KWings06j

Aliante is definitely the way to go for renting. There are closer places to live but I would recommend against them. If you do decide to buy down the road (great time to do it btw) either Aliante or Henderson are your best bets. The east side of Henderson is a 25 minute drive to base and avoids the strip. The west side is about 35 minutes going past the strip.

I know a whole blood donation DNIFs you for 72 hours.. Does a red blood cell donation (where they take a double unit of red cells and return the rest) DNIF you for the same 72 hours or is it longer? I know doing red blood cells you can only donate half as often. *Edit. Forgot about this thread. Posted this originally in the aviation medicine section (after searching just that section). Thanks whoever moved it.

And there goes one of the very short list of things keeping me from going guard... If this starts to sound like it's actually going to pass I may have to start looking for a job in NY.

You may be checkride complete, or even flying complete but you haven't actually completed (graduated) UPT until the graduation a week or so later. Of course if you don't graduate you don't get your wings and you don't get all those nice civilian ratings for next to nothing. Back to the original question... The 10 year commitment isn't so bad. You'll figure out early on if it's not for you most likely and there's always staff tours if it's to late. Plus, like others have said, you'll have an opportunity to get out well before your commitment is up.

Pretty sure the code worked for me. It said to check my work email so I'll find out on Tuesday. Thanks.

I did Aero Engineering and still got a pilot slot. Do what you think you will enjoy, not what you think will be easier. If you hate your major you wont do as well in it. Also, if you really like engineering and continue on to get a masters in it it opens the door later on to become a test pilot. They require at least a BS in engineering or related and prefer a masters or better in it. Just realize that you will probably be taking 5 years of college to get that BS and doing a lot more work than your poly-sci counterparts for most of it. Also, if you don't get a rated slot, regardless of the rest of your dream sheet, you will get an engineering job almost guaranteed.

After being stuck in Chicago overnight and talking to people in the USO out of nothing better to do thanks to this snow storm I found out at least one reason so many army wear there uniforms. Not that this will come as a surprise to anyone but most of the people I talked to said they did it because they got to jump in line at security, get priority on boarding, get free upgrades or discounts at the food courts, or even skip to the top of the standby list. The ones leaving from school houses had to be in uniform for there first flight anyway but that was actually a small percentage. Though there were also more AF in uniform than I've seen in past years, probably due to allowing ABUs now.

Is this legal? My state of residence for tax purposes is OK. This is also where my car was registered. When I needed to renew the registration I was living in AL and had no street address to put on the form to renew it in OK. So when I went to renew it they turned down my registration for not having a state address. Can I renew my registration in a state that I no longer have a physical residence in? I ended up having to re-register my car in AL since OK took so long to respond my tags would have expired. However I'm moving to NV and they have an annual emissions test whereas AL and OK both don't have any inspection requirements. So I'd like to keep my registration in AL now that it's there without keeping a local address.

For the longest time none of my ribbons were displayed on vMPF. At my last assignment though MPF apparently magically updated it and added all of them. Not a big deal considering "all of them" was GWOT, NDSM, and the training ribbon. However they also put on there that I was authorized the AF Longevity ribbon. I've only been active duty for just over 2 years. I was ROTC and was on scholarship for 4 of my 5 years in college. Reading this thread I think that's a mistake and I shouldn't have the longevity award but I wanted to check if anyone knew for sure...

I don't have info on when I'm going yet but I expect it to be during the winter months (sometime between Nov and Feb most likely). Currently I have BDU's and the BDU gortex jacket (courtesy of my casual assignment) and I have flight suit and the summer/winter flight suit jackets. I see a lot of talk here about getting gortex pants. Should I get a BDU style gortex pants to wear over the flight suit knowing that will probably be the only time in my career I'll use em (thanks to going to ABU's, not that i'll ever wear those)? Should I get a set of ABU's (or two) and associated gortex to wear (or just the ABU gortex for over the flight suit)? Should I just go to a hiking/camping type store and get some really good sets of thermals and skip the gortex? Thanks.

