SocialD

Yup, I was aware of the 402g limit of 18.5k applying across all employers, but until your post, I did not realize the 415 limit was per employer. After doing some research, the bolded text above, and my previously posted example, are correct. Contribution limits do NOT apply when rolling over funds, such as 401a, into a Roth IRA. For example, last year I contributed $5,550 to my Roth IRA (via the backdoor...sts) AND rolled over ~$7,000 from my 401a, for a total of ~12.5k into my Roth IRA. I do this because 401a is after tax money in which gains are taxed, which is obviously not ideal. I just wait for my 401a money to post into my account then immediately roll it into my Roth IRA. I only pay taxes on the small gains it makes in the day it sat in the account before being rolled. It's often referred to as the "Mega backdoor Roth IRA." https://momanddadmoney.com/mega-backdoor-roth-ira/ https://thecollegeinvestor.com/17561/understanding-the-mega-backdoor-roth-ira/

Lol, I spend plenty...especially since starting the process of building a plane. I also spent a decent amount of time in Europe last year (and will again this year), not including my layovers in Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, etc... I'm just thinking this plan could allow me to funnel a decent amount of cash into a SDIRA (via the 401a -> Roth IRA), while still taking advantage of the 18.5k tax deduction for my TSP contributions. I plan on using this money to fund another rental property anyway, might as well do it with tax sheltered money. This is still a relatively small percent of my income. Being single with no kids helps.

Wait...what? So you're saying, for me the 415c limit is 55k for Delta and 55k for TSP? If I'm reading this correctly, I could contribute 18.5k to my TSP which would max my 402(g) benefit. Then I could contribute to my Delta savings plan via 401(a) contributions, which carries a limit of 55k. So even if I don't deploy to a tax free zone (which has been the last 2 deployments for me), I could still do the following? Delta Pay: $200,000 Company 401k contributions: $32,000 Personal 401(a) contributions: $23,000 TSP: $18,500 Total: $73,500 I have never heard or noticed the "per employer" limit wrt 415(c). I'm going to have to run this by the tax attorney, but if true this could be a total game changer for my savings plan.

I just started an order on the 2nd and already have my first paycheck on mypay. It shows my flight pay still at $650, I should be at $800 based on the chart above...Go figure.

Last I talked to finance, the AD and AGR guys were already updated and getting the new flight pays. If you're a technician or DSG...well, it might be a while. Apparently, they wrote the code for flight pay with punch cards and everything has to be completely redone. I was promised we'd be back payed to the FY...so checks in the mail.

They may be expensive but it's a damn nice jacket. Very warm and MUCH easier to move around in the the jet. Was glad I had it, considering it was colder here today than it was in Barrow, AK.

I can't speak to the heavy community, other than what my buddies pass along, but this would not surprise me one bit. On our last TSP, we had a chance to sit down with Gen Welsh, in a pilots only, "bar talk" style setting. At the time we were already tasked with our next "deployment," which was another TSP (we're now tasked with our 3rd TSP in a row), so one of our guys asked why we were doing things and not going to desert to fight ISIS. His response..."your TAGs are asking for these TSPs..." Yes TAGs, we all would much rather spend time away from our families and take a 35-40% pay cut, to go sit on our asses and fly training lines. TSPs are what have guys in our squadron leaning toward punching. We've already had one bail to preds, and even our young guys have become jaded...some have even bailed to the regionals to get their hours boosted for the majors. What is COMREL?

Not all that new, but like Evil said, it's not made it's way to Ops or MX yet. This is in the Guard...I've heard it's already made it to OPS in the AF Reserve. Yup, and they think they have a pilot shortage problem now! Just wait until they start telling guys they're going to take a $100k paycut to go build powerpoint slides/fight off being cheifed at the Deid. I'm guessing we'd lose ~25% (minimum) of the squadron over night, if this shit started.

No, and I can assure you we've all contemplated the consequences...

Well technically speaking, all our deployments, including TSPs, are group involuntary mobilizations (not just Bama). However, not every pilot is required to go, we just have to fill the trip, which could even come from outside help. The individual just gets to decide if they want to go voluntary or involuntary...which is like picking between the fat one or the the ugly one (wrt to benefits received). Also, if you look outside of ops, there are actually quite a few individual involuntary mobilizations. We've recently had troops from Supply, Medical, CE and likely soon a Chief, get mobilized for 6 months to a year. On the plus side, they leave it up to the base to decide who goes from that section, and they're usually filled with a volunteer.

Ehh...I guess it depends upon your leadership. I can assure you, you will never see a pilot being a green dot facilitator in our squadron. We have a MSgt, ops admin chick for that. She also does A LOT of DTS, orders generation, and many other things that make our lives easier. Pretty much worth her weight in gold.

This is an easy 4 step process I follow. 1. Don't have a wife. 2. Send all your married friends as many videos/pics of naked chicks, as you can. 3. Enjoy being single. 4. Give zero fucks about the wives club or what they think.

As you said, it depends. At DAL, it varies wildly by base and aircraft, depending on the staffing. Aside from certain holidays, I'm easily able to drop or swap my trips/reserve days, in the winter. In the summer it can be a little harder (sts), again depending on staffing. It's much easier on my WB than it was on the NB. Some categories are staffed well and it's super easy, while others are perpetually short and almost impossible (cough...NYC). We have quite a few avenues to adjust your schedule. You can just drop trips, as long as there are enough reserves. You can swap trips with open time (trips with no pilots). You can swap trips with friends, or just have them take it off your line. You can also post it on a board for anyone to pickup. It was eye watering watching my SWA buddies manipulate their schedules, even when very junior.

