sputnik

So far I haven't been able to figure out who the OG is there. I did find the wing king....who I know from a lifetime ago and could maybe possibly almost see writing something like this. Though, to be honest, whatever else you can say about him he's too polished to ever directly put his name to something so moronic. So, I guess you can't list names here, but can you at least give an official base link with to the McGuire OG? By the way, congrats on Lakehurst ALZ (I'll take a link to that as well), I've been flying 11+ hour locals to hit an actual LZ, I can't believe ya'll scored one so close.

GI Bill was signed into law, just doesn't take effect till Aug 09. You can transfer some not all. By which I mean, you can transfer the tuition, but not the living expenses, books and fees. Still a great deal, just not as great as if you used it. Expires 15 years after you separate/retire. I use 529s. Nevada and Utah offerred the best plans when I set ours up a few years ago. Went with Nevada, run by Vanguard. Low fees and about zero restrictions on how it's used.

I don't want to make it seem about money, but it's something to keep in mind. You can go to USAFA (you can drop the "the USAFA" shit even though it makes sense, sort of) and not have to pay a thing. Graduate debt free other than a low interest car loan, if you elect to take it. Depends what kind of finances you/your parents have, or what kind of scholarships you can get, but it's pretty hard to beat free.

Which is why I've always wondered why the CAOC isn't in Florida. I mean, they do everything via phone and internet anyway, why the hell do they need to be there at all? PCS a crapload of duds to FL on 3 year tours and run it like TACC (except hopefully not as badly). Shit, talk about AFSO21

I may be greedy but I'm not stupid, I'm not touching this for less than 40%

Slightly different SPAM attempt: - Dear Friend,I am Captain Brian Johnson of the US Marine Force on Monitoring and Peace-keeping mission in Baghdad-Iraq.On the 24th day of January 2007,we were alerted on the sudden presence of some Terrorists camping in a suburb not too far from Karbala here in Iraq .After Immediate intervention, we captured three(3)of the Terrorists, twenty-six (26) were killed leaving seven (7) injured.In the process of torture they confessed being rebels for late Ayman al-Zawahiri and took us to a cave in Karbala which served as their camp.Here we recovered several guns,bombs and other Ammunitions including some boxes among which two contains nuclear weapons,one filled with hard drugs(cocaine) and the other four to my amazement contain some US Dollars amounting to $17.2M(Seventeen Million Two Hundred Thousand Dollars)I and two of my junior intelligent officers counted them.I however instructed them to keep this in high secrecy.I am in keen need of a "Reliable and Trustworthy" person like you who would receive,secure and protect these boxes containing these US Dollars for me upon till my assignment elapses here in Iraq. I assure and promise to give you 10% of these funds,however feel free to negotiate what you wish to have as your percentage in this business.Please assure me of your keeping this topmost secret to protect my job with the US Monitoring and Peace-Keeping mission.Contact me through my personal email:(bjohnsonn2006@yahoo.co.jp)Sincere regards.Captain Brian Johnson

I like where you're going with this, I really do. But a few things: I know a few guys who fought the Vietnam war from Guam in BUFFs. They were quite happy to be there instead of living in Vietnam. All were saddened and never quite got over the loss of their buds who didn't make it back. Not all who operated out of there made it home. It was a good place to fight the war. If you survived. Iran did go to war with a Muslim country, Iraq, it lasted 8 years and went nowhere good for either of them. It spelled the death for a lot of Muslims. They did it anyway. The larger issue there isn't religion, it's race. Iranians are Persians, everyone else is Arab. For the most part blood counted more than religion, even among brother Shiites. And financial logic never really seems to matter, Germany invaded it's largest trading partners despite all predictions that it would destroy their economy. If we went to war with Iran, I really think Qatar would get waxed, and the 'Died would suck for an actual purpose. The more relevant point is, if we went to war with Germany Ramstien would suck for a reason. But we're not, and it doesn't. Similarly, we're not at war with Iran, and the only reason Al Udied exists is because it would cost to f'ing much to put us in hotels. Instead we have the Air Force Academy experience for all who never went there for no f'ing reason and d!psh!ts who say "if we were at war with Iran" like it's in any way f'ing relevant. I don't think I could suck up the camel toe, but I'll tell you, I'm considering it. And again, I'm not arguing, I like where you're going with this. EDIT: No sts, intentionally. I'm a heavy driver.

Wow, where'd you get the 75%? Not saying you're wrong, I just thought it was less, closer to 50% for O4. Wha'ts the percentage of DPs for O5, anyone know?

We were landing on 90' of Bagram and Kandahar for quite some time, but I agree with you the training is a fairly minor issue. We get to Moses every once in a while and it's great to get back on a real ALZ. Elmo and Hik are smart, we only deploy our guys to Incirlik. As I said, PACAF is nice. And that's partially why the deployments are sought after.

