Chida
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Posts posted by Chida
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I did Accessible Aviation. The lodging was in a multi-bedroom apartment in which you shared the kitchen and living room with other students (some are long-term students getting their CFI or whatever). As I had the wife with me, we opted to stay in the VOQ on nearby Columbus AFB. Of course, that's when it was ~$35 per night. Now that the VOQ is ~$55 a room at a local hotel might be better.
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Cool. I didn't know that. So with that, looks like ACSC will take me 27 Jan - 20 Jun, so <5 months.
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As for ACSC timeline, here's what I'm looking at:
- The courses are done sequentially
- Applied courses are online seminars and have additional work (papers)
- Other courses consist of reading some excerpts and take a short multi-choice online test.
- The online tests are pass/fail, but if you fail you can re-take the test unlimited times
- You can't sign up for the following course until you finish the preceding course.
- After you finish a course it takes 12-24 hours for it to be graded, allowing you to sign up for the next course. After you sign up for the next course it takes 12-24 hours before you can actually start that course. This is for online courses. Seminar courses have a different set of rules.
The courses are:
1. Orientation
2. Leadership and Command
3. Applied Leadership and Command
4. National Security
5. Applied National Security
6. Warfare Studies
7. Airpower Studies
8. Applied Warfare
9. Joint Forces
10. Joint Planning
11. Joint Air Ops
12. Applied Joint Warfare
So, courses 3, 5, 8, and 12 are applied courses meaning they are the online seminar format. These have limited attendance opportunities throughout the year and a sign-up deadline approx. 2 weeks before course start. These are the ones that slow down the entire process, I think by design. For example, my next course is #3, the sign-up deadline is 17 Feb and start date is 3 Mar. So it will have been 1 month since I finished the last online course before I can progress again.
Some applied courses end and then the next one you need to take has a registration deadline a couple days later. Problem is you might have to do 2 online courses and a paper in those 2 days. Pair that up with the inherent delays in getting a course graded and signing up for the next course and it seems unlikely that ACSC can be done in less than 6 months. If you don't make the registration deadline you have to wait a month in some cases for the next opportunity to start that applied course.
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Yes, he's a freshman cadet now and he's also prior enlisted.
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They probably mean that just because you applied first doesn't necessarily mean you will be approved. Your approval hinges on whether or not they want to release you. Assuming they agree with releasing you, then yes, it is first come, first served. If they don't agree with releasing you then it you won't be approved no matter when you raised your hand.
BLAB: If you want to get out, then apply at first opportunity to improve your chances. (And if you're worried about tax on your VSP, you're probably not sufficiently motivated to get out).
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Maybe that's what you want, but *I* only care about the total taken from me. Why would I care about the ins/outs of the accounting gimmicks? Just in case you don't know:
Marginal tax rate: Tax rate on the highest dollar you earned.
Highest dollar I earned that year, i.e. taxable income, was $107k. Tax rate on that was 25%. I don't know what you're going to do with that info, generically, because to me it's says nothing about what I actually paid in total tax.
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overall tax rate=amount of tax paid/total income
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$66438 was the Separation pay. I also sold leave and got $10519. On my final LES there was some portion of my current month's pay on there as well. The total Federal Income Tax withheld on the $83053 total entitlement for the month was $19617. Which basically paid my tax bill for the year on the eventual extra income (totaling $127k) I got after I left active duty. So I got something like $4300 refunded to me on the year's withholding.
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25% is federal income tax withheld. How much you get to eventually keep depends on your form 1040. Personally, and looking at my files, the year I received Separation pay:
14.8% overall federal income tax rate (16.8% if you include FICA)
$127k gross income
TX resident
June DOS
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It wouldn't hurt to confess your sins. Examples:
- I failed to do PME before I pinned-on
- I neglected to do my Master's until I was a Captain
- Sometimes I show up for work late and leave early
- I tend to pencil-whip queep
- On occasion I log an event which I didn't really do
You get the idea. Think of it as a reverse OPR.
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I reckon it would be palace front in that scenario. Front is when you owe no more time to AD. Chase is when you're converting some time on your AD ADSC to an ARC ADSC.
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If you "palace chase" or "front in conjunction with separation pay whether vol or invol", you get the 6 months Tricare bit. But even if you didn't it's OK because you can get Tricare Reserve Select for $200/mo for you and your fam.
Difference with the "vol sep and not going to SELRES" scenario: no 6 months of Tricare (or so they say. What actually happens depends on the shoe clerk who puts the info into Deers).
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USAF theory is that there are ALWAYS bottom-feeders that need to be cut. My year group went through 2 rounds of force shaping by early captaincy and still got cut more by 10% non-continuation non-promotion. Think about that in light of all the voluntary separations that occurred between the force shaping and the major's promotion board.
