Smokin

I have a Capital One travel card. It has an annual fee of $40, but if you use it right, it gives you 2% cash back on everything. Granted, it takes a little work and Capital One is anything but "no hassles", however the money speaks for itself. I have spent about $480 on annual fees over the last 12 years, but I have been credited roughly $4500. If you think of it as an investment, that is nearly a 10x return on my annual fee. Yes, you will not get rich off a credit card, but if you are going to spend the money regardless (and you pay the full statement balance each month), why not get money back for it? I will not get rich because I am a government employee, but if I use my money wisely I will be comfortable.

KingGuy brought up a huge advantage for DITYs. On my first two moves I DITY'd and I slept in my own bed the first night. It is nice to be able to unpack as soon as you get there versus waiting for a moving truck and an appointment from TMO.

I am PCSing with two TDYs enroute. On the remarks section of my orders for my second TDY, it says "Member is authorized to arrive NET two days prior to class start date." The problem is that my TDY classes are 35 days apart. Does that mean the AF is forcing me to take 33 days of leave (that I don't have or want to take)? Anyone know the reg that governs this or waiver authority?

If the pilot on a commercial flight is cleared to use an ipad in the cockpit, why do I as a passenger have to turn off my MP3 player for takeoff and landing?

On the other hand, with interest rates this low and many markets bottoming out, this is a great time to buy. On a 200K mortgage with a good rate, your monthly expenses can be less than your BAH. When it comes time to PCS, you could have a reasonable chance at renting out the house with a property management company and still break even on the monthly payments. If you are willing to face the risks of home ownership and being an absentee landlord, you could have someone else paying off your mortgage for you. Yes, there are better investments out there, but there is also something to be said for having diverse holdings to include investments outside the stock market. Of course, that all assumes that you are not going to sell when you PCS.

That depends. Are you looking to buy or sell? :)

Shouldn't even need a pass, should just be a normal duty day. "Travel time computed under par. U5160 is allowed for the round trips to deliver and pick-up a POV under par. U5413-B" "5160-A4. When POV delivery/pick-up is separate from PCS travel, allowable travel time is computed using par. U3005-C2." "3005-C2: PCS. Generally, 1 travel day is allowed for each 350 miles of official distance of ordered travel.. If the excess distance is 51 or more miles after dividing the total official distance by 350, one additional travel day is allowed. When the total official distance is 400 or fewer miles, 1 day of travel time is allowed. See par. U5160-E ICW additional travel time." Bottom line is the JFTR repeatedly references computing travel time for POV pickup. What would be the point of computing a travel time if leave or even a pass is required?

The mileage part is correct, you should get paid just the mileage (TDY rate) of driving a car round trip between your new duty location and the port AND the old duty location to where you dropped it off. The time spent should not be leave though. Look at the JFTR section U5413 part B.

I was under the impression that if you were established in the area prior to the rate drop, your rate remains the same but new people moving to the area get the lower rate.

Yes.

So they can be useful....

I could. And I would see my family everyday! Irrelevant. I might make less for the first few years, but the time after that would make up for it. The comparisons between military and civilian salary depend on averages. Most the people on this board are not average and would do better and make more than the average. The military is a sacrifice and it is not all about me or money. If it were, I'd already be gone. But it is also nice to know that I'm not going to get thrown out in the cold.

Don't forget FDR. Many Americans consider him to be one of our great presidents. Personally, I consider him to be one of the worst things that ever happened to America. He is where the many of these programs that are ruining our country started.

No way will this ever get approved, but the hypocrisy of Congress seems to know no limits. Let's look at the difference between Congress's plan versus the proposed military plan: -At 50, both can 'retire', but the military guy has to wait 7 more years for a paycheck. -The military paycheck is computed off the last five years; the Congressman's off the last three years. -In the military, if you serve for six years and get out, you might get a 'thank you'. In Congress, you get 9% of your pay as retirement. -The retirement check of a Congressman is nearly twice as much as a retired O-5 gets. If they're going to play the whole 'times are rough, everyone needs to tighten their belts' line, they should lead by example.

You know, if they hired good looking chicks to do the inspections on guys and the reverse for girls, that might decrease the number of people complaining...

Short tour stuff, especially trying to learn from the AFIs, can get confusing quickly. Read relevant posts here and look around on the AFPC website. Assignments to Korea are pretty much all remote short tours. But if you get assigned to Osan, you could get command sponsorship for your spouse (permission to bring your family over). The 'standard' remote tour is one year but you can extend in six month or one year increments. However, if you extend all the way to three years, you will not get credit for a short tour. Depending on your airframe or job, you will probably have a short tour at some point in your career, so many volunteer in order to choose when/where they go. However, realize that if you volunteer straight out of training (can be a good idea), you may get voluntold for a second tour down the road. The number of volunteers you will find at a given short tour will depend greatly on how good or bad of a deal it is. Flying assignment in Korea - probably 100% volunteers. Coffee bitch at the Died - probably not.

One Missouri town found a creative way to block these protesters: https://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/07/residents-missouri-town-block-protesters-picketing-soldiers-funeral/?test=latestnews

Learjetter - Are you saying that her story being true is really the simplest explanation to this story? Did you read her story? How does any of that sound even remotely plausible? More likely the issue here is big blue being worried about opening a whole bunch of questions that no one wants to answer. Ditto on her new post being a very bad choice.

That spoof is awesome. Did she really work that hard to get that title? Shouldn't she have 'worked so hard' to provide her constituents with a good representative government instead? Seems to be a good example of everything that is wrong with our government today. Working for our government should be a service to the American public, not means for wealth, fame, and power.

A DITY from CONUS to CONUS is almost always viable and you should make a decent chunk of change. It just depends on if it is worth it to you or not. I think I made well over a grand profit on my last DITY and it was a much shorter distance than you're moving.

The United States military can't even keep the names of Afghan informants secret and these guys think that we have somehow been able to keep multiple alien landings over multiple decades secret? When I retire, I wanna try whatever it is they are on because it must be some good stuff.

Did you watch some of the responses? I can't tell if this is a joke or she is just that crazy, but it doesn't really matter because it is hilarious! She has other videos that are similar, so I think she might be serious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpzlGkCYva0&feature=player_embedded

No, the assumption of innocence only applies to legal proceedings. OJ Simpson may have been found not guilty in court but he is still guilty to me. You also might be a little more convincing if you quit calling people racist. I haven't seen any posts here that refer to what country the people came from. Most of us are well aware that domestic terrorism is also a very credible threat and I think you would see similar reactions here regardless of the color of skin or last names.

Reason #69 not to live on base.

My response was the answer given to me by a soldier when I asked the same question (I'm an ALO right now). But I disagree that it would not stop a bullet. A picture on post 8 on this page is of a barrel that blew out from being shot with a bore sight in the end of the barrel. I have seen similar pictures from mud and things that are not even physically attached to the rifle or metal like the adapter is. It would not be pleasant for the shooter or anyone within a few feet, but chances are the shooter is the one who screwed up in the first place. Either way it would probably be better than being shot. BTW, I agree with you that the BALO program really would help pilots, but would not always be practical.