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Jaded

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Posts posted by Jaded

    CGO PME undergoes transformation

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Educate this youngish officer - I always thought additional duty shite, taskers, latest/greatest CBTs, and "projects" as queep.

    But O/EPRs and Decs as "taking care of your troops." Not that they can't get queepy (wordsmiths who wants "awesome" changed to "amazing").

    Awards matter because they create strats that can become a bullet on an OPR. OPRs matter because bullets from an OPR can go on your PRF. PRFs matter because they go in front of promotion boards. Therefore, one might think that working on an OPR is virtuous, since you are producing a product that in the end will help a person get promoted.

    The reality is that 95% of the work that goes into an OPR is an absolute waste of time that does nothing to actually help the person you're writing the OPR for. Generally, a person is going to have 2-3 "accomplishments" in a given OPR that are actually worthy of carrying forward to your PRF later. These are easy to write and take about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, there are 6-7 bullets left you still have to fill in, and you will spend several hours making shit up and working on formatting, knowing that the rest of the stuff that you put on the OPR will never see the light of day again.

    Decs are coaches awards more times than not. Having written a couple, I'm generally embarrassed listening to them when they're read, since I realize that half the stuff on there is a gross exaggeration/borderline lie.

    Hence, OPRs are queep (in this CGOs opinion).

    • Upvote 1

    TriCare to be Cut to Encourage Enrollment in Obamacare.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The POTUS does want the hikes, and as an opinion news source they are focusing on that fact, and as a member of the military I appreciate that someone is out there choosing to point that out. It will affect military members' lives.

    What are you talking about? Affect our lives? Aren't all of the proposed increases only for working age retirees?

    http://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/retiree/proposed-tricare-fee-changes.html

    FreeBeacon even titled the article a misleading, "Obama to Soldiers: pay up", when in fact, soldiers are completely unaffected. We can argue about whether retirees deserve a fee hike, but let's stop pretending that the common service member is at all affected.

    Here's the wall street journal's opinion. They provide explanations about the provisions to try to back up their opinions, rather than just spouting anti-Obama bullshit.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303665904577452382402650966.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

    F-22 Raptor info

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Apparently things are different in the CAF, but in the SOF world it's not kosher to discuss in open forum who is sitting alert where and when....

    Sorry, next time I'll make sure to link the official AF.mil story whenever I post.

    Tax Free Questions

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Yes, you'd get 5/30 days tax free if you used 5 days of tax free leave.

    Remember though, that leave is used in a first in, first out method of accounting. Looking at your example again, you'd have 5 days of tax free leave from Jan/Feb, and then 10 days of normal leave from Mar/Apr/May/Jun. If you took 5 days of leave in July, you'd be using 5 days of *normal* leave (Jun/May), and would have 5 days of normal leave (Apr/Mar) and 5 days of tax free leave remaining (Feb/Jan).

    Drone Pilots: We Don’t Get No Respect

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I don't see why they don't make RPAs a good deal non flying assignment. Man it properly so you work 40 hour weeks, put the shipping containers somewhere like Hawaii or Los Angeles, and make it count as an ALFA tour. Good clean family time. Maybe pilots will look down on it less if it isn't such a kick in the balls in every single possible way.

    • Upvote 1

    Masters information (MBA/GRE)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Air Force Policy for Advanced Education

    Production of Human Capital or Cheap Signals?

    Maj Tobias Switzer, USAF

    Air and Space Power Journal - Winter 2011

    http://www.airpower...._07_switzer.pdf

    This guys says it better than I ever could. I hope our senior leaders take note.

    In the broadest possible terms, our off-duty AAD programs neither increase hu­man capital in a way relevant to the Air Force nor offer efficient signals of high hu­man capital. Instead they represent ex­tremely efficient signals of officer commit­ment and institutional loyalty. On the face of things, this system is not necessarily so ter­rible. Highly committed officers have a way to signal their desires to senior officers and promotion boards by completing an off-duty AAD and nonresident PME courses. Through the TA program, the Air Force finances a generous amount of the cost of AADs, so the monetary burden does not fall on the officer. However the question is not “Is our system good or bad?” but “What is the opportunity cost?” If another education policy allows us to increase human capital as well as signal both high levels of human capital and com­mitment, then we should explore it.

    Lots of gems like that in there. Also talks about PME.

    F-15E crashes in Mideast, crew ejects safely

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    They can put aircraft on a "paint shaker" and simulate years of flying fatigue in much less time (i.e., if they shake it for a week, that's 168 hours of flying fatigue, which is obviously a lot more hours than you are going to operationally put on an airframe in a week). They're doing that with F-16s right now to determine what needs to be replaced for the SLEP to extend the Viper's life.

    Questions on the GI Bill (Tuition Aid)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I was able to transfer my benefits after 6 years of total service and I incured an ADSC of an additional 4 years starting the day I signed the form. I have a commission from ROTC that came with an initial commitment of 4 years. The Post 9/11 GI Bill ADSC is concurrent with (and ends before) my pilot training commitment.

    If you are trying to be most cost efficient with the benefits, using it on a type rating (or on your spouse) is not a great plan. Giving it to your kid or using it on school after you separate is better, since you'll get the housing allowance as well.

    I think we've talked about this at length, but my search skills are weak. Stupid form won't let you search for "GI bill".

    Raptors grounded over OBOGS issue

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I saw signs of this at one of the Raptor bases months ago after they had started flying again post stand down. As a small TDY detachment, our detco had been invited to a meeting where the various squadron commanders on base brought up the biggest issues affecting their unit. He showed me the summary page that came out of it, and I remember two from a couple of the F-22 squadrons. One said something to the affect of, "The pilots lack confidence in their on board oxygen systems." Another (I think this one was from a reserves guy) said, very candidly, something like, "Our pilots are just waiting for the F-22 to kill another pilot in the wing."

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