Hickam was great as of a year ago. Seemed like their manning flowed okay--i.e. not the aformention 69 FP's. Despite being told that everyone would get four year tours in an effort to cut PCS costs, the first 9 guys coming up on 3 years got their extensions denied. Which I take to mean will allow for a lot of assignments that way starting in Jan 09. PACAF 17 flying is awesome, trips almost never longer than 7 days, fly both east and west. At Elmo we did get the five zillion FPs and I know they're frustrated. We always max out on pilots just so everyone gets hours, which is aggravating. The first few guys will start upgrading next year and that should smooth out the crew ratios. The 60 day deployments are regarded as a good deal, no one is forced, there's always a long line of volunteers. In AMC they deploy the EAS squadrons, which takes so many tails off the ramp that...actually I have no idea how much the other squadrons get to fly but I've heard else what C21 said, not enough, but 500-700 hours seems like quite a bit, more than guys here are getting. Anyway where I was going is thus far it appears that no matter how much leadership tries we're never going to get an EAS and therefore our tails aren't deployed and we still get missions. Since our missions are usually less than a week this rotates the crews. Right now we just have too many FPs so ACs are probably flying a bit more than they'd like and FPs clearly less. We've been told that FPs with at least a year on station "can" go to UAVs if they want. Thus far there has been no word, official or not, that guys will "have" to go. Somewhere in my bleak heart I'm kind of expecting it though. I'll jump on the bandwagon of not trying to pick airframe/location based on hours. It just changes so much, no matter what its like now odds are it'll be completely different when you get there. I tell the guys who want more flying/TDY to enjoy being home, cause sooner or later they'll wish they had that time. Enjoy having copilot freedom, it ends. I've seen the C17 world where newbies all got 1000+ hours their first year and 300+ days TDY. Now, not so much. If you have a choice, pick an airframe you want (17 is a nice choice, personal opinion) and pick a location where you'd like to live on the odd chance you're not TDY. EDIT: I guess I'll add this for the very hardcore--take training and mission into account. Not all bases have airdrop, if you do/do not want that mission you should consider this (I know Dover is airland only, I though McGuire and Travis were same--?). For training I got to say Hawaii sucks. No low levels, dz's suck and Kbay is the only transition field you can do touch and goes at and the way it's situated in the bay imposes restrictions. The nearest ALZ is 6 hours away at Moses Lake (only 4 hours from Elmo!!). Painted ALZ's ain't the best training and while flying around Maui at 500 ft and 250 kts is beautiful it's not exactly the best low level training. Training wise TCM and CHS have it the best with Moses and North respectively. Anywhere else in lower 48 you're close enough you can probably get there once in a while. Once you go to PACAF it's hard. Like I said, if you think you'd like Hawaii, and have a choice, screw the training--as Elvis discovered Hawai doesn't suck.

http://airlinepilotforums.com/showthread.p...7166&page=5, bottom of page. I look forward to comments. The form attached above is excellent. I got recut there a few weeks back, we older guys on crew were bitchin about the place, the Lt's were wondering why we hated it so much. I finally explained (they were both zoombags) that Al Udied is exactly like the academy, except no mountains to look at. I'm sure I'll get flamed by Boom and the non-grads, but if you didn't go there and you've ever wondered what the academy was like...think 'Died. The sadest thing about it, if nothing else these pencil neck dovchebags could at least pretend a bit of leadership (at however gay level) and say "the standards/AFIs say this, so do it." I could at least then say "while you're a nvmbnuts fvckwad at least you're enforcing an actual rule, however gay it might be" instead they come up with completely fvcking retarded theories of fall hazards and force protection. Tools and cowards. I am printing off your form and carrying it next time in theater. I had an "Adult" pen pocket tab made. Really enjoyed wearing that, thanks for whoever came up with it. In an immeasurably small way, it made up for being treated like a three year old. Which really isn't fair, I treat my three year old with infinitely more respect.

Rent to pilots if you can. Not because they're better people (we are) but you're more likely to get a roommate who is always/often gone, which is huge. You get the rent with half the roommate. For myself, I bought as a FAIP. I put guys up on temp basis when PCS'ing, but in general I determined I liked my own space. I didn't dig Del Rio all that much, but I really liked my house, and having it to myself made up for Del Rio a little. Financially...having a roommate would have been huge.

By the way, I quote this from another forum. In case you're wondering why dipsh!ts are concerned about your socks and/or tshirt tuck, it's not cause they're dipsh!ts, it's force protection: "Incidentally, I saw a post saying that I was probably deployed overseas and spending all my time telling people to tuck their shirt in or put on socks ... that is partly true. I did not spend all my time doing it, but when I saw a violation I corrected it on the spot. Do you know why? Because the reason for the very strict uniform policy was for force protection. It is very, very easy for the terrorists to get American uniforms. They might even be able to gain access to facilities by getting a job as a 3rd country national. What they likely would NOT do is realize how EXACTLY to wear our uniforms. So, if you see a guy running around in US pt gear with no socks or with his shirt not tucked in, then you challenge him -- if all the good guys are in the proper uniform worn correctly, then the guy who is out of uniform is probably the terrorist. That's exactly what happened at a site in Fallujah -- an Army Sgt noticed a guy in American uniform, worn improperly, and when he challenged him the guy started running. The Sgt ran inside the internet cafe and got everyone out just before it exploded." What heros!!!

