slo_goin

Check out survivalblog - great resource. The author, James Rawles, has a few good books out there. There is nothing irrational about being prepared if the grid goes down. You don't have to do anything crazy - plant a vegetable garden, learn how to hunt, know how to care for yourselves, and have a place to go. You'll be better off than those who stick their head in the sand and believe the Wal-Mart shelves will never be empty...

Nothing so far this morning

Yep - it all comes down to the budget for the fiscal year. I'm sure AFRC would love to have enough money to hire every squadron's candidate!

AFRC does not assign slots - each squadron and group forecasts their manning requirements and holds a board as necessary. Some of these boards are for prior rated and some are for UPT candidates. In the end it is up to the squadron to select an individual who they think will be competitive at the AFRC board. Unfortunately, with budget cuts, the AFRC board is no longer a given; this process places everyone on a level playing field when there aren't enough slots to go around.

All packages must be sponsored to meet the board; they do not allow un-sponsored packages anymore.

I was told this as well...

Most likely - tomorrow will be a family day for the squadrons

Congrats!

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.p...2751&page=1

You know guys, none of this is going to matter... In fact, the F-22 might just be the last great fighter the US is able to develop on its own. We've lost most of our manufacturing capability to outsourcing, and now we are starting to lose the edge in R&D to. F-22s don't just grow on trees - its not even about money. All the dollars in the world won't buy one single F-XX if we continue to bleed engineering talent and skilled labor. To expensive to build? Why don't we give China the plans and let them manufacture them for a quarter the cost! We've done it with everything else... These things are expensive because we've lost most of our capability to build them! Most new military technologies are crippled by single source parts which has driven the cost up and forced the government to scramble for alternative vendors. Even the big ugly three (Northrup, Lockheed, Boeing) struggle to produce marginal products that cost the government 10x more than they ever should (and take 10x longer as well) - and they don't even build the stuff! They pass the work along to subcontractors and bathe in the G/A money. I see an alarming trend and the hemorrhaging is going to get worse. I think "how many F-22s should we buy" is the least of our problems.

Hefty, Hefty, Hefty.... Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy

I agree, and I am all for levying tariffs on all goods entering the US. I think that would help our economy in a number of ways! Btw... This is the first time I've used my iPhone to access this site. I picked it up yesterday and I've got to say - this phone kicks ass!

Last time I checked... Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, etc... have all done very well and have invested BILLIONS in building manufacturing plants in the USA. Screw Detroit and their UAW mafia / failed business model. The future of the auto industry is in Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Indiana and everywhere else these foreign guys are propping up large scale high-tech manufacturing facilities. Will jobs be lost if we don't bail Detroit out? Sure! But it's only in going to bankruptcy that the Big 3 will have the power to reorganize effectively against the UAW.

I had it pulled out... no sense in complicating things. Thanks for the advice!

Like looking through a window into the past. I wonder if we as a country would ever be able to come together and gear up like that again?

So I can't help but notice that a 5 line email has now been parsed inside and out over 21 posts... The AF always gets hung up on the details... and I thought the flying side would be different than space command :D

^2

Sounds like the pirates have quite a successful business going! Any thoughts on whether or not we'll get involved? On the bright side... at least we don't have to send them as much foreign aid now!

Understood, thanks. I went ahead and re-read the policy letter on PRK/LASIK. There is no mention of anything regarding the use of a punctal plug or lubricating eye drops. Their only related area concern would be cases of "severe dry eye" and use of medicated drops, and I fit neither scenario - what I have is just a simple convenient alternative to a couple lubricating drops in the morning (what I was doing before). I'll just have to trust my doc on this one I guess; he was a flight surgeon at Brooks / Wilford Hall so he is the best resource I have in addition to this forum. It seems to me that the PRK waiver process at this point has got to be pretty streamlined.

I'd prefer to leave it alone, honestly. Is this something I should call Brooks on?

History -> I had PRK back in April of 2007, everything went well and I passed my FC1 in January of this year. My FC1 states "pending completion of MFS" as I expected it to, and I know that there will be add'l PRK testing done there since it had not been quite a year since surgery at the time of my flight physical. In anticipation of MFS (and since it has been 11 months since my FC1), I scheduled an eye exam with a local ophthalmologist who also happens to be a recently retired AF flight surgeon. I had the full exam done to include corneal topographies, etc.. Everything looked fantastic. His only comment was that my right eye seemed dry under the microscope (a common side effect of PRK) and he offered to put a punctul plug in to help. I asked him if he thought Brooks would care about this, and he said no way - in the event that they did it could be taken out in a minute. Anyway, I've got the plug in and wanted to double check that it won't be an issue. I have noticed a positive difference with it in - although since I lived without it for a year and half now, I know I would do fine without it as well. Thanks!

Not originals but darn funny... ------- ------- -------

Ok. Are all meps physicals the same though? (i.e. branch doesn't matter) Recruiter knows - he is the one who said I should just wait and see if I was accepted - then go. Not worried about passing, my FC1 was just certified last month.

Quick question - I submitted a package for the 08OT03 board. However, I did not have a completed MEPS physical; rather, I had a certified FC1 which I had done at LA AFB. Due to my PRK history, my recruiter felt that I should go ahead and get the FC1 done. Now the review process accepted my application with the FC1 only and no suspenses were issues on my package; however, I know I will probably need to knock out the MEPS physical before I could ship off to OTS if selected. Should I bother getting the MEPs physical done now? Or should I just wait and see if I am selected? Also, out of curiousity... if one had a MEPS physical done for the Marine Corps, would that also qualify as a MEPS physical for the AF? Thanks!