BADFNZ
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Posts posted by BADFNZ
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Awesome photos. What kind of airplane is that weird quazi U-2 looking thing?
WB-57
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So it looks like I'll have to keep it until November when we have the reception, then cancel. Does anyone know what the monthly dues are?
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Me and my wife want to have our wedding reception at the Randolph O-Club because the Sky Lounge is pretty nice and it's extremely cheap. The catering manager told my wife that to have the reception there, I have to be a member of the O-Club. She gave my wife a phone number for me to call to sign up since I am TDY right now. I call the number and tell the lady I want to become a member of the O-Club and she seems somewhat confused and says I have to fill out an application for some credit card. So I told her I had the wrong number and hung up, but the number was the correct one that my wife was given.
So I know I'm a newbie to the AF, but is there a CC associated with being a member of the O-Club? Is it something like Diners Club? Any guidance?
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We had one Orthodox Jew in my OTS flight. This guy complained about everything to include meals, Sabbath, when he could and could not handle electronic equipment, etc. The OTS staff accommodated him in every way, yet he still found a way to bitch that he needed this or that. All I'm going to say is that they will do everything they can to accommodate your religious practices, but if you don't get your way one time or another, suck it up and remember that the needs of the AF come first.
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Between some UPT and Herk talk, this seems like a good thread to bring back from the dead of 4+ years. I know that Phase 1 and 2 are done at a normal UPT base and then Phase 3 is done with the Navy at Corpus.
For someone doing AFRC (or ANG for that matter) where the track is already known, are there more common UPT bases that Herk pilots are sent since they'll be leaving after Phase 2 for Corpus, therefore needing less "Phase 3 aircraft"?
It probably just depends on where your unit wants to send you. I know the 908th at Maxwell usually sends their studs to XL just because it's closest to Corpus. Other units may differ.
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Does anyone know if Brooks will pride me with glasses if they find my vision is not quite up to 20x20 standard? I passed iFC1 without problems, but noticing my vision is progressively getting worse...its within the reqs....but I want to make sure I don't get DQed for not having glasses that I may need.....
If you think you may need glasses for MFS, get them beforehand. Bring them along and see if they'll let you wear them for some of the tests. I wore mine for all of the tests but then again I have a vision waiver.
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Would it be beneficial to bring our logbooks? Mine is at my mom's house for some reason and I'll need her to send it if I'll need it. I don't mind keeping track of my hours on a piece of paper or something, but I didn't know if the IPs gave any endorsements or anything.
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I understand the reasoning somewhat, but then why was I not charged leave for the 3 days early I showed up at XL? My RNLTD was 12 May for XL, but MFS was completed on 8 May. I get one travel day from Brooks to XL so if you use their logic, I should be charged 3 days for that too.
For those offering your days, paypal them to me. I know 2 days means nothing when you have 60, but when you have 8 and a year casual until UPT, it makes a difference.
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Here's the scenario:
I graduated from OTS on 30 April and had PCS orders to XL with a TDY enroute to Brooks for MFS. I had three travel days from Maxwell to Brooks, which means I'd have to get there by the Saturday the 3rd if I didn't want to burn any leave. My MFS RNLTD was Tuesday 6 May, meaning I had Sunday and Monday to do jack shit. After MFS, I head to XL and later fill out my travel voucher.
Last Friday, I check my LES and it shows 2 days of leave were used, so I think WTF, I didn't use leave anywhere. I talk to the dude in Finance working on my voucher and he says since I had 2 days between the end of my travel days and the start of MFS, I am charged leave for those days. I tell him I was in the local area and have proof but he says it doesn't matter. He said OTS screwed up by out processing us on 30 April instead of 2 May, which would have left no gap between the travel days and the RNLTD to Brooks. Bullshit. I could be totally wrong here but I'm pretty sure this isn't how it's supposed to work.
So should I be charged leave for those 2 days?