We lost one in my class at Vance. From what I heard of it the CRB was nothing more than a formality before you were on your way to a new career field. He basically went in and was asked if there were any extenuating circumstances that should be considered. This guy was rock solid on the ground, always working and studying and had a good attitude. He just got nervous when he got behind the controls. Good luck to him but he should probably start looking at what other career fields he might enjoy.

Source

Last I head the instructor was confirmed dead on scene. The student was medivac'd to the hospital and should be fine. I'll see if they say anything more when I go in later.

A few of my favorites from the Helo side... "A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down, all of which trying to become random motion" "If you're in trouble anywhere in the world an airplane can fly over and drop flowers, a helicopter can land and save your sorry arse" - Igor Sikorsky

A Commander cannot just issue a blanket banning of activities without reason. However if the activity is having a direct effect on the mission then they can place restrictions on it to mitigate those effects. For example they can't ban you from scuba diving. However you can't fly within so many hours of scuba diving so the first time you have to be scratched off the flight schedule because of your scuba diving then they can make restrictions or extra requirements to ensure it doesn't conflict again. Also there are regs prohibiting you from taking civilian flight training while enrolled in military flight training for similar reasons. There can be negative transfer, bad instruction, or other issues with the civilian training that they don't want to effect your military training. This is allowed though you may have to fill out a high risk activity form. While you are in IFS or in UPT though you cannot take instruction. This means if you don't have a PPL during those periods you will not be able to fly except for the military training. If you do have a PPL during those periods you will not be allowed to add any ratings to it. I highly doubt they would ever check to see if you were doing it anyway but if something happened and the military found out it could have some stiff consequences. Just talk to your supervisor about getting the high risk paperwork (Form 29B if your in AETC, might not even be any paperwork elsewhere). After that you're pretty much free to do what you want except as mentioned above.

This actually reminds me of a college professor I had. He always made things due at 11:59 friday night (2359) and then added if it's a minute late no big deal. Apparently he used to say it's due at midnight friday but that drew to many questions of whether midnight was technically the start of the day (ie due thursday night/friday morning) or the end of the day (friday night / saturday morning).

After some issues at my last base I bookmarked the travel regs for faster reference. Check them out at http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/trvlregs.html . This is the holy grail of what you are or are not entitled to every time you PCS. One thing to note is that any time you occupy gov't quarters and do not have dependents (or at least do not have dependents that travel with you) you do not get DLA. So if you moved into the base dorms, first move or not, no money for you. If you moved into base housing without dependents, now that it's privatized, i'm not certain. If you move into base housing with your dependents then you get DLA because your dependents had to move. I believe this is the reg that you need: (U5630, part C, paragraph 4) C. Special Categories for Which DLA Is Not Authorized. DLA is not authorized ICW a PCS: 1. From home or from PLEAD to first PDS unless the dependents actually move from the member’s residence to the PDS or designated place ICW the PCS (if the dependents do not relocate to the new PDS, or the member has no dependents, DLA is not authorized from home or PLEAD to the first PDS); 2. From last PDS to home or to the PLEAD; 3. From last PDS in one period of service to first PDS in another period of service when there was no ordered PCS between those stations; 4. When the member does not relocate the household (e.g., the member continues to commute from the same residence) NOTE: Household relocation is not limited to transporting HHG. A member may relocate the household and neither transport HHG nor move dependents (e.g., A member with dependents who leaves the dependents in place and moves to the new PDS taking some personal belongings has in fact relocated the household. This member may be eligible for a DLA at the without-dependent rate if GOV’T quarters are not available at the new PDS. This item does not apply to a member on a PCS from home or from PLEAD to first PDS. See par. U5630-C1 with which this item does not conflict.); or 5. For a member with dependents, ICW PCS travel performed under the conditions outlined in pars. U5201- B1a, U5201-B1b, U5201-B1c, U5201-B1d, U5201-B2a, U5201-B2b, U5201-B2c; U5201-B2d, U5201-B2e, U5201-B2f; and U5201-B3b. My reading is that you should get DLA because you did in fact move the household but you will get the without dependent rate. Also, if your "first PDS" is where your dependents are (which it should be if thats where your unit is and you were officially stationed there before going to UPT) and you did not occupy gov't quarters for UPT then you should also receive DLA for your move to UPT.

