GearMonkey
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Posts posted by GearMonkey
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Why the f--k does DFAS make us contribute to Roth TSP in a % of base pay? I know my desired (or maximum) annual contribution and I know how many months there are in a year, let me do the math and give the website a dollar value to contribute every month. Dollar values stay constant unlike base pay which changes every year (part way through the year of course!).
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Anyone have experience declining promotion or writing to a board to request non-selection? I'm approaching the end of my active duty career and am trying to set myself up to get hired by ANG or AFRC. Unfortunately, I am late-to-rate and stationed overseas so my O-5 IPZ board meets before either my UPT ADSC or DEROS expire. I've heard that it is tough to get hired by ANG or AFRC as an O-5 so I'm looking at mitigation options.
I just read (CTRL+F'd) AFI36-2501 and declining seems to be fairly simple and doesn't appear to have any direct negative repercussions. If this is true it seems to be a decent option for me but the tiny bit of Blue Kool-Aid left in my blood is making me feel like this could cheat someone who wants to stick around out of selection.
Experience, thoughts, ideas, spears?
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Wow, what an accomplishment. Two more buildings almost exactly the same as the ten that are already there. I can totally see why they need an opening ceremony.
Are the pig farm dorms open yet? I like how those were conveniently located equidistant between the two chow halls.
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Word on the street is ACP will be released tomorrow. $25K/yr to 20 (9 years max) for all pilots.
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I prefer the Air University-approved 8-step OODA loop.
Twice as good as the original! Promote that man.
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First I've seen of this. Any winglet guys care to comment?
It's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. The squadrons have been getting smaller but the office bill hasn't. This'll leave the three remaining squadrons with more bodies to fly while keeping the offices "manned".
Having said that I don't expect the requirements to drop so even as the war winds down I think ops tempo will stay pretty high for the folks how haven't VSPed or been sent to white jets.
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Are TERA and Guard/Reserve work mutually exclusive? I know you can't collect a TERA retirement check while serving in the Guard/Reserve but can you take TERA now, do 10-15 years of Guard/Reserve time and get promoted to O-5 while not collecting TERA retirement, then quit the Guard/Reserve gig prior to age 60 and resume TERA payments (plus extra for all the Guard/Reserve time)? I'm looking for the best way to game the system and this is an intriguing, but probably unlikely, possibility.
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Anyone know if I can use a Manufacturers Certificate/Statement of Origin as proof of ownership rather than Title or Registration when shipping a POV OCONUS?
Success! The VPC accepted my Certificate of Origin and Odometer Disclosure / Release of Interest as proof of ownership without batting an eye.
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New state doesn't do any paperwork by mail, I have to be there first. I've got a transit permit to get out of the current state thanks to my orders.
Thanks for the tips. Guess I'll just give it a shot, worst case they don't accept the vehicle for shipment and I do a quickie title here.
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Anyone know if I can use a Manufacturers Certificate/Statement of Origin as proof of ownership rather than Title or Registration when shipping a POV OCONUS? The TRANSCOM pamphlet says "Proof of Ownership (Title or Registration)" is required but I don't know if that is supposed to be an all inclusive list or just the dumbed down 90% solution. I'm trying to do my best Apple/GE/Romney impersonation and there are clear tax benefits to not doing the Title and Registration for a new vehicle in my current state.
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Thanks Ginger.
Seems like the IRS/Executive might want to clean up the CZTE areas/requirements a bit. Why give a tax free for unrelated operations in mostly long-cold combat zones? The Red Sea, parts of the Med, Kosovo, etc.
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Does combat time logged matter for anything? Who cares how many combat hours you have?
Nope.
Nobody.
Just trying to understand the system.
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Anyone know the correlation between transiting an IRS approved CZTE area and logging AFTO 781 combat or combat support time? I recently overflew the Red Sea but didn't land in any of the usual AOR locales. Do I get to log this?
I asked the SARM folks but they fed me a line about having to takeoff or land at an airfield in the combat zone. They also said there was a list of approved ICAOs but couldn't produce the list when I asked for it (big surprise!). I know their takeoff/landing line is bullshit since I've logged tons of combat time while overflying Iraq on the way from ETAR to OTBH or vice versa.
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I've got almost 150 Amn/30 Civ in my flight running Comm Ops for the base.
Sweet, hopefully they're all working on the webmail issue.
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Anyone have experience with the 50K+ TSP contribution in CZTE locations? Lump sum or monthly contribution? Limited by actual time in theater (i.e. can't go 50 if you aren't there long enough to earn it)? Can I go all Roth or do I have to go Traditional above $17.5? Does Finance have a clue?
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I've been having the same issue on both Explorer and Chrome for the last three days. I figured it was because I'm overseas so I'm glad (sort of) to see it isn't just me.
