Smokin

If you're looking to get an MBA online from a college people will recognize, it will take longer than a year or two, so start TODAY. Taking two or three classes now while you have nothing else to do is a great idea, then you can take one at a time and be done with plenty of time to spare. You won't regret starting now, but if you wait you will kick yourself when you are working 69 hrs per week and have a wife and kids. As for schools, there is another thread talking about it, but Oklahoma State University offers a top tier program online and I think they still drop tuition down to $250/credit hour for military.

Any source for that? After a quick scan through JFTR Ch 5 Part D, I could not find any limits as to any max weight limits for partial DITYs. Careful throwing around WOMs. People spreading incorrect WOMs, combined with laziness, is why many TMOs will not ship booze even though it is generally allowed by law.

Eight weeks?!? The five week course only had about two weeks worth of actual work and now they're going to stretch it out another three weeks! They should just make it nine months, add a masters degree, and make it a PCS. Oh, wait, there's already a school there like that... Imagine how much harder it will be for guys to not punch their flight in the face (that was my one and only goal there) when they have to deal with them for another three weeks.

You should have just sold them your boots. That would help with the reverse engineering. Everyone knows suede boots are the key to airpower.

That is true because the junior airmen are generally not mature enough to understand the difference between the relationship at work and drinking with friends. In a previous squadron, some of us officers often invited our two MSgts to go out for dinner and drinks. We knew that they could handle the distinction. Many, if not most, A1Cs can't and we had problems with the exact situation you described. There is a time and a place for everything. I would expect a 2Lt to salute a 1Lt in the BX parking lot where there are tons of junior enlisted around. If they are in the squadron parking lot where no one else is around, I would laugh at the 2Lt if he saluted. As bq said, the (generally) better situational awareness and maturity of senior enlisted and officers is what gives them a little discretion as to when to have full up customs and courtesies and when it is ok to relax a little. When I'm in the work environment and the SQ/CC walks into the room, I stand up and greet him. When in the bar or the SQ/CC's office drinking a scotch, I'll call him by his call sign as long as I know he's cool with it.

"after notifying the Secretary of Defense of the rationale for this action" is extremely vague unless the reg spells out a specific notification process in another section. A general passing the SecDef in the hallway at the Pentagon and causally mentioning this topic could be considered notification.

Assuming you want to sell those non-IRA mutual funds and buy Vanguard funds then yes, you will incur taxes. But you also should be able to move the funds over intact just like the IRA and not pay any taxes (handy if you bought stocks six months ago and want to avoid the short-term capital gains). In the long run, it will most likely be better for the bottom line to sell the higher cost funds and buy Vanguard funds.

It depends on how involved you want to be on your investing. If you want a fire and forget type fund, just use their all in one retirement fund series for your age group; like the VFIFX if you plan on retiring around the year 2050. If you want to accept more risk you can buy a number of their index funds. If you're interested in this, I'd recommend reading Bernstein's book as he lays out a couple suggested investment distributions. I split my ROTH IRA roughly along the lines he recommends but a little lighter on the bonds as I don't mind a higher risk. Figure out what risk level you can accept and allocate accordingly. I currently own their 500 Index Fund, Small-Cap Index Fund, Total International Stock Index Fund, Growth Index Fund, Total Stock Market Index, and Total Bond market Index. With either the all in one or the split funds, you can set up the automatic investing and only think about checking it every five years or so to make sure you still have the risk exposure that you want. Whatever specific funds you choose, go with index funds. In the long run, they will generally have a higher return than actively traded funds for many reasons. As for the family friend broker, that is exactly the type of setup I had at my full service brokerage. It was tough moving away, but see the above post on the amount I expect to make/save with Vanguard versus the family friend. Also, having seen some of the troubles my relatives have had with mixing family and business, I try to avoid that mix at all costs.

I enthusiastically second Vanguard. I used to have my investments with a full service broker until I read The Investor's Manifesto by William Bernstein. It is a great book and I highly recommend it to everyone. He explains in great detail about how it is possible for a full service broker can make more money off of your investments than you do. After reading the book, I did my own research and ended up agreeing with Bernstein that Vanguard is the best choice. Like USAA, it is an investor owned company rather than publicly traded, so it does not have to succumb to the short term demands of stockholders looking for a quarterly profit instead of a long term growth. Based on their MUCH lower operating costs and passively managed funds and assuming a historic return, Vanguard would make me around $300,000 more than my full service broker. Plus, it turns out they are actually easier to work with than my previous full service broker, so it is a win-win for me.

It will also get you booted from most ranges.

