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john

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Everything posted by john

  1. i just recently heard some of the dustoff guys here at bagram talking about the red cross and guns. the general thought is that as soon as it the guns go on and red cross come off they will be immediately retasked and no longer dedicated to medevac. dustoff guys are no joke. they are willing to go anywhere even without the armor and 50 cals we carry.
  2. abq uptown is where you need to look. i know a couple guys staying there. they are descent 1 bedroom apts that take dogs. most arent furnished but guys are renting furniture / tvs and the like and coming in just over 39/day.
  3. i see what your are saying and agree to a point. but i think you need to expand your concept of who is deserving of what in terms of full military retirement. a finance troop sticking it out for 20+ only to go hassle people about there reflective belts down range? doesnt seem right, i agree. but what about those for who i assume it was designed for? the army/marine/navy (hell, even a couple air force afscs) e6 who has done 5,6,7,8+ deployments/cruises for 12+ months a piece and has moved every 3 years in "defense" of the country? seems the least the country could do is say, here let us make your life a little easier for the next 30 years, thank you. think about it, we are not quite in the private sector. aside from the whole being shot at and possibly killed thing, we are moved and deployed and our lives turned upside down at the whim of some politician or politically appointed official so that we have better career development. for who? you and your career? i think its safe to say that the dod and their elaborate plan doesnt give a shit about you personally. but rather to attempt to develop as many as possible so we get the needed number to lead the next generation and continue the machine of the us military. do we make it a cut across the board? or do we instead change the retirement rules to actual afsc/mos/etc to encourage the proper retainment? hell, i would be more than fine with a above average match on retirement contributions. but honestly i just dont think you should sell yourself, or anyone else for that matter, short in saying that we make more/greater sacrifices than the private sector, and therefore a better compensation from those we defend is (i dont know how to put this without sounding entitled) acceptable? vs a private sector retirement. i just hope that somewhere along the way along the way enough people realize that "service before self" only goes so far, and i can only be pissed on and told its raining so many times (along with many others in the military) before its just not worth it anymore. john.
  4. I would try calling ahead. The only people I ve heard of getting non a letters are those married with pets. My wife and I have 2 dogs and they gave us a non a without us even asking. And that was just over the phone. Your milage may vary.
  5. As far as permissive goes it will all depend on when you get there. I was there about 3 weeks early and I just didn't have to show up for a week, had to do odd jobs for the squadron for a week, then took leave. If you're there early they'll probably just give you a couple days to get things straight. If you're there 1 or 2 days early expect to be in tlf, going to class and trying to find a place. I'm still here for about 3 weeks. Pm me if you have questions, I can help you out.
  6. john

    Smart phone

    im pretty sure you dont have to sync it to your computer right away. it will be working fine straight from the att store. you can even start downloading apps right away.
  7. john

    Smart phone

    Yeah they gave me the same story today and then they spent about 4 hours fixin the problem. They ended up opening 2 separate accounts and then merged them. To me it makes no difference because there wasn't a difference between what they did and a normal family plan. Honestly the best customer service I've had from any place in years.
  8. john

    Smart phone

    the thing that pisses me off about verizon is that if you buy blackberry with gps built in the only way to use it is pay an extra $15. you are already paying $30 to get the unlimited data and you paid for the phone, why should you have to pay to use all the features the manufacture intended. thats the main reason i switched to an iphone. i havent looked at the new phones that offer apps on verizon, but i cant imagine that they are free.
  9. crossfit. should have it any place over there. its fun, short and you dont have to run that often and youll still be running a faster 1.5 miles. dont waste your time with anything else. if you look at people that crossfit vs people that just workout. youll find more in shape people crossfitting than any where else. if the treadmill worked so well you wouldnt see every one taken up by a fat ass. just my 2 cents.
  10. you know i expected a response like this. i am no way trying to convey that im above everyone else. but you are going to tell me that all officers/leaders are the same? that there are no great ones? good ones? ok ones? bad ones? ones you would follow? ones you would run from? and that any changes/abilities in officership/leadership only show up after several years in the af? im not saying people cant develop themselves for the better, improve, degrade, check out after 16 years. no way is the john i am today going to be the john of 10 years from now. but i will tell you this, some people arent made to be leaders or officers. and it shows soon. you could see it when you were next to them at the academy/ots/rotc/ft or where ever. you know some the guys im talking about. not everyone is not made for it. i also understand that most officers in the af are commissioned to be technical experts and not leaders. but some (read "some", not all, not even most, but just some percentage that i have no idea of) of these people that just coasted by through whenever end up in leadership roles. now before you jump on me for saying only leaders become rated and everyone else sucks thats why they are ce or finance, thats not what im saying. there are losers and really bad leaders in the af. im wondering how these "shit bags" get a commission, and then progress. and no one had the common sense or balls to really say, these guys shouldnt make it any further. aside: this was a clarification of my original question/statement, not a new or reposed one.
  11. ok ive had a far too many beers in the asbc quad tonight, but. do you really have to shut up and color your way up. can not there be a push where everyone with with a level head will say instead of retiring at the 05 do level i will accept the sq/cc job and put up with the bull shit for 1 maybe 2 years and see how it goes. cannot there be enough leadership at the squadron level (which ive been taught is where all great officers dies these days) to make a big push? im not looking for advice for me, im wondering why i dont have some real world o5/o6 saying this is how the af works or this is what we actually support flying wise. if im csaf in 30+ years, all aetc assignments will be 3 years and will not be severed back to back. you have to serve operationally before you can teach some new rotc/ots/cot/academy kid what its like. i like the drunken bendy posting method.
  12. alright i have limited experience here. but why is it that anyone "in the know" or anyone that has the power to change things (read: most 0-6s and up) will never give you a straight answer. theres always just the song and dance with the eventual ending of stating the company line. why is that there is now no one in leadership (big leadership) that still has the balls to question big blue. hell the af came from a guy who questioned all the way down to his career grave. i just want for once someone to admit that the air force has an identity crisis of cold war guys leading us who dont know how they af currently fits in. that the way we are producing officers is borderline broken. and that more shit bags make it through commissioning sources with more brains than they know what to do with but not enough leadership in them to get a group of elementary kids across the street. and how does it make sense for aetc leadership to come from within aetc. they are so out of touch with the real operational af its painful to think they are trying to prepare us young guys for the real af. why the hell do we need a warriors creed. why is all thats talked about heritage about theyre all afraid to admit that our heritage is flying. just flying. not any of this other warrior mentality of some 30lb over weight ssgt that pushes paper and thinks hes contributing to the fight. and to finally cross the line. for all of you field grade guys out there complaining about the same thing, why does everyone bail instead of trying to fix things? not trying to bitch, just looking for where things went/go wrong?
  13. well i tend to think this has as much to do with characters/storyline then just how it is produced. the marines from generation kill are so completely different than the soldiers from band of brothers. personally i dont even think you can compare them, its apples and oranges. the fact that theyre called generation kill is not just about them being marines who want to see action. but rather that they are a "disposable generation" who know no one has invested in and that they have been raised on games like grand theft auto. and i especially think it will be harder for the older and more conservative generations to appreciate this as much as band of brothers. so far i have really enjoyed the series and think it definitely has the potential to be as good as b o b. but i will also point out that b o b had a much larger budget thanks to tom hanks.
  14. john

