contraildash

Well either way he wasn't going to be a SQ/CC for long...unless I'm not aware of a F-35 variant that has an extra seat for NFOs.....

This part was a gem: How is that a difficulty, isn't that the whole point? Was there a cutoff for how long you had to be married to get 50% as the divorced spouse? If any judge used the above logic, the argument could and probably has been made against someone that got divorced as a Captain but made it to 20 and retired as an O-6.

Thanks for the youtube link, I'm gonna try out those stretches. My back pain has been getting worse over the past 7 years and I've taken to seeing an off base chiro/pt group to mitigate the issue. This last fall I threw it out in the plane and couldn't get out of the cockpit for about 5 minutes, then after I made it out I fell off the ramp it hurt so bad. Went through another round of DNIF, painkillers, muscle relaxers, PT....just isn't cutting it. I wrote a longer post, but deleted most of it. Here is the bottom line. Big Blue doesn't give a shit. The other services have conducted extensive health studies and aircrew surveys to try and fix the problems. The Air Force hasn't done shit. 800mg of motrin and be on your way son......

Living here is great. There will be enough gouge from your unit to help cover most of your questions. I'll throw my two cents in for a few of em. 1. Power. Don't worry about using the transformers with regards to $. They will make certain appliances like hair driers and hair clippers scream louder than a cat in heat. Not an electrician/engineer but probably something with the Hz? Anything that is dual voltage is GTG with an adapter, most TVs and computers these days are dual power. 2. When looking for a house, not all villages have cell signal. The lack of reliable cell coverage is one of the most frustrating things here in the UK. Use this site to see what is available where you live: https://www.signalchecker.co.uk/ 3A. Housing. Timing and luck! I found a 2600sq/ft place that is well inside O4 OHA on pure luck. Also, ask around for letting agencies to avoid. There are some real a-holes out there. Most people are spread between Bury St Edmonds, Redlodge/Newmarket, Cambridge, and Ely. Pros and Cons to all. Ask around your unit. Go check them out yourself to see if the drive is something you want to do. Each drive is 'unique.' When you do find a place...you are certainly not stuck in it. I've had many friends move while they are here for various reasons. Obviously it is out of your own pocket to move. 3B. If you go into TLF here heads up. The housing office gets really pushy with their policies. I.E. they only give you 30 days in TLF and then you HAVE to go into base housing (which could be at Lakenheath or Feltwell) or an off base TLF. Pro-tip...if you sign up for an off base TLF, it is essentially a rental property. Your overseas entitlements will start when you go into it. I did it...started that extra cash flow early. Folks in your squadron should help you out with this gouge. 4. We drive all over the UK in our LHD vehicle. Doesn't bother us a bit....you just learn to adapt and overcome. Sometimes it helps on narrow streets because you can get SUPER close to parked cars. We have two RHD cars as well. Beaters are fun. Our technique was to go cheap and dispose when they break. My $900 special is still going strong after a year! There are some cheap rental companies right off base that will get you through while you search for a car. Other things to think about: Banking You cannot pay rent/utility/ect with US based banks...unless you are pulling heaps of cash every month. You'll have to get a British account when you get here. This could be through Community Bank on base, through an actual British bank, or through some non-standard banking such as Transferwise & Monzo. PM me if you want more gouge on this subject. Travel Easy and cheap. Flew to/from Scotland for $30 round trip recently. Almost all of western Europe is within a 3 hour flight. Pets Are you bringing pets? There is a process. PM if so. Side notes: Once you do find a place, don't expect anything to happen quickly with utilities, cable/internet, ect. My example: I signed up on line for a cable/internet provider. Had to wait two weeks for the setup appointment. When they came, they found that some of the wiring in the phone lines was bad....despite it being this particular company's equipment...the technician was not allowed to work on the lines. So we had to make another appointment for the 'line guy' to come out...another week delay. I could not make another setup appointment until the work was done. So another week long wait. Took a damn month. Everything here has a 'scheme' which is just British for "we are going to charge you more money for no reason."

And the pendulum swings again....nothing new here.

The irony of that award was not lost upon some of us. Sure made for a good laugh. If they only knew... In other news, was stuck at the Deid for a few days last month while in transit back home. It was as if Oprah was there distributing shooter hats....you get a shooter hat....and you get a shooter hat....and you get a shooter hat... I guess that is what matters...

