QAZqaz
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Posts posted by QAZqaz
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18 hours ago, brabus said:
It’s amazing how these shoe clerks act like you’re trying to withdraw money from their personal checking account, but then they have no problem buying another $50k round of TVs for the wing to replace all the perfectly functional TVs bought 2 years ago…because EOY funds (but not to be spent on shit you actually want/need).
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.
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3 hours ago, dream big said:
It is for some people that like that kind of work, for most people it’s a shit deal. Thank god we don’t have to “train” the Afghans anymore, they can have their godforsaken country.
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.
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2 hours ago, BashiChuni said:
Good luck dude. You kind of come off as a entitled little *****
could just be me.
or not
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.
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On 3/12/2022 at 11:51 PM, BashiChuni said:
Apple pen 😂🤣
sounds like it’s perfectly reasonable for your boss to ask for justification
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.
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1 hour ago, TheNewGazmo said:
Who is your boss? Why does he/she not know that you are entitled flight gear in the position you are in? With that being said, there are items essential for the execution of your flying duties (not Apple pens and watches) and then there are items that are purchased with excess funds throughout the year or during the typical, mindless government-end-of-fiscal-year spending frenzies (Apple pens and watches).
I would talk to an FM supervisor to see if they know of an AFI/AFMAN the governs unit spending. A lot of items, such as Apple pens and watches probably fall into a gray area as long as the CC can justify they are being purchased for official duties and are essential to the mission.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?
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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?
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11 minutes ago, Guardian said:
I’m still hung up on his attitude is every officer should desire to run the Air Force and be the best pilot while taking less money and doing additional work. That’s a tough one.
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57 minutes ago, jazzdude said:
It'd be worth reaching out to AFPC to ask about your situation. There's also a policy letter at AFPC that isn't published that affects short tour vs long tour credit. I had pieced together enough overseas time TDY from conus to warrant both per the AFI, but AFPC only awards one or the other if your short tour is based on the 300 days/18 months. I had to ask to take the "lesser" award of short tour credit instead of the long tour credit the policy defaulted to.
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.
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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.
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22 hours ago, Lifer said:
When I was passed over the first time there was a doc on MyPERs that stated that certain AFSCs are in high demand and will be given continuation. So if you’re worried I’d try to find that doc for a warm fuzzy. I think it’s in the promotion section.
I’m not a fan of how the AF doesn’t give you continuation until the second time you’re passed over as it puts you in limbo for a year or so. With that said IF you do get passed over again AND not offered continuation I think you should be able to piece together an AD retirement in the guard/reserves as you only will have 2.5 years to go… someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
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.
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5 hours ago, Chida said:
We were talking about this 8 years ago, but sanctuary applies to regulars as well.
https://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/topic/19851-sanctuary/?tab=comments#comment-354790Great 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.
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10 hours ago, CaptainMorgan said:
You’re pretty much 100% without IDE. Continuation should be offered, though your Senior Rater can block it if you’re on their bad side.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkReally, 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.
1 hour ago, Bigred said:If I’m doing the math right, wouldn’t you be over 18 years service by the time you’d have to get out after the second look? Aka, wouldn’t you be protected by sanctuary?
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.
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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.
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On 1/22/2022 at 5:32 PM, Guardian said:
Pretty awesome. What pursuits are you going to fill your life with QAZqaz?
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
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18 hours ago, Majestik Møøse said:
There’s a whole lot of people out there who evangelize about the life decisions they made, which often seems to be rooted in insecurity about said decisions. The “Bro why would anybody want to be in the Air Force,” guys are almost as bad as the blue Kool Aid drinkers that scoffed at the guys who constantly deployed and got no strats. The most opinionated on both sides just seem to be fishing for reinforcement from the crowd. It never comes across as understanding of a different guy’s perspective, and it certainly isn’t humble.
At the end of your life, the amount of money you have doesn’t really matter as long as your family is safe and secure, just as your personal list of military accomplishments will seem pretty unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
This. There comes a point where you gotta ask: How much money do I need? And once you reach that, it is then up to you to honestly decide if it is worth continuing to work. Maybe you got the FU money and like the job--great. Maybe you get the FU money and decide it's not worth it so you have the ability to walk. Personally I've decided I will LIKELY have my FU money when I retire at 20. Even though the pension is small by comparison to raking it in at the airlines, I just don't need huge sums of money at even this point. Part of it was luck and it's a 12 year Bull market (aside from the bloodbath yesterday), but even in a downturn I figure I can manage with my personal risk tolerance.