    Cross Fit

    yeah i did 90x for the full 90 days. i lost about 10 pounds. i just lost interest because it just came repetitive and i started to realize the benefits of functional fitness that came with cross fit. plus after a couple months of this im still pumped about each workout no mater how much it sucks. when it comes down to it i dont care about how curls i can do, i would rather be able to get my self up over a wall wearing a vest or know how much weight i can get up off the floor to over my head or be able to run all out with out dying. not saying 90x is bad, i just have a different goal in my fitness these days.
  15. john

    Cross Fit

    So I've been crossfitting for about 8 months off and on and now 3 months regularly. It got some press in the AF Times and I hear they even gave CF sessions at the Deid now. So who else does it and what do you think?
  16. yeah, i will be towing one car. thanks. ill have to see what interpretation tmo will give me when i get there.
  17. im pcs in not too long and am starting to plan a dity. as far as weight tickets go, would i weigh the rental truck, my car (packed and towed), my wifes all seperately?
  18. well i dont know if they actually covered the question really being asked. they said will the plane take off if the treadmill/belt/tarp is moving at the take off speed? but the idea i thought was in question is what would happen if the belt matched the speed with the wheels. if you had a speedo on the wheels and used that to control the speed of the belt. now that would be interesting.
  19. not to beat a dead horse. but mythbusters is supposed to test this next week. 1.30.08.
  20. is anyone else watching this. it is some of the most ridiculous displays of athleticism by people ive seen in a while. not saying i could do a whole lot better, but if i was going on national television i hope i would do a hell of a lot better than this chad guy.
  21. ok and heres another question after just having my sister married off yesterday and really starting to plan my wedding. i will be at shaw and she lives in charlotte, but when we get married i hope to go ahead a pcs to pcola all at the same time. you are allowed a 60 day widow to move early to pcola with a cc's approval. but im thinking it i will need to be legally married before hand to get the extra money for the pcs? and while im at it i may as well do the legal marriage thing a few months to take down so extra bah/bas and she wont have to pay for a couple months of med insurance. everyone wins right? does anyone have experience with any of this? thanks, john. dang, just looked it up. i will only be pocketing an extra 80 a month for bah at shaw.
  22. well when i finished ft a couple years ago our "graduation speaker" was a thunderbird pilot who had just finished his tour in it. he was known for stuff flying around in the cockpit. he showed a couple of compiled videos of him with everything flying around. snickers bars, checklists, and all sorts of stuff. a cool part was some books bouncing around and him giving the finger to the other guys in formation who are talking shit to him. another part was the flight doc forgetting his lap belt and falling into the canopy. cant remember his name. this would be ft 3 years ago soon after he finished, he was an a-10 pilot and a the lead solo.
  23. just got an email from our nco, looks like completing sere cbt is now a precommissioning requirement.
  24. i'm in the same place and got this name from another guy who is also shopping. neither of us have bought from them, and they take paypal which makes them sound cheap but paypal has absolutely awesome buyer protection especially for high priced stuff. doesnt hurt that they claim incredible discounts. as with buying anything before you see it, be careful. http://www.primestyle.com/index.php if you find anything good out there let me know. john.
  25. ok bumping this back to the top for another question. are analog watches really the way to go. not that i cant read them, just like digitals better. anyone out there use suunto or high gear or anything like that? thanks.
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