Magellan

I think examples of this you could focus on within the military side of flying is brevity terms. I.E. words like tally, contact, splash, etc. and what purposes they serve. These structures I think are what make rapid comms possible such as getting instrument clearances, missed approach instructions, etc. International controllers may be bad, but I think international pilots are just as big a threat as well. For example this video is a perfect example. This is a great funny example of communication issues. That said I think you might have a hard time finding a focused scope given the wide range of points you put forward, and I would think mixing the radio communications syntax with accents/language barriers is a bad idea. This is because you are trying to do a scientific examination so having more than one variable at play makes it hard to form a cohesive argument. So I would focus on either the syntax OR the language barrier, but avoid the combination of the two. This is just my opinion, but I think it will make it easier to build a solid argument.

I don't know if this will continue to be the case. Was told yesterday a pilot at FTU is on his way over to a staff job somewhere and not a GCS. Solely to provide context it was a return to active duty pilot(which are about half the pilots going through the creech FTU right now) and not a fresh UPT grad, and that may have been a consideration. That said once the supply of return to active duty guys stop flowing in expect to see a lot more guys upset at assignment night.

If you think Charleston is so awesome see It is all about what you want. I personally thought Mountain Home is the best gig in the Air Force, but I just loved the fact that I could hunt on 70% of the land in the state even though I lived in an apartment in town...but that is just me. Not to mention the possibilities for weekend ski trips was awesome..Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, Northern and Central Idaho, and Salt Lake all within roadtrip distance for a weekend.

Have you seen creech there is nothing to steal...plus creech runs 24/7 so best of luck to the WIC guys when it comes to retaliation. If they bring it they are gonna be bringing it weak at that. So cheers . 432nd LPA 1 WIC 0

Is that true across the street though?

Is this good news or bad news for the 11XX and even the 11UX guys? I would say it is neither really. In regards to the UPT studs coming to RPAs in my opinion I have seen a few people get pushed through phase 3 of UPT to include failed 88s and 89s with the writing seemingly on the wall only to be retained and get RPA assignments. If RPA assignments weren't on the table would these guys still be getting through the program, or are those the standards for what is safe and acceptable to graduate as a pilot presently? Not trying to place blame on anyone or start a witch hunt...just looking for some honest opinions.

Affirmative

For those who want the gouge just follow this link, enter your info and hit continue. No nasty surprises when you click this link at work either. USAA Advocacy

So for the guys about to graduate in 6 to 9 weeks, and enter active duty 6 to 9 months after that? You should be fine for the foreseeable future. That said if you are a pilot you should be golden for those 10 years, the only deal is like some guys previously mentioned they are being cheap with the bonus in comparison to the guys that didn't have the 10 year commitment, because they figure us hanging around for the retirement is enough of a carrot to keep us in. For non-rated officers in that year group who knows where the Air Force will be manning wise in 4-6 years when everyone's commitments are up. That said every single one of us is here at the convenience of the Air Force, and don't ever forget that they can tell us all, "Thanks for playing and where would you like your household goods shipped to?" tomorrow.

Maybe they will eliminate some shoe clerk segment of the Air Force, but I am not going to hold my breath or shred my reflective belt in anticipation.

In my opinion and experience that is the best way to go. Ask around from people who bought homes. Find a solid Realtor and go with his preferred lender.

USAA is either hit or miss they can either do what you want for you or they can't, and there is absolutely no middle ground or flexibility on their part whatsoever. Sounds like they are sticking it to the ROTC guys, which is shitty since you are going into the same exact job as your academy bros. I would be curious what would happen if somebody sued them for discriminatory lending. Other examples I have encountered where USAA has come up short in the three years I have banked with them. -Performance first savings used to be index based which meant the interest rate kicked the crap out of any other savings account you could find provided you kept more than $10,000 in the account. -Cashing out CDs is a PITA first you have to call them deal with the automated system and get handed off to another person twice, before they will close the CD and transfer the money into one of your other accounts. This usually takes anywhere from 5-20 minutes. Then at the end they go through 20 questions about why you are not renewing the CD, and to me I consider this wasting my time...not providing customer service. However setting up a CD only takes 30 seconds with a good internet connection. -VA home loans I recently had to go with another lender to purchase my home, because USAA required an excess amount of time to commit to a closing date for a VA loan(35 days) even though they had already underwritten my loan. On top of this they charge you $50 for preapproval and a $300 application fee, which in fairness they credit towards the loan when you close. However, no other bank I talked with did this, and they were all more than willing to match any interest rate/points combination USAA would offer provided you had a FICO credit score higher than 720-740.

It is hard to stratify where the UPT grads stack up against their class mates and to claim they are middle of their class. First off you had lots of T-38 guys going into the platform and so typically they would be top-third to top-half of their T-6 class by default. However from the T-1 T-44 classes the guys that seem to be getting RPAs are the bottom of the barrel unless someone in the middle or bottom third "volunteers"(i.e. are the only person(s) to not put them as the last two choices on their dream sheet.) Also, among those it seems to be the trend that the guys who "volunteer" seem to do things like put Creech 8 out of 22 and Cannon like 16 out of 22. The BIGGEST problem I see moving forward though is having two different career fields doing the exact same job. With the only way to minimize that being to make it so the only rated pilots in the RPA community are the ones who volunteer for it. That way they have no reason to gripe about the differences, because they volunteered to be in that situation.