Why luckily? I took a 17 through in about 03, if they hated us they hid it well. Thought it was a great course, learned a lot and had a blast.

Blasphemy. And correction to correction, it's the great beer. No need to qualify with national origin. Speaking of C17s and Frankfurt. I just wrote an OPR for a young fighter guy. Always fun to see changes once it works it's way up chain and back down to me for signature. Tag line had been changed to start with "Pure Platinum!" A term that never, ever would make it on an official document at Charlston or McChord. www.pure-platinum-frankfurt.de

That'd be interesting. I did get an oragami dollar with winglets once. It's a German beer, back in the day the fridge at the Frankfurt stage was always well stocked with it. The stud knew I was going to C17s, and he'd been stationed in Germany and somehow could predict the future I guess. That I'd end up drinking it by the case as I was tdy 9 zillion days a year (not a complaint).

I always told my studs they couldnt't offend me, but please don't take that as a challenge. Maybe it was my engineer-training-induced education, but I've zero capability for artisitc originality and therefore I tended to appreciate it on those rare occasions it was introduced. My favorite dollar actually has no porn at all. My next favorite dollar was a bottle of 1878 (C17 bubbas know of which I speak) covered in porn. Both hit originality. It's easy to slap a bunch of gapping beav's on a bill, but to do it in a memorable way.... that takes genious. Which I don't have, but I wish you luck. All my dollars are treasures, every once in a great while I pull them out and admire. Some more so than others. If you take them time to make one, rest assured it will be appreciated. If someone tells you tape a photo of yourself naked, and you're not a Playmate, for God's sake, please reconsider.

Ah, did a sim with a new guy the other day, had a few months in the squadron. He was actually pretty good, but ruined it with "well my technique..." Dude STFU, you haven't flown long enough to have techniques, much less share them. I think he mentioned his flights to Afghanistan around 30-40 times as well. That's an idea of what not to do when you show up somewhere. I've been flying for years, I'm still a student. You always learn. No idea which MWS you're going to but if you stop and think about it, you're probably treated a whole lot better than UPT. Your instructors have enough respect for you to sit down and tell you what to do, what you f'ed up, and how not to f it up again. If they wasted time being nice, etc, they'd be wasting your time and the govt's money and ultimately giving you less instruction than you need.

How's it going there now? Seems like a brilliant idea. Wish to hell it's been an option when I went through PIT (a long f'ing time ago)

As an officer your monthly tax free income limit is limited to the max enlisted pay rate. If you're a Maj on flight pay, you're about at that limit. Anything you make over the limit (for example an O6 makes more--or you if you get the bonus that month) you pay normal tax rate on. I've been tax free for 2-3 of the years I've recieved the bonus...that's the way it works. Don't get wrapped up in the bonus part, look at the max amount an officer can get tax free. At the end of the day your bonus is just like any other pay, and subject to the same limit as any other pay (basic, flight, etc). IRS really has nothing to do with it, it's DoD limits. Where's FinanceGuy?

In the glory days of end of FY fall out manna from heaven we got ready to order the whole squadron noise cancelling bose headsets. Sadly before the order was placed someone at AMC OGV found out told us they weren't authorized and it would be a Q3'able offense. It's been long enough that they've all changed over there so maybe a new sheriff/view in town. I'd ask AMC or maybe someone at Altus before buying it. In answer to your question, I knew some guys that had them and thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. If you won't get in trouble I'd be all over it.

I've been to Scott exactly once, about six months ago. It was incredibly bad service all around. Plus the base sucks ass. Considering AMC is HQ there I found it somewhat amusing how completely worthless they are (prime knight? what's that?). The high point was having several worthless TA guys watch us refuel our jet. For some "contract" reasons they "couldn't" refuel us, but they could sit there and watch us and insist we weren't allowed to perform concurrent servicing (wfto?). Their definition of CSS was having aircrew on the jet while it was being refueled. No idea about FBO but I have trouble believing it could in any way be worse than Scott.

Purely out of curiosity, how much does it cost to do that to your doors?

I started down the road with them before deciding not to buy the car, but they were quite easy. I want to say on BMWs it worked out to about 5K for a 3 series, more as you moved to more expensive cars. I had a friend buy a mini when they first came out, he saved a decent amount as I recall, though it was hard to say as he got one of the first ones around and they probably would have sold with a large premium They have a price list they'll send you, you can just do the math and see how it works out. Also worth a visit when you swing through Ramstein, we test drove a few cars. Kind of fun to take a nice BMW down the autobahn.

I've known airlift guys who've been ALOs but the last one I met was pre 9/11. I'm pretty sure it's completely restricted it to fighter/bomber guys. We had the first ABM guy in squadron, he was an ALO but he wasn't TAC qual'ed. I can't remember if it was ACC or PACAF (think it was the latter) that said he couldn't be a JTAC. Far as I could tell the intent was to have JSTARS kind of expertise available to the Army. He spent most of the assignment trying to figure out why he was there, nothing against him it just wasn't clear.