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I have a question regarding this upcoming 3-day weekend. If I wanted to make this 3-day weekend into a 5-day weekend with taking the least amount of leave possible, would it be best to take leave on Tue and Wed? Would that mean Sat-Mon would not be leave? I know not to bracket the weekend, but if I use 2 consecutive days after a weekend, yet still fill out a Form 29B for Sat-Wed, will the whole trip be counted as leave even if I'm staying within the local area?
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I am currently at OTS, a few weeks from my commission date. All my HHG are in a storage unit in Dallas, ready to be moved to my next base, which is Laughlin. We had our TMO brief and they told us that not only will the movers not enter a storage unit, they won't move anything that's already boxed. She told me I would have to move everything out of storage, unbox it, then they'd pick it up. WTFO? I asked if there was some waiver I could sign saying I take responsibility for the condition of the HHGs but she said there was no such waiver. So is this true or does she not know what she's talking about?
This brings up another question. Since it looks like I'll be doing a DITY now, is there a way to figure out what the AF would pay for the move, so I could figure out how much I'd get reimbursed? I got a quote from a moving company for $2900 which seems like a lot for such a short move, so I want to see what I'd get if I did a DITY. Is TMO the only source for this or is there a formula/rate used?
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Not really seeing the correlation there.... but to answer your question it depends. If you are in a flying squadron or anywhere in the OG you will probably wear a flight suit. If you get royally screwed and end up outside the OG you will probably be in BDU's... but that will be the least of your worries
I figured it'd be better to ask here than start a new thread. Since the topic was flight suit regs, I was curious if I'd be wearing one while on casual before UPT. Thanks for the replies.
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Since this kind of relates to the topic, what do future UPT studs wear while on casual?
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How does the DA-20 compare to a 172 in terms of flight characteristics? Also, is there any area in IFS that they focus on more than others? Short fields, stalls, navigation, TnGs, pattern, etc?
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Okay one thing, your job didn't contribute to social security? Isn't that illegal?
All municipal gov't jobs that I know of do not contribute to SS. Most have a separate retirement fund that is set up and funded through the city itself. I'm not sure if state and federal gov't jobs have the same but they might. There is also a system called TMRS (Texas Municipal Retirement System) that is a municipal retirement system that will transfer to other cities if they are participating members. The city I work for is not a member, but most Texas cities are.
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You would have to pay tax on it, but you'll pay tax on a traditional IRA as well once you take it out, and possibly at a higher tax rate. It's all about whether or not you think your tax rate is higher now than it will be during retirement. If your current tax rate is higher, go traditional. If it is lower, go Roth.
Sparky, good advice. Any words on how much to put into TSP on top of the Roth? Even 30 years at $5k/year is only $150k principle.
But since my current retirement is not compatible with a Roth IRA, I would have to pull the money out of the fund, which not only would get taxed but would get penalized for early withdrawl. I know it will get taxed either way, but with the traditional IRA, I can roll it over without pulling it out and incurring a penalty like I would with the Roth.
I might look into rolling it into a traditional IRA and then converting it to a Roth IRA. That seems to be the best plan.
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From what I understand there are two potential benefits to the TSP. One is if you're in the group of federal employees that gets matching contributions. The other is that it doesn't have a yearly contribution limit. Your traditional IRA is going to have a $4000 limit this year.
You may be able to convert it to a Roth IRA. You would have to pay taxes on it now, but Roth IRAs have a lot of advantages over traditional IRAs for a lot of people.
I was under the impression that I couldn't convert it to a Roth IRA because I'd have to pull the money out, pay the tax and penalty, then put it into a Roth IRA. I think the only roll over options were a Traditional IRA or TSP.
According to trusty Wikipedia, you can convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Maybe I'll have to look into that.
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One downside to rolling your funds into the TSP is that there are only a few investment choices offered. An IRA from Fidelity/Vanguard/etc. would give you a lot more options.
Yeah I've read that. So what exactly is the upside to the TSP? There has to be something it provides that a traditional IRA doesn't.
