Jump to content

kona4breakfast

Registered User
  • Posts

    38
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by kona4breakfast

  1. Points aren't days; all days count as points but points do not count as days. Only days on orders count towards TAFMS and the 'active duty' retirement (20 years and punch). Points count towards both retirement systems in the calculation of 'years of service. You have to accrue 20 years of days in order to qualify for the active retirement, but...

    "The years of creditable service for computation of the retired pay percentage multiplier include all active duty and any credited reserve points divided by 360."

    In order to have a 'good year' for the reserve retirement, you have to have at least 50 points in that year (or that year doesn't count). Also, any points earned in a year above 365/6 don't count... at all. My understanding is that if you don't reach 50 points, you don't receive that year as credit towards the 20 good years you'd need in order to be eligible for a reserve retirement, but those points are still creditable points.

    If you want to get to 50 points, you'll need to get points if your unit can't, for some reason, give you your IDTs, which alone should be enough. Can you not ask for rescheduled drill?

    When I was in the Army guard, there was something called 'points only' status that they'd use when they were broke, or when a part-timer needed to do something in a mil status that wasn't part of their line of duty (say, like go for an incentive helicopter ride). Their admin folks would put them on a points-only status that basically cost the unit nothing. I know of academy grads that talk to prospective candidates for points-only in the IRR to get a few more good years. Perhaps that's something you could talk to your unit about?

    If you do nug out PME, it ought to show up after you complete the program. I believe it took until the PCARS was finalized about 60 days after my R/Y ended for my ACSC to show up, as they only seem to update your PCARS once a year. Fair warning, I only received 1 point for my efforts. I accrued 379 points that year for membership points, days and IDTs, so I don't particularly care to address it, but caveat emptor.

  2. On 11/12/2023 at 5:02 PM, uhhello said:

    I'm super impressed they were able to recover the entire crew so fast.  Sister ship was on point or there was a ship right there at the time.  Water recovery at night like that is impressive.  

    I doubt they did yet, at least not all of them. I hope more data gets made public as there's a super brave dude on sister ship.

  3. On 5/3/2023 at 3:41 PM, Bigred said:

    You can’t go WO after graduating from ROTC or West Point. The guys that track aviation out of those sources know their days flying are numbered from the get go. 

    I'm a USMA grad, former Army commissioned, former Army Guard warrant, current ANG pilot. My mistake at age 20 was assuming the military was a meritocracy and if I was just good at my job I wouldn't have anything to worry about. My primary, alternate and contingency plan all fell apart when I got stuck in a non-flying job while the guy that banged my girlfriend while I was back at Rucker for PME took my slot as the flight commander of my old unit, mostly just because of dumb luck. I tried to revert on active duty but our year group was undermanned so that wasn't going to happen, but I'd made enough connections in the Army guard that I got in got to revert. My current unit was on a stop-hire when I got out of the Army, but eventually the big Army tried to screw me again and I was in a shit-or-get-off-pot moment to get into this squadron, and it all couldn't have worked out any better.

  4. 15 hours ago, HeloDude said:

    So for a new soldier starting flight training at Rucker, it’s now a 10-year commitment?  For both WOs and Os?  When did this change?

    FY21. Apparently they're not having too much trouble filling slots on the production side as there's always a ton of prior enlisted that want to fly and would be going to 20 anyway after a few years enlisted. There was a lot of youth in their last 2 mid-airs. "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong."

    • Upvote 1
  5. BLUF: The day you start a qualifying T10 order, go sign a bonus agreement for the Tier 3 bonus. 

    Of note, the FY bonus is, in practice, a CY bonus. For instance, if someone hypothetically came off of a MEST order and started a T10 order on 20 OCT 22, they should take that order over to their bonus rep and sign a Tier 3 bonus agreement for the FY21 program, as the FY21 ANG bonus agreement started in late March-ish and could be entered into through the remainder of the calendar year. If, say, your bonus rep never bothered to actually read/understand the program, and didn't distro the program details to the commanders/potentially eligible people so that you didn't know that you were eligible to sign, you are shit out of luck until they announce the next year's bonus, which is how I got screwed out of 6 months of the bonus. FWIW I would roll year-to-year as they pay it in arrears. 

    From the FY22 ANG bonus, the following didn't change in FY23:

    2.1.7. For Tier 3 AvB, members must serve at least one (1) year of full-time orders without a break-in-service in support of ACA/Alert Support, RPA, RC-26, Counterdrug (CD), Formal Training Unit (FTU), F-35 conversion missions or National Guard Bureau 3 (NGB)/Major Command (MAJCOM)/Numbered Air Force (NAF) staff positions.

    2.1.7.1. Members may transition to other types of orders, such as deployment, training, school, and other assignments, and be able to remain on their Tier 3 AvB as long as a preponderance of their time is in support of a qualifying Tier 3 mission.

    2.1.7.2. School and Mission Essential Skill Training (MEST) orders are not eligible for Tier 3, unless qualifying under the F-35 conversion mission.

    2.1.7.3. At time of application, members do not need orders to cover the entire one (1) year period, however, no payment will be made and agreement will be invalidated if one (1) year of continuous full-time service is not completed by the agreement anniversary date.

  6. @RedStng65 I assume you aren't AF. We don't have minimum flying hour requirements. Certain events have currency requirements. Proficiency is theoretically gained through the maintenance of currency. In the end it's an pain in the ass for the schedulers and makes for a ton of thrash on the schedule. 

