Jughead

Hm, fair enough--my mistake. I should have said, the normal callsign is DUDE; I didn't investigate to see if there'd been a one-time change. In any case, big "2" to everyone saying that this sort of reporting is counterproductive.... EDIT: double post

This didn't happen to be posted on 1 April, did it...?

No--hence the "WTF moment" when we heard it (actual call sign is DUDE). Initial thought was a gal making a burning-bra type statement (insert video of Hotlips Hoolihan: "I'm a 'Ma'am'!"). Immediate second thought was "who gives a shit--next topic." Given the PA nature of the flight (value added or not), it makes more sense in retrospect....

Idiot lands a Piper on NYC beach.

Interesting read. Heard the "Dudette" callsign on the radio that day, we had a "WTF" moment in the cockpit. Makes more sense now.... Agreed in general, though: this is still news?

Bingo.

Be careful if you go to Uganda--apparently, there's a Notorious Bum Driller on the Loose!

No argument there! That's why I'm still a customer--example my point earlier about them making deposits for their customers w/ direct deposit during a govt shut-down (how many banks do that?). My point was only to CH's comments about when he left USAA and how pointless I've found it to try to work anything with them outside the pre-defined lanes....

Unfortunately, it may not have had anything to do with "believing" you or not. My experience w/ USAA (and that of several others with whom I've had this conversation) has been that they're extremely inflexible with rates and policies--even if the every person you talked to believed 100% you were leaving, there was likely no one with the authority to make accommodations. They're almost never competitive for mortgage rates any more, for much the same reason. I like USAA and I've been a long time customer, but their inflexibility and slow-to-adapt rates/policies are often frustrating, and, I believe, could ultimately lead to the company's failure (or at least decline) in the age of Googling rates from 20 different companies in 30 seconds flat....

Here's more along those lines--I got 5 / 10.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/quiz/2011/mar/01/muammar-gaddafi-charlie-sheen-quiz Oh, and: #10--seriously???

Huggy, my Balad info is nearly a year old at this point, but I was getting mail in under a week. I only had one or two packages delivered, and they didn't seem to take any longer. All in all, quite acceptable. Where I'll caution you re USPS is using the free outgoing mail service. Apparently that mail is sub-sub-sub priority to everything else--and I still haven't seen at least two things I sent out. Having learned that lesson the hard way, I'll spring for a stamp from now on.... You doing a rotation in the MC-12?

It's been several years since I've worn an EP hat, but.... If by "downgrade" you mean discrepancy(ies) annotated on the Fm 8 (but Q-1 overall), then absolutely--hell, you already told him that, perhaps I don't understand the question. (?) If you mean Q-2 (or Q-3) overall.... well, I'd say it falls in the "shitty situation" category, but you're still within the letter of the law. I'd argue also, however shitty, that it's within the intent as well, in the bigger picture. If your judgment is that the 4G inverted dive with the MiG 28 was performed at 2m range (when the checkride tolerance is clearly 1.5m), AND your judgment also is that there weren't mitigating circumstances that would make it inappropriate to document--well, that judgment is what your CC is paying you the evaluator bonus allowance for. Until you put your signature on the Fm 8, your discussions in the debrief are just that--discussion. FWIW: One piece of advice that served me well during my Stan/Eval days, from my commander: consider the greater good (will a downgrade/bust and the subsequent training have a positive or negative effect on mission accomplishment & flying safety?), use your judgment in the gray areas, don't be afraid to hook or to EQ if/when warranted, and above all put your integrity ahead of your popularity. Worked for me.... ETA: Skibum posted while I was typing (interesting, he took it that you were the examinee, I assumed you were the examiner). He makes excellent points as well--chief among them being that this question wouldn't even arise if everyone involved kept their mouths shut....

