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Herk Driver

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Posts posted by Herk Driver

    VA Loans

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Herk Driver

    Who is in the market for a VA IRRRL?  Give Marty Medve and his team at Trident Home Loans a call.  Trident was able to do a 2.75% interest rate with a small fee but not the 1.5 points others are charging.  I think the rate without the fee was 2.875%.  There was also a nominal lending fee of $555.  With my VA rating there was no VA funding fee.

    This was one of the few times where the rate has been low enough (.5 below current mortgage) for me to be eligible.  It’s a great time to re-fi and save some money.

    edit: to correct an error and for clarification.

    VA Loans

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Herk Driver
    Clarity

    Thanks to Amy and her team at NBKC. Closed earlier this week on a “second” home so rates are a little higher at 4.375%.  Amy and her team worked through all the underwriting hurdles (college town condo) and made this a reality.  NBKC was the only place that I could find that was willing to find a way to make this a reality. Closing was in just over 30 days with Christmas and New Years holidays thrown in the mix.

    Recommend giving Amy a call when you are shopping for mortgage loans/rates. Great experience all around.

    Thanks again Amy.

    VA disability that doesn’t affect FAA/ civilian flying

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    5 hours ago, isshinwhat said:

    You can apply for Combat Related Special Compensation if you have a 10% rating or higher that is combat related or Concurrent Retirement Disability Pay if you have a 50% or higher rating. Neither is automatic. 

    Interesting.  CRDP may not be automatic but I never “applied” for it.  Maybe my VSO did that in the background for me.  YMMV. Combat related issues can be different but the general rule of thumb is 50% or greater gets concurrent receipt.

    Trying to maximize leave close to retirement/terminal

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Herk Driver

    You CAN break up PTDY as others have said.  I’m not sure that after being gone for 2 months that I would have wanted to come back to work for 2 days to out-process, like you are alluding to.  If it is approved as terminal leave then your plan will not work.  If you can convince your CC to sign an ordinary leave form for 60 days and then you come back, sign in and go out process then good luck to you.  In my experience, this won’t happen but YMMV.

    Also, in your scenario expect your pay to be delayed and screwed up due to DFAS issues with processing it like you desire.

    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 8/1/2017 at 2:10 PM, ClearedHot said:

    I went to SOS (under protest), 60 days after I pinned on O-3...Being the most "junior" guy there I actually had to pull CQ duty one weekend to sign people in and out.  :bash:

    If the A-10 pilot's Wing/CC has any sack he would elevate this until he was told to pound sand by SECAF.  I know someone on the board knows the SOS/CC, please tell him to pull the bottom of his ears as hard as possible until he hears a loud popping sound.

    I wonder if the Wing/CC called Killer?  Is he still the AU/CC...I am sure he would not put up with this unless there is more to the story.

    Information on PCS/moves/moving (DITY, TMO, DLA, storage)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Didn't see a "TDY" topic, so this is probably the best fit.  Is anyone familiar with the JTR reference that allows for a RON midway through a travel leg when that leg exceeds XX hours?  Basically, my RTB return is like a 30+ hour leg and several who have gone before me swear there's a reference (I can't find it) that if travel duration exceeds XX hours, then you are authorized an RON in one of your stops along the way.
    Many don't use the option and just deal with the disaster 3-4 leg travel day to get home to mom and the kids.  I'm more of the belief that you shouldn't pass up a free night in London, etc.

    Not familiar. You can spend the night at your port of embarkation/debarkation...in other words, your first stop in the states, typically BWI if returning from the sandbox.


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    Retirement / Separation Considerations

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Wow thanks guys that is good info...I had no idea that you could no longer 3 day opt out for some of these deployments...if not all of them.

     

     

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    IIRC, you can still 3-day opt a 365...but an AEF 179 is a different issue. Sorry I wasn't more precise.

     

    If you get pushed into one and only have 30 days when you return it will probably impact your ability to take terminal etc.

     

     

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    Retirement / Separation Considerations

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Can the Air Force give out a deployment that goes past commitment date and then not allow the member to set a date of separation? Also is there a minimum number of days prior to your separation date that you can be deployed until? Of course there is always risk that every additional month you are in the Air Force there is risk for a future stop loss of some sort.



