11F

Thanks for posting, Bonis. You've seriously got to be kidding me - all of that extra time to release this thing and it's exactly the same. Our government is so dysfunctional.

Good point. The apple sure looked nice and green though.

While I realize this is comparing green apples to red apples, I found this article interesting in regards to the renaming of the AD bonus from ACP to ARP for two reasons. 1) They changed the max from $25k to $30k. 2) They made it specific to MWS. http://www.homestead.afrc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123327616

According to "Bob" in the bonus office (I don't know what to call it anymore), the FY13 "ARP" was approved 07-Jun-13. They are in the 2-week "implementation phase" now and expect the release date to be "on or about" 25-Jun-13. I'm still not going to hold my breath.

You know, I used to think this was getting held up by sequester, but I'm starting to think its held up because its an overhaul of the system (name change from ACP to ARI and mass-exodus in certain MWSs even with an ACP). I know it's all speculation, but that's what forums are for.

It wouldn't surprise me. It's already that way for 15Es & 22s, and the guard has 15Cs.

I guess this statement totally depends on your community. In mine, you can fly as long as you like if you don't care about command. 11F shortage is a good thing in that case.

Way over! Terrible source!

Yeah, she'll weigh 350#...inflation.

Butters...seriously dude. This is an Internet forum, everything on here is a rumor until proven guilty. Now then, as for your rumor, 6.9 years just isn't long enough, they'd need to make it 6.93333...repeating of course.

While I agree with your math, I disagree that 7 yrs would be better than 10 yrs. IMO, a dude who signs the bonus will stay for retirement whether its 5, 7, or 10 years long. A dude who signs a 5 year bonus only has around 3 years left at the end of his bonus commitment. I don't see a dude giving up a paycheck for the rest of his life (retirement) with only 3 years to go. Therefore, the goal isn't to get a guy close enough to retirement to stay in for 20; the goal is to get him to sign the bonus at all. And dudes will be way more likely to sign it knowing they will get paid the $25k per year for their entire time through 20 as opposed to taking a pay cut 3 years prior to retiring. This whole 10 year thing is making some sense to me - scary that I just said that.

Interesting. I actually *did* take a survey about 6-9 months ago that directly asked if I would take the bonus based on different dollar amounts and lengths. There were other retention questions mixed in. I'm pretty sure I remember that the survey was *very* specific in its target audience. The funny thing is, I did what every respectable rated officer would do - I realized this was probably a survey to determine future bonus payments, and so I answered every question with answers that would lead to a better bonus. While I doubt the bonus changes at all, I thought I'd verify the true portion of jstarsshag's rumor.

I haven't heard of any 11Fs getting tagged for UAVs for at least 3 years now. As for the UAV vs. 365, in my world, the time away from family is my biggest concern. But don't get me wrong, if I were single or didn't have kids, it'd be a totally different story.

Well, miracles still happen. The 365 was reclamaed (is that a word?) due to wing-wide manning and HHQ deployment taskings (watch out 11Fs, there's a 365 coming to a unit near you!). It's a good thing I didn't actually tell my leadership to "pound sand", because I'm now still on AD awaiting the ACP release again like everyone else on here. However, now that I've shown my hand to my chain of command (showing them I'm not a "team player" by threatening to get out when faced with a 365), I am feeling somewhat vulnerable when it comes to my next assignment out of here. Thanks for all the well wishes on here.

It didn't make the decision, it made it easier. If the bonus was a sure thing, it would have been really hard to turn it down. I am not acting like an outcast (pariah) at all (I'm not exactly sure why you said that). The difference between you and me (as you stated) is that you *have* to go to Afghanistan (you aren't eligible to leave the AF due to your UPT commitment). I, on the other hand, do not. It would have been a lot easier to tell my wife and 4 kids that I was going on a 365 in order to pay for future weddings and college tuitions (ACP over 5 years). However, I couldn't make that statement to them (the ACP isn't a guarantee yet). I was a little more eloquent than telling them to "pound sand". They understood and tried to reclama.

Well, I hit my decision point (365) and still no bonus - pound sand big blue cause I'm out!

Boy, good thing he's having it reviewed some more; I'm sure it's cosmically different than the previous 5 years' offerings.

No hope for you!

I'm standing at the ops desk right now on a Saturday in hopes that someone falls out on Monday! If stop loss goes into effect, it's not the flying that will stop, it's the queep that would struggle. But if I'm to be honest, what would scare me the most would be the unsafe and unprofessional airmanship that would ensue due to stop loss. That's the reality.

What are you trying to say, Learjetter? Is there some type of catch in the AFI, message, and/or contract that we should be looking for? If so, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I'm starting to wonder the same thing. The lack of comm about the FY13 ACP by Big Blue is deafening.

I'm setting an over-under on the release date for the FY13 ACP: 1630EDT, Friday, 03-May-13. Place your "blog dollar" bets with Butters; I'm sure he will put them to good use.

A-word

Great question. All I know is that your payment starts from either the date it's processed or your commitment date (whichever is later). That would infer to me that your commitment is based on that same date, which, if that is the case, is bologna. I don't think we'll know the answer to this for another 3.5-4 years when the first "10 year" group who took the bonus confronts this decision.

Honestly, I really do think they will provide a bonus that is at least as good as last year's. The personnel budget wasn't supposed to be touched by sequestration. And even though everyone is very cynical on here, I have to believe that those in charge of this aren't so retarded as to withhold the bonus.