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I spent a lot of time as an adviser in Kuwait. I know what makes them tick, its avoiding work and passing off blame to other people when they are clearly responsible. Their "way" is doing as little as possible and wondering why nothing gets done. It also involves treating everyone as servants/slaves that are not their nationality. The original post is standard for the region, but I would bet Kuwait is the worst offender of them all. There were a handful of "good" ones I worked with but they got s*** on by all their leadership because they were trying to make a difference and change things for the better, which meant that the majority (bosses included) of them looked bad by comparison.

So that's been my biggest problem with it. The case has more money than you can imagine, and we only use a small fraction of it. On the high end, maybe 40% of it. And that includes TDY, housing, rental cars etc which make up 90% of the 40%. And the case is funded by the country, not the USG.

That's basically it. It's been a pretty good deal so far, definitely higher highs and lower lows than dealing with standard USAF stuff. I would say it's like 50% of the standard air advisor thing, other 50% being normal flying ops. Really so far the worst part has been dealing with leadership and explaining why it's not just an IPAD, I need it for pubs, etc. But I gotta justify everything or else they think I'm trying to get away with murder. But otherwise its pretty good. I've always tried to keep eyes / ears open for weird stuff like this that works for me. Get a BOP follow on thing that was the driving factor. I made some traction in justifying my case to the Bob's so for now I'm good.

It's all good. Maybe if you saw the kinda work environment I'm dealing with here it would make more sense. My leadership is not at the "base" I work from nor are they operators or any sort. The gear is not provided by any supply office because there isn't one. My finance officer is an Army guy trying to wrap his head around our regs, and I'm just trying to show where justification for things comes from. Training has been difficult due to PN inadequacies, and while some of this stuff can be considered nicities (apple pencils) I figured it would be beneficial. I appreciate the feedback regardless. Honestly, if I'm coming off like a bitch about things I want to know.

Does sound a little strange but we also use them for training on projectors as well as in the aircraft. Had it covered by a previous unit and it is on the EFB approved list. Makes master document ocean crossings easier. Really, the boots and flight gear has been the hardest to procure. Is a watch flight gear? is it a niceity? If my aircraft doesn't have a CSEL like it normally would, can I justify a Garmin In Reach? Just wondering if anyone has knowledge in this area and knows of regs that cover this kinda thing.

I don't wanna put too much out there WRT who my boss is, but they are admin / logistics types. So how is it determined what is "essential" vs not. Like the MDSV3 says flashlight, EFB etc, ok clean kill. 11-301 covers examples of flight gear like flight suits and boots...kinda clean kill but not really because there isn't a comprehensive list. Like, I'm getting push back for buying boots right now. So what is required and what isn't, and who is authorized to say what is authorized and what isn't?

So I'm kinda alone and (un)afraid in the job I'm in. None of my leadership are aircrew. I am in a flying air advisor position. When I ask for flight gear (like boots) they want me to provide justification as to why I need them. I had to explain how AFE 11-301 reg talks about unit procuring items like boots and other flight gear. But they want me to provide additional justification, as the 11-301 gives examples but no list of such approved items. For example, Apple pencils and watches have been issued to me at previous bases, but the 11-301 does not cover that stuff. Then, when I provide justification, they look at it through their ground officer lens, and make their own determination if we should have it or not, based on their opinion. My position has plenty of funding for flight gear. The problem is I have no solid regulation to point them to that determines what is or is not allowed to purchase. So when I ask for watches and apple pencils, I get looked at sideways, and when I explain why, they want AFI/Regs that clearly define what is approved/not approved. And if I can't provide that, then it's up to them on if we should or should not get the gear. Is there any AFI/AFMAN or whatever that says something like "commanders will determine what flight gear to purchase for the unit?" Under what regulation are commanders able to purchase flight related items? Any other AFI's I should know about that governs this stuff? RA regs? If I can just show something, anything that basically says I am allowed to make the decision on what to purchase, since I am the chief of flying operations here, that would be awesome. Just trying to find more ammo because I'm getting bombarded with "provide more justification" all the time. We got a pot of money for this stuff but I don't have the knowledge to show why my requests are legitimate. Ideas?