    @Pedro 6-1 Yes. Air Force ending procurement of HH-60W combat rescue helicopter in FY23 - Breaking Defense

  7. Guard helos are all rescue squadrons. The mission is great, provided you actually get to do it. 

    Currency is the same as anything else and is driven by regs. Proficiency takes reps, which takes years but you'll be in the same boat as everyone else. FYSA, I flew 200 hours this past year, though that was mostly due to initial qual and seasoning. I averaged 150 hours a year in the Army guard as a part-timer. 

    Given the flying hour projections I'm seeing due to the 60W fielding, I highly recommend a civilian flying career.

     

     

  8. Guard 60G dude here. I got ~280 days (8 months). Used to be a year but it got shaved down a year ago. Word I got was that everybody wanted seasoning days (Finance/support/etc) and so they've been cutting into our allocation. Also, apparently TDYs cut into your total MEST days, so there's that. But at least in our unit we haven't been short ADOS for a long time so it's been good for the traditionals for a long while.

  9. On 12/10/2020 at 2:41 AM, UH60 Driver said:

    I am an Army CW2 UH-60 Blackhawk Instructor Pilot. I am a few years out from my service obligation expiring and am in the search for a career shift at that time. 

    I am curious if it is possible to transfer to the air force to fly rotary wing. I am wanting to stay on active duty and fly black hawks rather than seek a guard/tech position. I am UH-60 A/L/M qualified, over 1000 hours of rotary wing time, and previously commissioned in the Army through ROTC. 

    Does anyone have experience or know someone that does in this process? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. 

    More than possible. You should be able to do an interservice transfer, though expect it to be painful. I was a prior AD Army commissioned officer and a CW2 IP in the guard. It took 18 months to get into the Air Guard. If you were previously commissioned, you are always commissioned. You should, on day 1, go back to your previous rank and they ought to adjust your date of rank to give you equivalent time in grade (i.e. minus your warrant time). You need to go through the IST process; mine was different-ish because of the guard. You'll be limited to rotary wing unless you try to get a UPT slot. PM me for any questions you may have. If you're a few years out you're starting at the right time.

  10. As far as I know, lately all orders state specifically whether or not they are USERRA-exempt (and therefore do not count cumulatively against the 5 year limit). You'd have to be both blessed and stupid to run out the clock on USERRA as it's rare there's enough days to keep you on for 5 years running. You'd need to do something like hire on for an extended AGR tour after seasoning and not bother to go back to the airline for a few months to reset the clock. They can fill that billet temp AGR while you're gone. If you do end up in that position, obviously you're a good fit for the unit and the unit is a good fit for you.

  11. 5 hours ago, FDNYOldGuy said:

    The average of +100% and -50% is 25%, but that's not what happens to 100 dollars invested. You'd think you'd be at ~$156 but you're back at $100. I'm old enough to have lost a large chunk of my principal within a year or two of starting to invest in the market which soured me on the whole index investing thing, but I'm young enough to stomach volatility in other assets. I've made it all back and have enough unrealized gains to pay cash for my house but I'm gonna keep dancing with the one that brung me because a world in which the market continues to rise in the face of millions on unemployed Americans is a world in which my investments do a lot better than 8%, all the while the bank that owns my house is stuck with 2.75%.

     

  12. Another kudos for Jon and crew. 2.75% cash out refi closed at the beginning of the month. Wife and I have plenty of cash on hand, but this way I effectively keep my payments the same and pay for the projects in 27 years with equity today.

    You investor types have a lot of questionable assumptions. The 2.75% is a known, guaranteed loss, but that's running really close to the official rate of inflation and likely even lower, so essentially free money. But your estimate of gains in the market is definitely not guaranteed. It only takes a 50% loss to wipe out 100% of gains. Losses matter a lot more than gains, and pretty soon the only "safe" investment, bonds, will be yielding negative, forcing us all to take a lot of downside risk. At least my downside risk is capped (though the equity could tank if the real estate market tanks when banks start escalating the risk premia to extend loans, but in the meantime I can live in it). 

  13. What are the tax implications of a IRRL if you bump the mortgage amount to finance a house project? Are you selling the house to yourself and resetting the cost basis? Is the difference treated as ordinary income? 

    I get a million of the spammy letters in the mail about this stuff and I haven't been super keen to pursue it, but if I could essentially finance some remodeling on a 30 yr note it'd be the smartest use of debt I could think of. 

  14. 2 hours ago, Guardian said:

    Good thing about guard paying back bonus, you can pay it back very slowly with no interest. At least that’s what I’ve heard.

    My unit didn't stop my orders in '13 when I went to school. Overpaid me 6 weeks ADOS and didn't catch it until the end of the FY. It took me until last year to pay it back 😎

    • Like 1
  15. Not quite the bonus, but relevant; in case any of you part-timers out there want to waste your time trying to participate in our democracy, there's a link to contact your reps at the top of the page:

    https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr2953

    H.R. 2953: Aviation Incentive Pay Parity Act

    To amend title 37, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of a military department to pay an officer in a reserve component of a uniformed service aviation incentive pay at the same rate as an officer in the regular component of that uniformed service.

     

  16. https://www.amazon.com/Princeton-Tec-Remix-Headlamp-Lumens/dp/B00UAACCE2/ref=asc_df_B07BQNGBC5/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312162172209&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13485014215762734333&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033901&hvtargid=aud-801381245258%3Apla-568779641162&th=1

    cheapo headlamp, cycles through 2 green intensities and you have to hold the button down to go to white so it's hard to so inadvertently in the cockpit. i preflight in white and pull it down to my neck when i put my helmet on. 

     

    *** in case the link dies: Princeton Tec Remix LED Headlamp w/ Green LEDs ***

×
×
  • Create New...