Jughead
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Posts posted by Jughead
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told them I was taking ALL my business elsewhere and they did not believe me
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....
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Speaking of Sheen and Gaddafi. I thought this was pretty funny.
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???
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For mailing via US Postal Service from the US, how long is it taking to get to Balad?
Any different for anything larger than a letter?
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?
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Does this pass the smell test?
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....
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Eagle card is mandatory AOR wide now, I think.
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.
Cons of cash- easily stolen or lost. Pogs from the BX.
Pros of cash- needed for shopping at non AAFES sponsored stands
Cons of card- haven't come across one yet
Pros- easy to use, same card is good on multiple deployments (just need to go see finance to renew the expiration date), no worry of debit/credit card lines down, can get cash from it if needed
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!
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a "star" from the show Glee.
Less
and more 
from this point of view: 
A few more (of varying quality) can be found GQ's website.
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Anybody see the mechanic yet?
Save your money. Completely recycled, utterly predictable, and not nearly enough (good) action or gratuitous nudity to redeem it.
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only received one travel W2
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....
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Let's shoot for Wed evening around 1700.
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!
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We will have a U-2 at Offutt on Thursday & Friday.
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....
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There was a 3 part series on National Geo that premiered a couple days ago about flying in Alaska... it was a good watch.
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.
I've heard the Discovery show has a lot of stuff thats trumped up for drama.... not that I'm surprised.
Yeah... there is that!
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seems to streamline things in a good way (the big thing is that the notification goes straight to your email - no routing through the orderly room or commander).
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....
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Yep, you made my point. Safety considerations indoors and in a well lit building make his wearing of the reflective belt a violation of both the installation commander's policy and -2903. Welcome to Article 92.
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.
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Someone please show me where -2903 allows the wear of a reflective belt. Then show me where -2903 allows the wear of one indoors and in service dress or blues.
You didn't really think it would be that easy to dodge, did you?
Table 1.1, "Commanders' Responsibilities"
Installation Commanders [Rule 3]: Require protective or reflective items when safety considerations
make it appropriate.
Hey, I don't think it's "appropriate" (and certainly not indoors); but welcome to the asylum....
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I will say, though, the intent to ________________________ was good, but the execution left a lot to be desired.
Insert your favorite AF program here....
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Anyone coming up on 15 years or past that and took the 30K CSB? To me it looks like if you make it to 26 years you have got made. Any math guys out there know what you lose it you retire at 20 years and only get 40%?
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....
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I've always kept the original packaging for all my electronics, for exactly this reason. Something to consider....
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Anyone seen TRON: Legacy yet?
Just saw it tonight. Recommend watching the first one again before you go--it'd been at least 15 years since I saw it start-to-finish, and there were a handful of in-jokes in the new movie that I would've missed entirely if I hadn't just seen it. I don't know how well it would have "worked" as a stand-alone movie (aside from Olivia Wilde in skin-tight leather--nsplayer was spot-on about that!
). As a follow-on to a classic movie, though, it was pretty good. I thought the 3D was mostly gimmicky vs value-added, but I feel the same way about just about every 3D movie, so YMMV. One of the most impressive things is the CG magic that made Jeff Bridges look just a little older than he did in the original (and I literally laughed at how young he was when I re-watched the first one).[Edit to add: oh, yeah--and I'd forgotten about the awesome camel toe that Cindy Morgan had throughout the entire movie as Yori; that alone was worth watching it again!]
BL, good flick, definitely worth it for any fan of the first movie.
I am lucky that I bought the 2-DVD 20th Anniversary box set about a year ago, they are going for $180 new and at least $75 used!
Holy crap, really?!? I bought that for ~$15 at Walmart on a checkout-aisle impulse buy when it first came out--and didn't get around to unwrapping it until this weekend. Might've tried to eBay it had I known.... Naw....
I didn't ever really know what tron's deal was back in the 80s
Pffff... what're they teaching the kids these days?!?
It was pretty ground-breaking stuff. Graphics are pretty cheesy by today's standards--but they literally invented the CG that's evolved into all the rage in today's movies as they went w/ Tron. Add to the fact that it was during the heyday of the video game explosion, and it was a sure-fire blockbuster.... The video game Tron--one of the cooler arcade games of the era--was originally released in limited amounts as a promo for the movie. With the huge popularity of Tron (the movie) and the game itself, they couldn't turn 'em out fast enough to keep up w/ demand.Good stuff..... HELL YEAH, I was looking forward to this movie...!
[pardon me--I guess my geek is showing....
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Not even joking, if you don't cut your grass or water your lawn, wear the wrong patches, or wear your backpack/uniform incorrectly you will likely get an LOC and last I heard your supervisor owes leadership a case of beer.
Wait--what???
OK, I get that the "leadership" there has apparently lost its collective mind and goes from zero to douchebag in .69 seconds. However douchey that may be, if that's the local policy, so be it. But to then turn around and use the traditional "Hey, we're all brothers-in-arms, we can take care of this ourselves" universal fix of suppling beer--and thereby avoid any douchiness inherent in elevating small problems to higher and/or stupider levels--is, at best, a contradiction. It'd be a fairly chilly day in hell before I'd buy beer under those circumstances....
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Does anyone know what if any are the limitations to converting part or all of my TSP into my Roth IRA? [...] Any thoughts or inputs?
Assuming you are on active duty: are you separating/retiring in 2012? You can't take a distribution or make a rollover[subject to a couple of special cases] from the TSP while you're still on AD. I don't really know how that works for part-time Guard or Reserve, there may be ways to do that.
You've got to dig a bit, but all the rules, etc., are on the www.tsp.gov site....
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There's nothing like having the whole (stateside) base wearing reflective belts 24/7 so we can "reflect" on alcohol awareness after our most recent DUI. Somebody craps their pants and now we all have to wear diapers.
Story/background...?
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investing in TSP while deployed DOES NOT drive down taxable income for purposes of reducing your annual tax bill
Further clarification: ...unless you are fortunate enough to earn more than the CZTE limit (typically, 12-yr O-4 on flight pay & above), in which case a deferred contribution (i.e., pre-tax) from the taxable amount can be made....
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Right, but let's be honest: it's still ASBC, who gives a crap? I wouldn't put any weight behind it; it's like winning the special olympics. DG of your FTU, now that I might pay attention to.
You might want to read Learjetter's posts again, since he pretty much nailed it.
*You* might not put any weight behind it--and, frankly, I can't disagree with you in principle. In practice, though, *the USAF* most certainly does put weight behind it, and quite a bit. "Get ahead to stay ahead" is the way it is, right or wrong....
USAA
in General Discussion
Posted
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....