Chida

I, personally, was sold a bill of goods. I signed up for 16 years as an 18 year old, and was told I would fly for a living. I had no idea that after the academy and after flying training that flying would be only 1% of what I did. It's a raw deal. Don't do active duty, go guard!

My bet's on Schwartz. He came up in there at LR May 2011 (I think). During the Q/A someone asked why all these cats were denied VSP and why the RIF was then going to be held. He said, and I quote, "Not enough people volunteered for the VSP." And onto another quote by T. Jefferson, "He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second or third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions."

There's CAPRAP. You serve as a Cat E reservist in the PIRR, attend CAP (Civil Air Patrol) events and provide mentoring to cadets and squadrons. You're generally assigned to one squadron. This is only for Air Force reservists, though. You can then also do ADLS courses for additional points when you're in the PIRR.

If I owned a fleet of C-12's and I became aware that one of my pilots did a barrel roll in one of my C-12's, I would fire him. Just sayin'...

The 10-year committment has caused more issues than AFPC realizes. It sure solved the retention "problem" for now, though. If it were still 8 years there wouldn't be this overage of majors, thus no reason to deny continuation to 157 passed over majors, or whatever the number is. Now, because of this anecdotal evidence of non-continuation, majors will be less likely to sit on the fence in hopes of a retirement and will be more likely to bail once their 10 years is done. I'm thinking 8 years was working better for the AF.

I was a senior cadet at USAFA. I had just showed up to 2nd period class and saw it all on the news. First I thought that it was an accident but when the second plane hit I thought "we're going to war." Not much else happened in the way of classes the rest of the day. Some memories from directly after that: moving all the cars 3 miles away, 24 hour guard duty, checking ID's a lot, restriction to the cadet area for about 2 months, strangely quiet skies, no more tourists. I was casual at Barksdale at the 96th when they were deployed to attack Iraq. When I got to Laughlin in early 2003 they had just stopped checking IDs at every building. I was in T-37s when the US attacked Iraq. In Jan 2006 I flew my first combat sortie in Iraq.

This makes sense. If the USAF wants people to get out, then this would be a method of encouragement. They already know you're not *totally committed* (by refusing the bonus) and you just need to be pushed over the edge a little bit. A pseudo-RIF like the twice-passed over, non-continued group.

AAFMAA whole life seems to be a good deal. I pay around $500 per month on a 20 year policy ($400k or so for me and $100k for the wife). If I want to cash out I get paid the higher of my cash value or premiums paid. Last year (which was pretty bad for interest) the return was 7% (on premiums paid of course). After 20 years I stop paying and the cash value continues to accrue. I am covered until I am 100 years old and my beneficiaries receive the higher of the cash value or the policy face value (as I understand it). If I want I can borrow against it, such as to buy a house.

This. From the guy who told me he outranked me when we were both Captains because he was an O3-E. Not that's there's anything wrong with that... :)

Theoretically the max terminal leave an O can take is 90 days. That assumes having 60 days as of 1 October and then separating the following Sep. (this doesn't take into account any special leave accrual, which would increase this theoretical maximum).

I read on AFPC FAQ today that they're now only going to RIF 300 personnel. SO that's 300 from VSP and 300 from the RIF which is a far cry from the 2000-2500 they bandied about the first part of this year. I guess they're going to have to do another round in FY12.

I'll take the MCI test soon and get a CFI/CFII AMEL certificate. Then I'd like to get a CFI ASEL add-on. Has anyone up in here done that? How many training flights did you do? How was the oral exam and check? And did you use a DE?

Right! Twice non-selected for major leaves a captain with a possible offer for continuation. He doesn't have to take it. If he doesn't take continuation then he won't get involuntary separation pay. On the other hand, if he's not offered continuation then he gets involuntary separation pay. Being twice non-selected for captain is the same type of thing. The only thing I'm not too sure about is if a 1Lt would be offered continuation. Once you're twice passed over and not offered (or don't accept) continuation you have 6 months maximum before separation. For those that chafe at the 10 year pilot training commitment, here's your way out. In all reality they're doing this in lieu of a reduction in force board. (ADSC's don't apply)

I recently did ATP training with Accessible Aviation nearby Columbus AFB, MS. I did the ATP written test ($150) at a local testing center after studying on my own with Sheppard Air software ($75). Then I went to Accessible Aviation. I took two flights in a Seneca on a Saturday, one flight on Sunday morning, and the check ride Sunday afternoon. The oral quiz lasted about 1.5 hours, and the checkride was 2.5 hours. Carl Nuzzo is the owner and, most likely, will be the one to instruct you. He is also a part-time sim instructor for the T-6's at the base. I think that the program was thorough and Carl gave the best training a military pilot can ask for. It cost $2500 (includes lodging and examiner fee).

I have my Major's board coming up in Dec 2010 and my commander wants to send me to SOS in the summer. I already have correspondence done. I heard you need a waiver past 3 years as Capt, but who grants the waiver and when is it too late to go?

I tried it out for my CED travel voucher and it took 3 times longer than the PDF for the data entry. Plus, it would only let you claim certain predetermined expenses and if your expense wasn't predetermined it had to be specifically authorized by the AO. For example I needed to claim unaccompanied baggage (not excess baggage) and it wouldn't allow that, so I gave up. I like DTS though. Its interface isn't the greatest but I get *paid* a heckuva lot more for TDYs now than with the paper version because finance used to nickel and dime me and with DTS I get exactly what I'm supposed to.

I just filed mine and was able to get a little bit more money back because the University I went to for grad school (part time) is in a "Midwestern Disaster Area" (Pulaski County, AR). I had to pay a little bit this past year because Tuition assistance didn't cover all of it (and I didn't have GI bill and post 9/11 GI bill hadn't come out yet). Plus if you're in a Midwestern Disaster area you can claim the cost of your books. That's something I had to look up myself though, because TurboTax wasn't smart enough to know that I live in the disaster area. Also if you're Active duty you can claim your spouse has switched to your own tax domicile (Texas for me) and save a bit there.

I deployed this past year and did the SDP. The maturity on that is 1 Feb 2010. Now I'm being deployed again, sometime in Feb 2010. Can I just leave the money in the account and reactivate the interest accrual when I get back over there? If so, how is that done paperwork-wise? If possible, the advantage to doing that is that I wouldn't have to wait 30 days to make a deposit because the full $10,000 is already in there.