 10 years in, you're on MPA tours for a year or so, and then in the next 15 years or so you get those 9 full years of points, so at the end of 26 years, you've got your full load of 20 years worth of points. Can I retire the next day and get a check two weeks later?

Yes and yes. It is a TDY enroute for AD folks. It's $20 a day per diem on base (roughly), $31 a day for off base for meals and incidental expenses. What they have been doing for folks on base is giving them the proportional per-diem rate M-F, and the Gov't rate on the weekend, this is a compromise for the missed meal forms. They figure you're gonna miss meals about 5 out of 7 days a week. I think it's fair. I think the C-17 RTU is about 8 or 9 weeks, but I couold be wrong, since I'm a -135 guy. I do know that the sim is up and running 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, so your "weekend" may fall on a Wed/Thurs. Also, they are starting the whole Left seat/Right Seat thing for all the folks in C-17 and -135 land, so it might be longer (sts) Plan accordingly. If you maintain a residence or have a family in Enid, reference the Spouses forum for discussions on whether or not to bring the spouse. Check with TMO about moving belongings. I think they will move you, but they won't move everything. Browse the baseops website for per-diem rates/voucher stuff. Lots of good info. Good luck. Where are you headed?

Now THIS is a documentary I would pay money to watch.

I heard some bad news for those folks through the grapevine today, for anyone planning a sequel or a commerical for anything dealing with their nether regions. I will now attempt a tribute to M2 and his old movie quotes. "Who want's an Article 15? Article 15? Article 15? Three Article 15s!" Article 15's all around, I guess...ouch. Well, it could be worse, they could have to pull a remote, oh wait a minute... It sucks, because the video is hilarious.

Excellent points for the AFRC/ANG future parents in regards to the health care. As for the squadron's assistance, that will follow you throughout your Air Force/Reserve/ANG careers. Every squadron I have been associated with has bent over backward to accomodate us late in the pregnancy, keeping me home int he last month, sending flowers, meals, etc. Granted, there may be a time where you can't be home for the birth, but those year-long deployments seem to be the exception for run-of-the-mill aircrew members flying the line. 120 day rotations at best, and those can be broken up. The only ramification I ran into at UPT was the fact that, if I took too much time off, I'd fall behind, and for me, the quicker I was done, the better for the family. I really wanted to finish with the class, and luckily it was a smooth birth, quick recovery and I was already almost done with T-1's. Nurselorber, we recommend St Mary's, but I hear Integris Bass is really good, too.

Congrats on finally getting a date. It's a long road, ain't it?

Yeah, if you wanna fly the four fans of freedom. I'm a -135 guy, so I guess I'm a little partial. I do think a -135 overseas is one of the best assignments. A SpecOps -130, slick to Ramstein, Elmendorf, Yokota, C-21 to Europe, C-17 to Charleston, -135 to MacDill or Offutt, they are all pretty high up on the list as well. Each has it's own merit, be it mission, location or both. If I was Active Duty, knowing what I know now, my wish list out of T-1's would be something like KC-135 to Kadena, MacDill, Mildenhall, Fairchild, in that order C-17 to McGuire, Charleston, McChord, Travis (if they had them yet) in that order RC-135 Offutt KC-135 to McConnell Then whatever life sent my way, starting with a -10 to McGuire. Once the C-17's come online at Hickam and Elmendorf, that would change my views a bit, but I'd still take the -135's first, again, I am biased. For some reason, the C-21 does nothing for me. Sorry wacky and C-21 driver. Everyone I know who does it loves it, though. If I was AD, knowing what I know now, I might even put in for T-44's out of Tweets and shoot for the Talons or Shadows overseas or slicks to Ramstein or Elmendorf. But that's just me.

I've heard Allergic To Combat back when it was ATC from the oldheads. I guess Ain't Even Thinkin' Combat evolved when it changed.

You have no idea... I went through Survival in September, though, so that was my good deal

I think it's one of the best out of UPT because... You're overseas while you are younger with less responsibility and more opportunity to travel You get to interact with aircraft and personnel throughout NATO and beyond You get to go to airshows throughout Europe No 3.2% beer (right BeerMan) Those are some of the reasons. Sure, you might miss the states and places like Okinawa could give you island fever, and I think Mildenhall has about 3-4 hours of overcast daylight right now, but I think a -135 overseas would rock as a first assignment That's just me talkin'

Very true Toro, very true, but here's hoping it stays off of some ate up politically correct shoe clerk's desk in his or her climate controlled office where Gold Bond is not required I've been humming it all day as well (STS).

I showed the vid to my brother the Coastie(who as a service must also believe in proper groin hygeine, since they keep a stock on their cutter) and he said "Dude, that was hilarious! We would get HUNG if we ever did a video like that." Hopefully it stays underground enough that they won't get too much shit for it. Between the guys flying naked , guys getting in trouble for class patches and the political correctness of the military, I hope it stays in the right hands. Anyone know if these guys have gotten lined up and yet?

If you consider 15 hours at a destination good trips, strat air is the way to go. If you want a tried and true (read old) airframe that will actually stay somewhere long enough for you to see the sights (even if the sights are four tan canvas walls with an air conditioning plenum on your roof), the mighty Stratotanker is for you. If you want to get somewhere and break, go for a C-5, but there are not many coming out of UPT on the AD side anymore. The three holer is damn sexy when we get to dump our remaining 60K into it and beat the gucci boys back to the bar. Just kidding fellas... IMHO, one of the best assignments out of UPT (KC-135 to Mildenhall) was picked up after the first few rounds in the draft in my class. In all honesty, and this has been said over and over but I firmly believe it, whatever you get out of UPT is by far, the best aircraft in this man's Air Force, bar none. You'll have avitars by your screen name, you're e-mail address will have the number in it somehow, you'll buy the little pen pocket tab and you will let every other operator in the military know that without YOUR aircraft, there is no way any war will ever be won.

Maybe because the old Air Defense Command units, like Vermont, Montana, Massachusetts, North Dakota, etc. didn't take part in the old TAC then ACC tradition of the 2 letter tail code. When ADC went away, the tradition held over. Just my guess...