Of all the people I have talked to it seems to be high for the ACC people, once you get over the fact that you aren't actually "flying." The Spec Ops guys don't seem to claim as much job satisfaction. Part of the spec ops thing is I don't think they treat their people quite as well, and the Vegas lifestyle is probably more agreeable to most people than the Clovis lifestyle. Might be due to the fact that ACC's mission is to pull the trigger. While Spec Ops RPA guys just sit there waiting and watching. That said this is all what I have heard second hand if anyone has first hand experience please chime in.

Your numbers are wrong. Within the last year the wait for t-1's was close to 4 months. i.e. tracked 19 March started Vance 6 July. T-38 guys at the same time were looking at getting in their cars and driving straight to Enid after their last A-Form flight. i.e. tracked Thursday, finished AFORMS 8 days later on Friday, and were in Enid on Monday. So before you throw out the statements like study your ass off, and imply people coming from Whiting are lazy check your facts. Plus if studs coming from Whiting are so bad how come so many of them end up as FAIPS at Vance(at least in the T-1 Squadron) in a much higher ratio than that of their T-6 peers.

Leave it to base ops to at least make this thread entertaining.

I have a question regarding final out processing. If I final out on a Friday, but I don't leave until the next Monday(because that is when my house hold goods are being picked up) will I be charged travel days for that weekend since I haven't left my duty station even though I have completed my final out processing? I am planning on using this time table regardless, but I just wanna know if I am going to be charged a couple days of leave before I do it.

I bet this thread gets crushed and locked. Just a guess.

Is exactly what the first time home buyer website says here. My question is this. If I buy a home and use the tax credit would a deployment longer than 90 days allow me to then move into another house when I got back without having to forfeit the cash since I was more than 50 miles away and for longer than 90 days? Assuming I do this before the 3 year mark at which point this question becomes irrelevant.

Tore up about the news. I had masters classes with Clint he was a good dude.

For starting a new block reference the Syllabus. After that you can open a submitted grade sheet and under the print options there is a way you can print out all the rides in the block and it will show what you accomplished on what sortie as well as what MIF is and what the + items are. That would be my suggestion.

If you look at your LES you can deduce that your Base Pay and your Flight Pay are your taxable income. The great thing about TSP is it is effortless saving, because it comes out automatically and you have almost* no way to spend it. TSP is pretty much the closest thing to a a 401K for military. BAS not taxed. BAH not taxed.

My thoughts are your head is telling you what all the rest of us are already thinking and saying. Dump this chick, run like hell, and never look back. Otherwise you wouldn't have sought our advice and posted here. Your heart on the other hand is telling you she is worth it, you want to spend the rest of your life with her, and you don't know that would be able to live with yourself if you don't give love a chance. Well if you follow your head you may look back and wonder what if, and it will sting a little. But you will be a pilot you will be making decent pay, and you will have tons of career opportunities. Oh and most of the decent women out there that can handle being married to a military member find those things to be positive attributes. And if you follow your heart. You will be divorced within a few years when the "LOVE" fades, and it will be because you weren't realistic. Then in your head will be thinking man I should have dumped that chick, ran like hell, and never looked back. Except now you may have pissed away your career, she has taken off with half your shit, and maybe even your kids if you two ended up having any. Oh and the decent women out there won't find any of that shit attractive. That said it is your decision to make. Think with your head or think with your heart.

If you really want to learn/do some important stuff before starting UPT that will be 100% useful. I would taking care of the following 3 things. 1. Investing. TSP, Roth IRAs, allotments, etc. get smart on ALL this stuff and put a plan in place to start saving money now. Best advice I ever got was to set 100% of my incentive pay(flight pay) into TSP 6 months before I even started getting flight pay. Now it is all going towards retirement, as well as maxing my ROTH IRA, and I don't miss a penny of it. Even doing all that I am still able to buy as much beer as any other Lt. out there. 2. Education. Knock out 3 or 4(or more) masters classes while you are on casual most places give you a 7 year window to complete the degree, or at least embry riddle does and they have an office at every AFB I have ever heard of. Also, get smart on the post 9/11 GI bill. This is a huge benefit that if used well could be worth over $100,000 of education for either you, your spouse, or one of your kids. 3. Get in shape if you aren't already. If you are only in semi-decent shape now odds are you will be in horrible shape towards the end of phase 3. That said my squadron DO said yesterday, "We will not graduate a student that can't pass a PT test." Make damn sure you aren't that guy/gal. My first week at ASBC I saw a girl get sent home for not passing the PT test...how will that affect her down the road I don't know...but I am sure it didn't help her any. Just my $.02 but I see tons of my peers who aren't doing those above three things, and those three things are what will put you heads and shoulders above your peers in both your career and life in general.

How does someone set themselves to get picked up for AFIT to get a masters degree? I have read the AFIT webiste and the information on the process itself etc, but I am looking for a no BS answer from guys that have been around squadrons and seen guys who got picked up for it. Mainly I want to know if I am currently working on finishing up my MAS from embry riddle before I make Captain did I just screw myself, because I already have a masters and therefore don't need another one? Is AFIT one of those things you need to make known you want and if you do well when you apply your higher ups will try and hook you up if they think you are worth the effort, etc. Also, on what kind of a time frame do they look to send guys to that program. Sr. Captain with SOS knocked out? After you make Major, but before you go to ACSC? Any information would be very useful.