The value of a pension/medical is heavily discounted here, but the truth is there is extrinsic value beyond monetary value.
All that said I've never seen the other side WRT airline life and my situation was different than most. I just don't have any interest in trading in time for huge sums of money if I don't have to.
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On 12/5/2021 at 4:41 AM, Clark Griswold said:
Probably not appropriate for a wedding reception
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalkcool band but I'll one up you (personal preference)
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4 hours ago, Bigred said:
Interesting hearing your pre-Covid experiences with guard units as mine was completely opposite. I was rushing tanker units and they were basically giving slots to any previously qualified military pilot with a pulse. I was offered a job at two different units.
The irony though, for similar reasons I ended up going the same route as you on the active duty side of things.
Part of it was self inflicted. I didn't want to leave where I was living unless it was to commute to an IMA job (which all got bought up by the time I figured out what that was). Had I been open to moving which I wasn't due to my wife's job and me not wanting to leave, I probably could have done that as well. Point is hopefully this works out and hopefully I won't have to deploy again after a short tour I'm on, though it doesn't give me dwell time and technically I'm not protected.
Wonder if they will offer me a 2 year bonus when this one is up to get to retirement? My guess is they won't. I think when I signed mine you could do single years at a time? Or maybe 3 years was the min I can't remember. Either way I'm planning on getting no bonus my last 2 years and I also think there's a 98% chance it won't go above the 2020 AVB.
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5 hours ago, Danger41 said:
I have almost identical timing but will be out at 15. I’ve struck out on a bunch of ANG units as “too old”. Thoughts?
Yeah man see that’s the thing. Everyone says just go to a guard unit but some are highly competitive. Sure if I was willing to commute to one in a place I didn’t want to live (if they even hire me) and probably commute to my airline job, I might have had a chance with that route, but at what cost? The units in the place I will retire and want to live basically told me they had one or 2 slots and every major on active duty at the base, plus a lot of other bases, was rushing it (pre Covid). So that didn’t leave me with many options other than cross train or do IMA/ Cat E reserves which I wasn’t getting much traction with either. After 15 years when I made the decision I didn’t want to completely throw away my retirement and be forced to work for an airline for the following 20.
there’s always gonna be hindsight bias but the truth is even now I feel like I did the right thing at the time and don’t regret it. Had I reached my ADSC today, or reached an ADSC with 12 years TAFMS, it would be a different story. Lots of variables to consider.
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On 1/7/2022 at 12:21 AM, FourFans130 said:
Because I haven't said it in a while...
I hereby reword my normal perennial statement: "Don't take the bonus!"
It now reads: Take the bonus. The signing bonus from every airline hiring right now.
Seriously. If money is a factor. Leave right now.
So I was getting ready to get out and fly for an airline a few years ago. Then covid hit, I withdrew my separation, got a good follow on assignment, and stayed in while taking the 3 year 2020 bonus. After the bonus is up I have 2 years until retirement. I've thought many hours about both options. The uncertainty in March/ April of 2020 was just too great and I boiled it down to this:
Stay in and retire (5 years to go). Did a good job saving and investing (though market peaks make my performance/portfolio look good at the moment, who knows in a few years) and shouldn't have to work again after I retire as a Major. If airlines kick back up in a year or 2 oh well, I get a retirement and not having to work.
Option 2: get out and hope for the best. If airlines pick up, I'm a genius and make a lot of money but gotta work a while. If things suck for 5 years or more it was a bad decision. Plus not a lot of guard/reserve options during the start of Covid.
Option 1 made sense for me. Good assignment and 3 yr bonus. I'll be able to stay in my mws until retirement (God willing).
Point is everyone has a different situation, though right now things are looking greener on the outside.
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11 hours ago, Swizzle said:
A.dditional/A.lternate -- C.ombat -- E.xperience, eh?
Future downrange hypothetical story...So...this one deployment I was a forklift driver, next a copilot, another a bus driver, and latest 'rote my own IPR/Personelist/Finance/CE/secretary/Comm-troop/Aircraft CC...what could go wrong besides all those passwords/login deadlines/currencies on an epic collision course culminating in ____insert your fate here (i.e. futility testing more with less, repeatedly)___
LOL.