True statement--required to have one, that is; using it (or not) is up to you. You could probably manage to dodge getting one if you feel strongly about it, but I can't see any reason why you'd want to. I agree w/ Vertigo, except for the bolded part. That may vary from location to location, but in at least "some" locations, you can use it just about everywhere, with the only exception being any local national "bazaars," etc., that may be on base. Even the LN-run restaurants and shops at Balad took the card. YMMV depending on where you go. I went into my deployment (Nov - Jun last year) approaching the card w/ the same caution you are--and within a week I'd fully embraced it as being easier to use than cash w/ none of the lost/stolen issues. The security aspect is great--there's NO connection between your card & your bank account, so even if you lose the card, no one can use that as a way into your bank account. As for getting any residual balance off it, I had something like a $40 balance left when my time was up--while I was waiting on the rotator at the 'Deid the night of my departure, I walked across the street to the shoppette and offloaded the money to my bank account (simple--just the reverse of the way you normally load it). If you get "stuck" leaving the AOR w/ some money on the card, there are ways to get that back, too, though I gather it takes a bit longer (week or two?). I can't think of any reason to have so much money on the card that I'd care about a week or two, so even that's not an issue for me. One other consideration: if you plan to take advantage of the USDP (and if not, I want to know where you're getting better than 10%!), or if you otherwise need to move a lot of money around (e.g., my TSP contributions got completely porked w/ the CZTE, I had to make a ~$7.5K "cash" contribution to fix it), the deployed Finance office has the ability to give you a temporary limit suspension--instead of the normal daily limit ($300?), you can upload whatever you need (say, $10K for the USDP), then give the card to the Finance troop who will deduct it & apply it to wherever you need it. MUCH better than writing a check, IMO. Last point is that using a credit card over there seems to be a bad idea all around. There were multiple cases at Balad while I was there where folks would buy whatever at the BX on their credit card, then all sorts of fraudulent charges would show up. They stopped short of shutting down any credit card usage (in my cynical opinion, mainly because a lot of the small supplies moved around via GPC purchases), but it was "highly discouraged" (and, if you have the Eagle card, unnecessary). If you can't bring yourself to get the Eagle card, go with cash and leave the credit cards locked up. Bottom line, I really think they "got this one right." Good luck--have a safe deployment!

Less and more from this point of view: A few more (of varying quality) can be found GQ's website.

Save your money. Completely recycled, utterly predictable, and not nearly enough (good) action or gratuitous nudity to redeem it.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but have you verified the amount on the W2 as only applying to a single DITY move? Since it'd be the same payer, I'd only expect a single W-2--for the total amount of both moves. If it's only for one move, I agree, you've got a problem. I would start w/ TMO, not Finance--they're the ones who control DITY money, Finance just pays out whatever TMO tells them....

FOR ANYONE AT OFFUTT: The "official" announcement is still working its way through channels (someone please kill me), but, we're on: *today*, Wed 26 Jan, 1715L, 338 CTS Mission Briefing room, for Huggy's U-2 Road Show; followed by informal discussion (read: adult beverages) in the 338 CTS bar--um, Heritage Room. See you there!

I'm at Offutt. Let me know if you need a POC and/or help running anything to ground. Cheers! Jughead ETA: I think your mailbox is full--tried to send as PM, says you can't receive any messages....

Yep--I've got that one set on the DVR, too [http://www.suite101.com/content/alaska-wing-men-on-nat-geo-a328001]--it's replaying later this week, all three episodes. Haven't seen any trailers for it yet, though, so no idea about content. Yeah... there is that!

New show on Discovery, starts Fri 14 Jan--I've got my DVR set. Trailers look interesting.

One other item of note, it would appear that the 7-day opt is now a ~14+ day option for anyone who wants to game the system. If you don't log into vMPF (and therefore don't start your clock ticking), 7 days later your CC gets the email.... Am I reading that right? We'll see how long that lasts....

Betcha a that that never happens. "Safety considerations" are, in this case, whatever the Wg/CC says they are--if the policy includes indoors, there you have it. If the policy does not include indoors, it would be quietly amended to do so before anyone is formally chastised for excessive wear of the bullet-proof belt.... Yes, I think it's crazy.

You didn't really think it would be that easy to dodge, did you? Hey, I don't think it's "appropriate" (and certainly not indoors); but welcome to the asylum....

Insert your favorite AF program here....

No--because of the 1% lag in annual COLA adjustments, the REDUX sucks even if you go to 30 years (75%). Only three reasons to take the CSB: - You have an emergency that $30K (less taxes!) will cure, you have NO other way to get the money, and you need it right frickin' now - You're a money guy, savvy w/ the market (etc.) and willing to put the time & effort required into investing that $30K (less taxes!)... AND you're willing to roll the dice that you can keep that far enough ahead of the 1% compounding loss you will see every year for the rest of your life - You're seeing dollar signs and simply don't understand the power of compounding Unfortunately, 99+% of the folks I've seen taking the CSB fall into category 3.... One (*one*) dude I know falls into category 2--time will tell, and I wish him luck. There's a reason that REDUX was eliminated as the only retirement. The "Choice" program that we now have (i.e., "choose" either High-3 or REDUX) was instituted only because REDUX was turning out to be a huge drag on retention--with good reason. Over the course of your (hopefully long) life, that 1% will eat you alive. Of course, if you plan on dying within a few years of retirement, disregard all....