The way I understand it, is that you could have 7200 "retire" points and still not qualify for a AD retirement. Log into vMPF and go to your points summary that has the breakdown by year. It has multiple columns like IDT, AD, Retire and Total. You need the AD column to total 7,200 to get a full AD retirement. Anything short of that and you get a Guard retirement at 60 which will be calculated off the number in your retire column. At least that's the way it was explained to me. This is all from a briefing many years ago so don't quote me on this. I also think, once you hit 7200 AD points, they count all the points in your "retire" column, toward that retirement, which could be a bit higher.

Fair enough, I had the exact opposite experience. Whatever works.

If they want me full time, I'll need a 80k+/yr bonus. Aside from that, a TX is the last thing I want to do at this point in my career. Also, being full time blows! Wrt northern teir LFE opportunities, the only upside to Volk complex is that it's range is right in the center of the airspace and it's relatively close to MSN. Other than that it's kinda of a restrictive airspace. Selfridge seems like a much better fit for that. The Alpena complex is massive and has much better airspace. For those who haven't operated out of Alpena, it's actually a pretty awesome place in the spring-fall. Plus, The River Club!!! If those walls could talk... But who am I kidding, politics win the day every time. *Not a Selfridge guy.

Nailed it! Out of curiosity, what made you pick those locations? Montgomery I get, they have access to over water ranges and are close to other 5th Gen assets. However, I can't understand WI at all. They're airspace isn't very good and you have to juke and jive around noise sensitive areas to get to initial (funny enough, much like VT). Last time I was there, you couldn't even do patterns due to noise complaints. I have no desire to fly the 35 and even if my squadron had been on the list, I would have done everything possible to stick with the Viper until retirement. They want 3 years full time, after a TX, for that thing...good luck getting that out of your part timers. Anyway, there are a few other squadrons that make so much more sense than WI. I shouldn't be surprised, tactical considerations be damned, politics clearly with the day.

The pilots hold the power of allowing PBS on property or not, and what you're talking about is contract language and computer code. What if PBS built your line (how YOU wanted...not the company), THEN as the final step, added in vacation and dropped everything it touched? Would PBS still be ass? Under LOT, the company builds the trips and the lines of time...under PBS the company builds the trips and the pilot builds the line. On reserve, I have found PBS to be great. At 93% in my seat, I was able to get all weekends off in Jan, and was able to limit my on call days to 4 day blocks. Given that the shortest trips are 3 days, but a majority are >4 days (and they're not easily broken up), I have ensured there is just a short window they can use me in each block. This was definitely not possible under LOT, unless you were SUPER senior and even then, under AALs lines I saw, there was nothing like this.

As someone who has bid under line of time (albeit briefly) and now PBS, I would take PBS every time. I have found it far superior to LOT wrt to the individual scheduling. When I was at AAL, I basically had to pick between a number of equally shitty short call reserve lines. Under PBS, I have much more control over days off, and the number of on call days in a block. Coverage does suck but is a necessary evil, and can be kept under control wth some contract language. I'm not sure of AALs PBS, but our coverage does honor seniority. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way, but it's usually a result of an underlying conflict (FAR117, etc..). A decent portion of my QOL you mention (for DAL), is based on having PBS. The huge downside for pilots, is it's efficiency. This means, without proper contract language, fewer pilots on the seniority list. Other than that, I agree that AAL has a long way to go wrt QOL issues.

When I was a full timer (5+ years), I set aside time for that stuff because I damn sure wasn't doing it on my own time. Some months I met rap, some months I didn't, some tasks were pushed off a day or two and obviously some could not. Strangely enough, the wheels kept on turning and Squadron still functioned. Then again, there is a reason I left for the airlines and haven't looked back. I am thankful for, but do not envy the full-timers that remain, they are doing WAY to much work with far too few assets (and pay).

For the Guard bubbas out there, you'll be good if you're an AGR. However, not so for any of you Guard bums who jump from order to order, even if there isn't a break between sets. At least that's how it went down for me back in the 2012ish time frame. I came off a set of orders on one day and went right back onto another set the following day and the next paycheck my BAH was the new, lower rate, yay... That year the w/o dependent dropped ~$90, while the w/ dependent went up ~$150. In my area my BAH rate went up $3 while the w/dependent rate went up ~$100. Jealous assholes hating on the single crowd!

Ehh, just do ACSC while logging pay cards at the base or while on orders.

That's right! Us single guys still have families, that's why we get that family separation pay like the married guys...

Not Hacker, but scope is THE most important section of a contract (it's section #1 for a reason). It's the section that lays out what flying MUST be done by company pilots and what can be farmed out to regional/joint venture carriers. Without it, or with crappy scope, the company can farm out the flying to whomever they wish. On one end of the scope spectrum you have SWA, who has pretty solid scope. From my understanding, EVERY passenger who buys a southwest ticket is flown by Southwest pilots. However, a person who buys a Delta ticket to say Copenhagen (I just ran a orbitz search) could end up flying on one of our regional carriers to ORD then Air France to CPH. A ticket sold by Delta and not once are they being flown by a Delta pilot. All the carriers (except SWA), have some form of give on scope, some more than others. For the big-3, selling top end scope means fewer WB pilots, thus fewer of the highest paying jobs, and fewer pilots in general. If/when you get to an airline and the union starts talking about selling scope for pay rates...be VERY weary. Doing so can mean stagnation in your current seat or even maybe never seeing the left seat of that WB.

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