It is funny that a 100k/yr bonus was recommended and they actually chose to go the opposite direction w/ worse terms (that said this report came out after the 2021 ACP was decided, however the Rand study did not). I just want to hear one person who has been in these conversations explain why they chose to ignore recommendations. If I was a betting man, the status-quo will continue with the 2022 ACP. In 2023 once they realize that a mistake was made, they will up it to the past 35k/yr to get a marginally higher take rate and call it a success.
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2 hours ago, Magellan said:
So when I was a casual Lt back before ORE/ORIs ended having a forklift license was useful multiple times as opposed to waiting on loggies or MX folks to move our gear, and it even helped during a short notice ONE tasker. This was back when C-Models started coming apart and where grounded UFN and we needed to pack a bunch of stuff right before Christmas for a CONUS deployment.
Honestly, I think it would be awesome if all the Lts waiting for pilot training got trained to drive buses, fork lifts, etc. Because then the ops squadrons can just go to transportation check out the equipment, use it, and return it entirely on their schedule. Plus then it would be easier to screen for buffoonerous personnel before people bend airplanes. If you can't drive a bus or a forklift do we really want to trust you with an airplane?
That's kinda the point of the read. Yeah I'm sure it would be helpful to have people that are qualified, just like it would be more efficient to have all the rights of a personalist so I wouldn't have to keep going to the MPF to get 3x orders amendments because they don't know how to do their job. The argument is, support doesn't support, so we take on more responsibilities or else things don't get done. Doesn't mean that's how our time is best spent, though.
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So anybody read the NCMAS final report? I found it bored one day on AMC epubs. Here's a link:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalsecurity.org%2Fmilitary%2Flibrary%2Freport%2F2020%2Fncmas_final_report_20201201.pdf&clen=6750997&chunk=true
Chapters 8 (additional duties) and 10 (bonus improvement) stuck out to me. Apparently there was a timeframe for a response from SECDEF of 120 days, but I have no idea where that timeframe lands and as far as I know there hasn't been a response.
Pretty interesting read, but it sure seems we are going the opposite direction WRT the bonus. One of the best quotes “'Additional Duties. . . We have an instructor pilot trying to get a forklift license.' —USAF Junior Officer"
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On 12/17/2021 at 2:44 AM, Newb said:
Couldn’t find this information using the search function. Could somebody please share:
1. How many hours could someone expect on a deployment?
2. Is the deployment 6 months long?
3. How much time will be spent TDY?
4. Do you get an ATP after training?
5. Do you graduate initial training as an AC? In other words, is it all PIC?
I know some guys who have done this assignment and I was looking into it at one point. From what I hear you do receive an ATP (and a very expensive type rating). I believe the TDY was 2 months or so to learn the aircraft. Yes 6 months though I knew a guy that voluntarily extended for an additional 6 months (and when he got back got non Vol’d to UPT, thanks AMC…). Current location Dahfra. Unsure if it’s all PIC or not but you upgrade to IP out there in fairly short order… either way you split primary and secondary and “pic” time isn’t logged anyway.
seems like a real cool assignment. Though with AFG shut down not sure on the hrs anymore. I’m sure you can look up the unit in the GAL and email an ADO or something. Good luck!
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On 12/16/2021 at 11:45 PM, jazzdude said:
This should work, and it's the way to max perform your tsp.
From what I understand it's all one big bucket. Basically the your limited to 20.5k for the sum of your Roth and traditional contributions. Once you hit that limit, you can only continue to contribute to your traditional tsp if you're in a combat zone that month, up to the 61k limit. That might just be a DFAS limitation, since TSP keeps tax free traditional contributions separate, so the should know that money can exceed the 20.5k limit.
The other caveat is that if you're on the BRS, the gov contributions count towards that 60.5k limit as well.The problem is if I get tax free the month of Sept, it’s already too late to change my MYPAY contributions to dump in traditional tsp contributions past the 20.5k limit, because when you change your contributions in MYPAY it takes effect the following month (oct). So I would get tax free for sept, but then try to add to my traditional tsp past the 20.5k limit in Oct, which isn’t the month I received tax free. So I don’t know if MYPAY/DFAS or the algorithm is smart enough to realize that and not just kick the money back.
Saudi
in General Discussion
Posted
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.