I will reach out Monday. I don't care if I get long tour credit. I will have 300+ days unaccompanied short tour within 18 months. Per the AFI because I didn't go from "CONUS" to "OS" I wanted to ensure I still get short tour credit. Also want to get Dwell time as now it looks to be bumped up to 1:2. That said because this short tour isn't a "deployment" (it's a PCS) I don't know if I get any dwell time. It's pretty unfair to be away from my family for a year in a CZTE country where everyone on a base gets deployment credit. That said I don't live on base, but would gladly if it meant I get 1:2 dwell time.

AFI 36-2110 table 6.6 says you award short tour credit from going CONUS to OS for a period of 300 days within 18 months. I went from US OCONUS to a CENTCOM short tour location that I will be at for 12 months. I get short tour credit, right? I mean the reg says CONUS to OS, and technically I went OCONUS to OS? This isn't some severely messed up loophole I just found myself in where I don't get credit is it? LOL. If you ever want to gouge your eyes out reading an AFI this is the one. Also, my Short Tour is a PCS to a CZTE, unaccompanied. Do I get dwell time out of it? I honestly can't make enough sense of 36-2110 to know.

After doing the math, I SHOULD be good for sanctuary. If the board meets for APZ for me next year in March and results come out around July or August, and then I add 6 months to that, I will be within 2 years of retirement. All that said I've started grinding away on ACSC. Maybe the board's thoughts on APZ next year won't be so negative and the short tour I'm doing will be seen as valuable or at least enough so to warrant promotion. Thing is, this job is actually fairly busy so it's not like I just sit a desk all day, I actually gotta work a bit. I think I can finish ACSC in 6 months if I put in full weekends and some after work time. It is more to show the board that I'm not giving the AF the middle finger by ignoring ACSC even if they choose not to promote me.

Great info Chida. To be clear, I will likely have a few months shy of 18 years for my second look. So say I have 17.5 years service when I get passed over for LtCol the second time. WRT what you wrote about inactive reserve, could I still be separated? TAFMS October 2005 IPZ board: March 2022 APZ board: March(ish) 2023 I'm probably worried about nothing, but I want to know worst case scenario to have a plan. I would think the odds of not getting continued at 17.5 years service as an EP in a place where most of my year group went airlines would be very low, but I'm also sure stranger things have happened.

Really, a senior rater can block continuation? Didn't know that. Yeah I signed up for ACSC a few weeks ago and will try to knock it out. Even with it done, on my second look I probably won't make it, just wanna know what options I have. TAFMS is Oct 2005. It would be close, but either way sanctuary seems to be a guard/reserve only thing from what I can see in the regs. If not, let me know what reg you found it in so I can read up on it.

So this is my IPZ look (March). I will get passed over for not having done PME (ACSC). I'm at 16.5 years TAFMS. So my second look I will likely get passed over unless I do ACSC between now and then. At that point I will have 17.5 years in. Any risk of getting the boot before 20? Haven't heard of that in a while but just wanna make sure I am not screwing myself. I am currently on a short tour collecting gate months with a partner nation, which I think counts as "Joint credit"...whatever that means. I was told it is supposed to look good. but I still think I'm 95% Not gonna make LtCol. Just wanna make sure I can get to 20.

Basically ride my dirtbike as much as possible in the place I want to live, exercise to stay healthy, and be a stay at home husband. No kids. Wife will work for a year or 2 after I retire and then she will spend her time on the small farm we have. Travel (right next to an AMC base) when she wants to. I don't have and never lived an extravagant life and neither has she, and we tend to keep our expenses low mostly because there isn't much we need. I'm not totally opposed to working in some capacity but really want to keep the time aspect in check, in the event I get bored. For a few years I've been looking into small business opportunities (private lending, owning a business IE storage facility/lawn care/car detail/CRE) but the time commitment is what turns me off, along with the risks. I just don't want to NEED to work when I hit 20 TAFMS. Shack in the woods is my kinda thing but wife won't tolerate so there's that We've had to talk about all our expected expenses to try and make this a reality. Bills, property tax, vehicle turnover, bike parts (haha) etc. I think it is totally doable in our case. Anyway I'll be tracking that "take rate" website someone put up a few pages back to see how 2022 ACP plays out. This year will be interesting for determining retainment. The world doesn't seem to be getting friendlier lol