Meh, it was just a thought, kinda expected those replies. FWIW (and not to justify my random thought) I've flown as a co-pilot on an ATP check in a Lear. Honestly thought it was a fairly benign event. Even more so compared to checks I've had in the AF. Only reason I didn't do my ATP then was I had less than 1500 hours and the ATP-R wasn't in effect yet. Poor timing/luck. ...off to find somewhere with an opening...

Throwing out a random idea here... I am thinking about going to the local FBO, renting their twin for a few hours of instruction (aka practice practical / get familiar with aircraft) and then scheduling with the local ATPE. From everything I've read, it seems this is pretty much the basis the places a lot of you are flying with albeit more focused (aka gouge and such). Thoughts?

Some rather obvious images here: http://mashable.com/2014/07/21/mh17-shrapnel-damage-missile-strike/

It depends on who/what your mission was supporting. We had this issue in Europe, in particular with the Kosovo QHDA. Crews would claim tax free because their flight plan would take them through the airspace over the Adriatic even though their mission had nothing to do with that AOR. According to the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p3/ar02.html): Nonqualifying Presence in Combat Zone None of the following types of military service qualify as service in a combat zone. Presence in a combat zone while on leave from a duty station located outside the combat zone. Passage over or through a combat zone during a trip between two points that are outside a combat zone. Presence in a combat zone solely for your personal convenience. That said, DoDI 1340.25 states that if you qualify for HFP/IDP then you can claim it. Also, the HFP/IDP entitlement must be directly related to military operations in the CZ or QHDA. For the past few years you no longer get a months worth of tax free, only the days served within the CZ or QHDA. This cut down on lots of units taking missions that started at the end of one month and finished at the beginning of the next (two months tax free for 2 days work).

Buddy just told me that his wife and car full of kids was stopped at the gate after they had thier ID's checked in order to act as a block to the car behind them. Great idea, let's use a car full of kids as a roadblock at the gate....

This is dumb. They may catch a few stupid folks, but the smart ones that are gaming the system will just bring in the certificate and that will be that. It's not like your marriage certificate gets shredded when you get divorced, or birth certificates destroyed when one dies. I bet less than 1% of the Air Force is cheating on BAH? What do y'all think?

Just as long as he doesn't go the route of a female LtCol guest speaker we had....she actually drove to SOS without orders (verbal or written) because she "thought she was supposed to go" or something to that effect. In any case, she came across as a total idiot and made us wonder how the hell she was selected to talk to us, let alone make it to O-5. Insert your own theories on that one....

So nosed around at work, airshows are back on. We have a few requests for our aircraft from other AF bases. Saw the F-22 demo team is doing shows, anyone know if the other demo teams are back up and running?

So does it mean that folks can support military airshows? That is what the website leads me to understand. As far as flying demos at military air shows, not sure.

Always found that funny considering: they cut the fingers off their gloves, roll sleeves up, zippers down, and have been known to fly around naked. But FOD...watch out boys.

I think people are getting too wrapped around the axle over what Cap said. If there is something so important that it needs to get done overnight, my boss has either told me to stay and work on it, or come in on a Sunday. This has been the exception in my short career and in each case warranted. Other than that, I'm not working on shit at home.

This. My old man said the same thing as well, great advice to heed. The wheels aren't going to fall off the train if you don't read emails overnight.

Meant masters...but yeah that won't go either.

I'll be honest, my morale would be increased so much more by eliminating the queepy bullshit we have to do (check in the box PME, ect) rather than the token gesture of running shoes and some velcro backed cloth. I see this as the easy thing to do for a quick artificial boost in our morale. Meanwhile no one is stepping up and dealing with the serious shit.

Wish I had this a couple weeks ago going through OAK, the security line in the Southwest terminal wrapped back around the baggage carousels. It took over an hour to get through. There was only one regular check line open, while there were two precheck lines open. Couldn't figure that one out....oh yeah...it's TSA.

Sierra Nevada Narwhal: black as midnight, thick like molasses. Good stuff.

When they look at AFSCs to RIF, do they break it down further than just the 11M or 11S? Do they consider what you actually fly and the manning state of that community or is this just a broad stroke against all 11M/S/Whatever?

There is a push in leadership to not allow SOS in correspondence until you've hit your 7th year and haven't been in-res. I don't foresee this happening with any urgency.