S&W has a military rebate right now, $50 back for that pistol (or any other M&P handgun) and $100 for most M&P rifles.

Holy old link batman. Based on the 6.9 foot stack of .223 ammo on sale at Cabela's, I would guess that US makers have caught up to demand and then some. However, point taken in regard to the implied (or at least inferred) reference to the Israel ally topic.

Have you considered a DITY? Seems like that might be the easiest solution for you. It should be fairly easy to have TMO give you the brief with or without orders. As long as you document everything, it should be explainable that you had to move before you actually got orders. I'm sure TMO can also help you out with suggestions for storage before you have to move, which is claimable and not part of your DITY payment.

If it really is a state law, why would anyone expect the power company to break the law? The anger here should be focused on lawmakers who pass dumb laws without fully thinking through the ramifications. Just because they can pass laws does not mean they should.

Looks like an AK version of the BAR. I need one.

I have a couple good belts that are almost 1/4" thick, so should be good there. But I am actually looking at an inside the pocket holster like this. That type of holster was virtually invisible when I tried out one at the range with a thin single-stack pistol. I'm currently looking at the Taurus 709, the Kahr CM9, and possibly the Kimber Solo if I can find one for sale. If anyone has any experience with these types of guns, I'd appreciate any advice. How does your friend like the Kel Tec? I have heard some negative things about the company in general and am hesitant to have my daily carry be from a company that is questionable. Also, Kahr just started making a cheaper version of the PM9. It looks like all of the functionality and reliability is the same, they just didn't make it as nice looking. Personally, the uglier the gun the better.

If he says it doesn't count because it is in the US, ask him how do bomber guys deploying to Guam get reconstitution time?

Finally got my CC permit (been overseas for awhile). I planned to carry my XD9 sub-compact, but despite being 'sub-compact' it is still a little weighty and seems like it will take some effort to conceal it in the summer wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At the range today, the guy next to me had a slim Kahr .38 and that seems like a type of gun I would be more likely to carry on a regular basis. I know M2 likes the Taurus PT709 and that is a contender. Anyone have any experience with the Kahr PM9 or any other similar guns? For ammo simplicity, I'm going to stick with the 9mm.

Yes, I'm sure you're right. President Bush must have sent out a memo to all the three letter agencies and told them not to worry about UBL once we got involved in Iraq. By contrast, when President Obama took office, he has personally been walking around Pakistan searching for the terrorist. Unlike any previous President or human, President Obama can magically share his focus between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria, healthcare reform, the stimulus packages, unemployment, and the Nobel Peace Prize all without decreasing any potential focus in any one of those areas. That reason and that reason alone is why UBL is dead. This is exactly what I was talking about with people injecting politics into this. The killing of bin Laden is the culmination of ten years of searching by countless people and agencies. President Obama may have given the order and one SEAL may have fired the shots, but thousands of people have been working on this for a long time. This is an American victory, not a Democratic or Republican victory. Anyone who tries to claim otherwise is simply trying to take advantage of the situation for political gain.

It is absurd that people are trying to politicize this. I heard some numbnuts on the news the other day saying that the reason we got UBL now (rather than 6-9 years ago) is because President Obama made it a priority whereas President Bush "took his eye off the ball and got distracted by Iraq." Anyone who believes such partisan dribble is beyond dumb.

Either way, cue the Deliverance banjo music...

It might be a bit of a shock for him when he gets to his afterlife and finds out it was really 77 Virginians.

While at the torturous but requisite shoeflag recently, the instructors said that ASBC is already getting shut down.

The media got to Mr Rast only a week after he was told his son was killed; needless to say his emotions were surely running high. Hopefully, given time, Mr Rast will see things the way Mr Smith apparently does. Also, the articles are have very different tones, so who knows what else Mr Rast said that was not published. Those few comments may have been cherry-picked from an hour long interview to give the story the reporter wanted to tell. Either way, they died while running towards the sound of gunfire to help their fellow soldiers. Their families should be proud.

Double post, so yes and yes. :) As Moose said, I use my credit cards responsibly and don't spend money that I don't already have in my checking or savings accounts. A quarter million over 12 years sounds like a lot of spending on the card, but I use my card for absolutely everything that I can. The additional benefit that smart credit card users will have over debit card guys is a better credit score. I had an ROTC scholarship in college so other than my credit cards, I had basically no credit history. But paying my card off on time every month for the last twelve years got me an awesome credit score which saved me a ton of money on my mortgage on the house I just bought. If you use them responsibly and pick the right cards, credit cards can save you money. If you can't use them responsibly then follow the previous advice and cut them up.