Anyone know what the drop rate is on Osprey's out of the Helo UPT track?

One thing to consider is how much flying you want to do. In the AF a pilot is primarily a flyer. You will be in a cockpit for the majority of your 20 years unless you choose to request something else. For Marines/Navy you are primarily an Officer and expected to do a number of tours outside the cockpit. From the way it was explained to me by one of the Marine IPs is that you will do about 5-7 years out of 20 actually flying if you want to remain competitive for promotions throughout your career.

I think this one has been discussed pretty well. Don't kiss up or start spouting off regulations like some idiots do in ROTC. There going to expect you to not know how to do a lot of stuff but to still find ways of getting it done. Best thing I can say is ask questions and if you can't find an answer make a decision and press. I can't really help here beyond saying look up some info on your base and try to get in touch with someone from your det from last year or two if they went there. You'll be assigned a mentor though you will need to make first contact with your unit. They just get your name, social, and AFSC basically, no info on where your coming from or how to contact you. Just call the base operator and get the phone number from them. You also might as well call lodging and book a room. Just be sure to tell them your on orders so you'll get priority on a room (occasionally can be important). You can report in any day between your EAD and your RNLTD. Most people will use there RNLTD unless it falls on a weekend, then show the last workday prior. Your sponsor will coordinate this with you so they'll know when to be there. If you are going direct to a UPT base your sponsor will be (or was for the last few classes) from the OSS. They may or may not be rated. Most bases will have some sort of intramural or squadron sports. Just remember Exit 6 and Exit 9. If it's not at one of those you probably don't want to go there. Enjoy the drinking and good luck staying awake in the big blue bedroom. I'm livin the bachelor life so i'll pass on this one. You don't actually "report in" like ROTC does. You just kinda walk in, say hi, and go around shaking hands. Show up in the UOD (BDU's usually). See my answer to Q4 above for the last part. Relax. Everyone gets stressed out about it but it's not really a big deal. Just remember that you don't know as much as you may think but you'll still be expected to make decisions and take lead on some projects. Most of that first day will be spent sitting at MPF waiting to get your CAC. The rest of the time will be filling out paperwork to get your email set up, meeting the people in your office, possibly a short base tour, and if you're really lucky, CBT's.

Thanks for the quick replys. Do you know what form or waiver it is (so I can look it up)? I'm just really curious as to how the pay works out. Though like I said I have a good amount of time between now and then if I choose to follow that path so don't kill yourself trying to find info. I'm just trying to figure out all my options. Thanks for your help.

There are 3 different values for a used car... The lowest value is the Trade-in, what you could expect a dealer to buy your car from you for. The highest value is the resale, what you could expect to pay the dealer to buy the car from them. The middle value is the private party value, what you could expect to get or pay to sell/buy your car from a non-dealer. Make sure your quote and USAA's quote are using the same value. Realize though that if there is a discrepancy and they do agree to total the car they will most likely give you the lesser amount.

This is a long ways out for me so I know the answer will probably change a dozen times but I'm still curious... Right now i'm planning on doing 20 years AD (at least) and then when i'm ready to get out maybe going reserves. I'm curious though how that would work with retirement pay. I know after 20 years AD I can retire and get 50% base pay but if I go reserves do I keep accruing time to raise that percentage? I know about the points system so the time will accrue a lot slower. Can I collect the retirement pay while serving in the reserves, after leaving the reserves, or not until I turn 60 in this case? Does that extra time only boost my retirement pay once I hit 60? Am I confusing anyone else trying to explain this?

I try to donate blood as regularly as I can (usually 2-3 times annually). Right now i'm not on flying status so it hasn't been an issue. Once I actually start flying I know theres going to be some sort of restriction but I would like to keep donating if possible. Is there a specific reg outlining how long from donating to flying or saying that I can't at all? Would I have to go to a flight doc before I went to donate each time? Usually I donate kinda spur-of-the-moment. I'll hear about a blood drive going on and that day or the next i'm usually there. I scanned through the first 6 or 7 pages of posts and didn't see anything on this. I get an error trying to use the search feature from this computer.