    Thanks for any advice...because I know a lot of guys on here have been in similar situations.




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    The AF can absolutely give you a deployment past your ADSC...once tagged with that deployment you can not set a DOS that gets you out of that deployment. At least not anymore.

    It was stated somewhere else that the AF only has to get you home with >30 days prior to your separation date.


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    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So I know we got off the JQP hype-train a couple of years ago.  But his latest one is pretty good and not to hyperbolic.

    https://www.jqpublicblog.com/corruption-ranks-mcguire-ig-wrongly-dismisses-ncos-reprisal-complaint/

    If someone here has some IG experience, please weigh in.  Because this one is baffling to me.

     

    Have been a NAF/IG but I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night and am trying to write a decent response as I eat breakfast.

     

    There has to be more to the story since all reprisal complaints require a MAJCOM and SAF and DOD IG review and approval before being closed out.

     

    JQP rails against the McGuire IG but doesn't take to task the DOD IG who would have needed to sign off on this before the complainant received his letter of dismissal? And I mean they read, re-read and buy all the logic of the response, etc and normally send it back for re-work multiple times. I'm not buying it. Maybe the local IG screwed up and gave this guy the letter before he was supposed to or he didn't follow the process. Or maybe there is more to this story than is published here. Either way, I would take my case up with DOD IG ( unless they were complicit) but definitely with my Congressman at this point, if the facts are as presented in the article.

     

     

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    Promotion and PRF Information

    in General Discussion

    Posted


    Not entirely correct. Once granted selective continuation, it takes the SECAF removing the career field from the "critical skills needs" of the Air Force before you can be involuntarily separated. It's a very safe bet that 11F is not going to be removed from that list any time soon.


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    Fixed it for you.


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    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    cccadf2803d40f4121464f43a5dc79e3.jpg
    I, for one, am appalled. We hear all this talk about how we need more women in STEM, and what does the internet do when 10 brave women express a desire to work in nuclear energy? It's disgraceful, really.


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    Are the Czechs replacing their nuclear "fuel rods" now after this episode?


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    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    They tried man, they tried their hardest to fight this to include the IG, zero help from anyone despite multiple witnesses and character statements.  They were also relatively young and despite this tried to use the system to their advantage.  To be fair, one of the guys got his reduced to LOR and is doing okay.  

    I think he is saying why didn't they turn down the Art 15 and opt for a C-M. Others have posted about the pitfalls of a C-M vs Art 15, but there is no try to turn down a 15. It is a simple initial on the face of the Art 15 paperwork. You have an absolute right to refuse to accept Art 15 punishment and go to court instead. Maybe I am misreading what you are saying.


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    • Upvote 1

    What's wrong with the Air Force?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    It isn't that simple.  Going to a C-M, even if you are 100% certain of being totally innocent, is a very risky endeavor.
    A C-M doesn't have the same standard of conduct that a civilian court does. In a C-M, charges can be added, changed, or modified at any time during the proceedings, so basically once you open the door up, anything and everything that is discovered during testimony is in play.  You can enter a C-M charged with one thing, and exit convicted of something else entirely depending on what came up during evidence and testimony.
    Remember that the UCMJ does not include a presumption of innocence, and depending on the charges, has different standards of evidence and conviction than what we're used to in the civilian world.
    Plus, a conviction at a C-M is a federal conviction, while an Art 15 isn't anything at all in the outside world.
    Add all that up with the witch-hunt environment which we know exists in the USAF with respect to some topics (like sexual assault, particularly), and that is the makings of a potentially very bad situation for someone accused and being offered an Art 15.
    During my career, I had the "opportunity" to pay a large chunk of money to two different, very well known and talented former SJAs (and now high profile civilian attorneys) and they both heavily, heavily suggested taking the Art 15 rather than risking a Court-Martial.

    It may not be that simple as you say, but...

    What you wrote as the pitfalls of the system is also not quite that simple.

    There is absolutely still a presumption of innocence and the burden of proof is with the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

    The accused also get to choose judge only or jury. Charges can be amended etc but that can happen on the civil side as well.

    No, I am not a lawyer, but I have sat as a "judge" on a summary court martial and I can absolutely was not influenced one way or the other when it came to the verdict or the sentence.


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