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I currently work for a municipal gov't that doesn't contribute to Social Security; instead all funds go into a personal retirement account. I've been working here for a little over a year so I only have a few thousand in this account. I'll be leaving for OTS next year so I'll be forced to either take this money out of the fund and incur a penalty on it, or roll it into an IRA of some sort. I'd rather do the latter.
I did some reading on the TSP and from what I understand, there isn't too much of a difference between it and a traditional IRA. There seem to be a few differences but they seem minor, but then again I'm not a financial genius of any sort. So what would be the best course of action for me? Should I roll the money into a traditional IRA or the TSP? Roth IRAs are not an option since this money has not been taxed.
I did a search and read a couple good threads on the TSP and IRAs, but I'm still a bit confused on the difference.
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I was able to defer my Stafford Loan payments AND interest for 36 months. If you plan on doing this, make sure you consolidate your loan to lock in an interest rate before you defer it. Read here, pg 2. http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachme...8_deferment.pdf
It says if you are "active duty during a war", which isn't the same as deployed. Did I read that right? So basically anyone on active duty right now can defer for 36 months w/o interest being accrued?
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I thought P-factor was your probability of taking home a piece of ass.
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So is it common for people to experience this? Yes. If you have eustation tube dysfunction. However, maybe your normal and are just sensitive to pressure changes. Do you know how to valsalva?
Is this something that's easy to cure with the right medicine or is it more involved than that? Maybe and Maybe. Depends on whats wrong with you.
Is there something I can do on descent to clear my ears better? Valsalva.
More importantly, is this going to screw me come UPT? You'll probably experience this in the type of flying you'll do in UPT.
Although you stated you don't have allergy problems, you mention the pain is sinus related because you can feel fluid in your ears shift. Did you have a cold or virus that you flew with?
Anyway, I suspect it may be eustation tube dysfunction. Could be due to infection, allergies, blockages such as an anotomically narrow eustatian tube or say from enlarged adenoids. This would require an evaluation by your physician to identify the problem.
Thanks for the reply.
No, I've never flown with a cold, flu, or any other sort of illness. This is just some lingering thing that pops up when I fly commercially. I guess the best thing is to see a doctor before I go to OTS to see what the problem is. Is an ENT the right doctor to see for this?
I'm not familiar with valsalva, but I'm ok going to look it up now.
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For as long as I can remember, I've experienced pain in my ears during descent on commercial flights. I've never had trouble while flying with my PPL, I'm guessing due to the altitude. I'm sure the pain is sinus related because when I change my head position (sitting to laying down) I can feel the fluid in my ears shift. Over the years I've taken every anti-biotic in the book for other illnesses, yet this still remains. I've never had allergy problems of any sort, and this never bothers me unless I fly. I was reminded of this yesterday since I just returned from vacation. A day later, it still feels like my ears are partially "popped" and my hearing isn't back to normal yet. Everytime I yawn they return to normal a little more.
So is it common for people to experience this? Is this something that's easy to cure with the right medicine or is it more involved than that? Is there something I can do on descent to clear my ears better? More importantly, is this going to screw me come UPT?
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Dammit, I just clinked that link at work. Hopefully IT doesn't make any assumptions
Marriage/wedding - Best time to Marry?
in Military Spouses
Posted
I figured I'd bring this to the top instead of starting a new thread.
My UPT start date just got moved from 29 October to 9 September. My original start date was 19 March so this is the second time it's been moved up, which is awesome. The only problem is me and my wife are having our formal wedding ceremony the weekend before Thanksgiving. It wasn't a big deal when my start date was 29 Oct because I'd only be in week 3 of Phase 1, but now I'll be in week 4 or so of Phase 2.
I can turn down the earlier class date if I want, but I want to make sure it'll be the right decision. Will I be that much more stressed/busy a month into Phase 2 as opposed to a month into Phase 1? The wedding will be in San Antonio so the travel from Del Rio won't be an issue. I'm just mainly concerned about the amount of stress having a wedding in the middle of phase 2 will create. My wife has been awesome up until this point in the planning process and she will do her best to minimize my involvement throughout, but I'm sure something will creep up and bite me in the ass.