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The only way I know for an officer to get a good year in the IRR is to do PME (SOS, ACSC, AWC) in correspondence. After that, you better find a SELRES unit, IMA, or look into what the USAF calls the PIRR (which is really the SELRES). PIRR can do CAP-RAP or Academy/ROTC Admissions Liaison Officer and it's easy to get good years, although generally your only "pay" is points. PIRR meets the same promo board as SELRES. IRR meets a sham promo board in which 99.99% are passed over. Get passed over twice and you're out of the IRR and disqualified from further commissioned service.
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Also anyone who gets shaped or RIF'd and still owes on the military service obligation is required to go to the IRR until the 8 year total time in service is reached. Additionally, anyone who receives separation pay is required to go to the IRR for 3 years. And that is on top of the 8 (non-concurrent).
1Lt Doe gets force-shaped at 4 years total service. Required IRR time: 4 years.
Capt Obvious gets RIF'd at 6 years total service. Required IRR time: 5 years. (2 to get the MSO and 3 more for receiving sep pay)
Anyway, IRR gets base privileges, BX, commissary, etc.
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Any ROTC cadets out there:
Has the AF put out info on what the process is to gain your reserve commission in the event you take them up on their recent offer to not go the Regular active duty route? I am anticipating that after graduation in May there will probably be some ex-cadets looking to rush various guard/reserve units in the hopes of having a shot at flying training or at least a career of some sort with the ARC.
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Because the law says to offer VSP to a certain group of officers (year group) before conducting a RIF. You might say the AF is being more honest than the law requires. They could just exclude the stated AFSCs without telling anyone upfront. After all, the VSP is not first come, first served as they stated. They hold all the power to approve whom they wish. If that approval is denied to a certain AFSC, well...that's their prerogative.
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Last time they offered VSP they decided after-the-fact that certain AFSC's were not allowed VSP. Then the RIF was held and they cut whatever AFSC's they felt like. They justified it as a "quality-cut". The "VSP prior to RIF" is mandatory per statute, but that doesn't mean the USAF needs to honor the intent of the law.
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So I just watched the latest CSAF video posted above. I guess I must be out of touch, because I don't know what he's talking about. He says the problem is "out there" but I'm just not seeing it, which leads me to conclude that it must be a non-ops squadron issue. Or maybe I am just so totally insensitive that it escapes my attention. Thousands of people are getting cut from the Air Force and this is what he chooses to put forward? Can anyone share a different perspective?
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For those who attended the USAFA did you enjoy it or do you wish you would have gone to another college?
I get asked this frequently and so I've thought about it. I never had a desire to go to any other place before or after. I had good times and I had bad times and I mostly only remember the good times at this point. I accomplished a lot, grew up a lot, and made some great friends and great memories. the prize at the end made it worth it: If I had not gotten a UPT slot it would have soured the deal considerably.
So, BLAB: I enjoyed it and don't wish I had gone to another college.
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Money is drying up out here. At a certain company a good 30% quit on rumors of a pay cut. Now there is this issue of new hires getting paid far less than those already on with the company. Corporate certainly won't take a pay cut so they are attempting to shift the pay cut to the new 30% and beyond.
What kind of contract do these guys put you under? Is each deployment it's own contract, or are you committed to a certain time period when they hire you? Seems like the kind of job that would be great to pay bills when your phone doesn't end up ringing off the hook, but not the kind of thing you'd want to be holding you down for the next 18 months when you do get the call.
Depends on the company. One company says 180 days deployed in the year after initial training and then 90 days deployed after a refresher (which is every 12 months). The threat of non-performance is garnishing your wages to recoup the costs of your training, not pro-rated. This seems to be selectively enforced.
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You must be joking here...
What is it with you? It seems all the posts you respond to have a snide/disrespectful tone. To answer your question: I am not joking. There is nothing in my post to suggest I am joking. I lived there for 3 years in two separate assignments. That is my perspective. What's yours?
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I'm more interested in hearing why someone would want to expat. To experience different culture? A belief that there are more/better opportunities elsewhere? Financial reasons? Or rather than being drawn elsewhere, do you feel you feel you are being pushed away by a feeling of disenfranchisement with America?
I'd like to expat to be closer to my wife's family. Japan is about the same as the US in the freedom dept. I have a chance to have a better quality of life and good starting pay (and beyond) at a Japanese airline vs. a US airline because there's only one base. Also I've lived there before and I like it fine. I'm familiar with the cost of living. So the question becomes "why stay in the US?" "what's keeping me here?" At present I don't meet the mins for my desired employer, also I'm in the reserve and would like to get 9 more drill years before I quit the Selres. Politics and taxes don't really have much to do with my desire to expat. (note: I'd keep my US citizenship for those wondering)
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It's a comment on the air conditioning only. The H (super E) has a worse air conditioning than the H1, H2, H3.
Webmail (home Outlook email) issues
in General Discussion
Posted
Webmail (from Home) for both Scott and Little Rock stopped working for me last week and isn't working yet. And now the AF Port Hole isn't working either. Anybody got a clue what's going on and an estimated fix time? 17D guy?