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I was at ATA last week and the AMC/CC said one COA is to retire the entire KC-10 fleet starting in FY15 with the entire fleet being gone 3 years later. The cost savings come from "divesting" the entire fleet, not taking small pieces away. This is all coming from the AMC/CC who was a KC-10 guy in the true Gucci days. His explanation for why this was happening was the KC-46 - the money is needed for an uninterrupted roll out of the new hotness.
He also said the C-130 fleet won't get new avionics and 50-60 of the old ones will be retired in favor of eventually getting more J models. He said there would be pain in the next 5 years but we would end up with a more capable fleet in the 5 to 7 year window.
I'm a C-5 guy working at TACC and see the value of the KC-10. If you want to see the value look at Talisman Sabre from this summer.
Also, as someone mentioned, this hasn't met the beast that is Congress and politics. I can't think of toe worse delegations to cross than the ones from CA and NJ. If the relatively young delegation for AK can make the AF stop moving a single squadron of F-16s from Eielson to Elmo, this battle will be really tough to win...
Talisman Sabre (Alaska direct to Australia with a 6-on-6 KC-10/C-17 gangbang along the way) is a pretty clear outlier in the air refueling world. Sure it was nice to be able to do it with just six tankers but 10-12 KC-135s would have worked fine as well. I also suspect that in most realistic scenarios this mission would have been forward staged and probably could have been performed without any tanker support at all.
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Well, in the MSG singing songs of those type, drinking at work at all, or crude name aren't tolerated.
I love how some people try and make it sound like pilots are all constantly drunk at work. In my, clearly biased, opinion informal Hanger Talks over a beer at the end of a long and productive duty day have a far greater positive mission impact than any Closed for Training Wednesday ever has.
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I got a "Top 5% of 15 CGOs" one time. Mathematically that's better than #1!
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Not trying be a dick but I'm pretty sure the engineers that built the plane know more about how it works than you do.. Hence why they wrote the checklist for you to run......
The engineers know more about their particular part of the design but history has shown that the checklists they produce are far from perfect. They do the best they can imagining and resoloving theoretical problems but pilots have a nasty habit of discovering design weaknesses or unexpected system interactions.
After this incident there were extensive changes to both the FOUR ENGINE FLAMEOUT and AIRSTART checklists. This doesn't absolve the crew of their mistakes but it shows that there were systematic influences (training, checklist procedures, WX radar only giving accurate info at 40NM, etc.) that don't fit nicely into your and Ray-J's black and white view of the world.
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IFS is a DOSS aviation deal in Pueblo, last I heard (minimal AF slots).
Do they have motor gliders at USAFA now?
USAFA does their own intro flight program with SR-20s. They must be special or something.
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1) SOS being shortened to 5 weeks because of the 100% requirement
Nice. From 5 weeks to 8 and back to 5 in the span of 3 years.
If only there had been an online group of current and former USAF officers who could have predicted that the 8 week course would be an almost total waste of time and resources. The best part is that the same three year groups got screwed with the excessively long versions of both ASBC and SOS. Great job Air Force.
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Please enlighten us on how you can be miserable...
I did AD at TCM for 5 years, and absolutely LOVED it. Sure, you go to Altus 2 more times, have more currency items, checkrides, etc....but, why anyone wouldn't want to use their platform to the max baffles me.
To each their own. The 7 deployments I did were fantastic from a flying standpoint -- don't know what the AD rate is now in OEF but back in the day, you were easily looking at 90+ drops in a 120 day deployment. Beats the heck out of the airland missions, etc.
Easy killer, I'm not insulting airdrop. I've also done 5+ years of it and enjoyed the vast majority of that time. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, I know that airdrop isn't for everyone and my point was that if someone's sole reason for doing it was to get a 2nd C-17 tour they would most likely not enjoy the overall experience (extra Altus, more currency, Fayettenam, etc.).
You and I lived at the peak, for now, of C-17 aidrop. These days, with the decrease in airdrop manning (thanks AMC!) and the near elimination of combat drops, it is becoming more of a chore than it has been. A 3-ship low level or some test work at Yuma makes me glad I'm an airdropper. Single-ship cha-ching JAATTs with crappy weather and worthless radios at Pope or Lewis don't.
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Question for anyone who's been in the 17 for a while and has some SA. I'm headed to CHS in a couple months and was wondering what follow on assignments are looking like these days. I've heard unverified rumors that more second assignment 17s are on the horizon, anyone else heard this?
The last year or so has been pretty brutal. Everyone hopes the non-vol train will derail soon but trying to guess what things will be like in three years is a moo point. If you want to increase your chances of sticking around go airdrop (but don't do it just for that or you'll be miserable).
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Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Q&A
in General Discussion
Posted
It did back in 2013 when I started. For some reason it changed to % only in the last year or so. I'll give the "overage" method a try next year.