BFM this

While everyone is busy not giving you financial advice... Here's a thought, how about swinging for the fences toward financial independence? Did you have income in 2023? If so, start a Roth IRA, and while you're at it, contribute to 2024 as well. $6500 +$7000 = $13500. Use the remaining $11500 to budget for fully contributing to your Roth IRA on January 1st every year going forward. THEN, when you get promoted, take half of the promotion pay increase every month and put it in your Roth TSP. That's just a start; you should be thinking long term of how to budget so that you can fully contribute every year with your first few paychecks toward your Roth TSP; just takes having about $30k in cash to live off of, then you can set your Roth TSP to 100% at the beginning of the year for a few months. Once your paycheck comes back, save up the $30k over the rest of the year to get ready for next year. Front loading your Roth TSP is an O4 time horizon goal, don't rush it and get into a binge/purge financial cycle. And, for the love of all that is holy, this should be the LAST consumer debt, aside from a house, that you ever touch. You've got a good job and great career ahead of you, use it to live truly well. (hint: if you're single this whole exercise becomes exponentially easier)

And in the most “government fucks EVERYTHING up” development this decade: https://finance.yahoo.com/m/78dc50b6-aa9e-3384-9074-a44dbfbb65d0/spirit-airlines-stock-crashes.html

Spirit: “…so you’re saying there’s a chance!”

Interesting. I wonder if DOJ would have looked at a Spirit - Frontier merger through a different lens. Despite the rent-seeking machinations from government lawyers, my worthless prediction is that a settlement is reached before the appeal is heard.

Maybe. But to her credit, her accomplishment involves a bit more than just standing on stage and smiling: she put in some work on par with collegiate level athletics (reference Caitlin Upton's 2007 performance). I'll go out on a limb and imagine that she will likely show up to UPT with a mature understanding of the terrain and threats, probably light on any sense of entitlement.

This was the standard RoKAF staffing strategy. Go to RoKAF with an idea or need, and they would "staff" it for six months to a year, until the good idea fairy in question PCS'd.

Did flight at University of Illinois, started teaching at the local FBO after getting my CFI in my sophomore year. 'Nother UofI flight grad was teaching there as well, and he had the unique experience of interning at the Anchorage FSDO. According to him, one of the corporate goals of that office was to achieve greater than 50% certification of active flying pilots in Alaska. As he put it, flying in Alaska was something akin to a tractor or combine on a typical family farm; at some point, probably early adolescence, someone taught you how use the farm equipment, and now you were responsible for operating it.

https://www.betterhelp.com/

I'm convinced this is another @General Chang troll but packaged in a retiree theme.

Happily let folks drop their dog's poop bag in my trash bin; grateful that they're at least picking it up. 👏 But then again, I don't wash and wax my trash bin so...🤷‍♂️ As a technique, I take my dog on a "short loop" prior to the full walk, so I can leave his leavings at home before we go.

So someone at USAFA thinks anyone under 30 is still on FB?

Nothing at all, of course… https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1848410/world-war-3-warning-super-ai-weapons

From a WN bro: “The FOs are really happy. The CAs are mostly happy except for the CAs with 3 ex-wives that think they need to be WB pay above $400 TFP ($456/hour) which is a dream at best.”

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2023-12-22/catherine-arnett-mcas-iwakuni-covid-19-arrest-japan-12435743.html

Informative primer on what’s going on where. spoiler alert: Fulton Co DA might be kneecapping DoJ

Wait,…is that…a T-33? jfc, how old are you?

Actual phrasing I use regularly: ”…after spending five months as a guest of the city of [redacted], she immediately went on a week long bender…”

If such a mechanism were in place, I would consider cutting a $10k check for a plane I don’t intend to start for a few years from now.

Overheard in ops from someone who’s flown both: Guppy is the better airplane, Fifi is the better office

I sat there watching the hangar scene after the Cantina, with Jabba and Han chatting it up a-la-CGI with my jaw on the floor. Immediately wanted my money back.

At some point I had the spare $ to get the Star Wars collection to indoctrinate my youngest. On watching Episode IV, I found that it was the "edited" version. Never have I experienced that level of buyer's remorse.

Rest assured, you didn't waste your money. 1. You skipped the CTP BS class that the current generation is subjected to 2. Your app wouldn't have moved forward at AA without it. At the moment, major's aren't interviewing if you don't have an ATP in your pocket (could change tomorrow) 3. So at the very least you saved the additional $5k that it takes to get the rating on your own, or the requisite touch-and-go at a regional to accomplish same, probably saving 10's, if not 100's of thousands of long-term dollars. I also knocked out my ATP before CTP reared its ugly head (2011 VSP debacle): money well spent.

Recommend you call these guys.

1. Have to go to work in a few hours so, no, not drunk. 2. Posting here, because this is where the target audience is. 3. 20y ago, I was a casual 2Lt waiting to start UPT. 4. -->On reflection, based on a totality of factors, I was dreadfully under-qualified. But somehow, I was there. 5. Pretty sure I blasted Eminem's Lose Yourself every morning driving in from base housing to the squadron, well into Phase 2. Seriously, if you're browsing this forum, my advice is to fight like hell: it's totally worth it!

TBH, he still communicates that way, when the situation dictates. And yeah, it's fun to watch.