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Unfortunetly, for (the few of) us (cool) riddle dudes, you are probably right. Riddle deserves all the shit that it gets. There are far too many tools that end up at this school. Warning: for all you high schoolers out there, choose a different school. riddle is not worth the time and money.

If you really want to learn/do some important stuff before starting UPT that will be 100% useful. I would taking care of the following 3 things. 1. Investing. TSP, Roth IRAs, allotments, etc. get smart on ALL this stuff and put a plan in place to start saving money now. Best advice I ever got was to set 100% of my incentive pay(flight pay) into TSP 6 months before I even started getting flight pay. Now it is all going towards retirement, as well as maxing my ROTH IRA, and I don't miss a penny of it. Even doing all that I am still able to buy as much beer as any other Lt. out there. 2. Education. Knock out 3 or 4(or more) masters classes while you are on casual most places give you a 7 year window to complete the degree, or at least embry riddle does and they have an office at every AFB I have ever heard of. Also, get smart on the post 9/11 GI bill. This is a huge benefit that if used well could be worth over $100,000 of education for either you, your spouse, or one of your kids. 3. Get in shape if you aren't already. If you are only in semi-decent shape now odds are you will be in horrible shape towards the end of phase 3. That said my squadron DO said yesterday, "We will not graduate a student that can't pass a PT test." Make damn sure you aren't that guy/gal. My first week at ASBC I saw a girl get sent home for not passing the PT test...how will that affect her down the road I don't know...but I am sure it didn't help her any. Just my $.02 but I see tons of my peers who aren't doing those above three things, and those three things are what will put you heads and shoulders above your peers in both your career and life in general.

How does someone set themselves to get picked up for AFIT to get a masters degree? I have read the AFIT webiste and the information on the process itself etc, but I am looking for a no BS answer from guys that have been around squadrons and seen guys who got picked up for it. Mainly I want to know if I am currently working on finishing up my MAS from embry riddle before I make Captain did I just screw myself, because I already have a masters and therefore don't need another one? Is AFIT one of those things you need to make known you want and if you do well when you apply your higher ups will try and hook you up if they think you are worth the effort, etc. Also, on what kind of a time frame do they look to send guys to that program. Sr. Captain with SOS knocked out? After you make Major, but before you go to ACSC? Any information would be very useful.

I have a question regarding final out processing. If I final out on a Friday, but I don't leave until the next Monday(because that is when my house hold goods are being picked up) will I be charged travel days for that weekend since I haven't left my duty station even though I have completed my final out processing? I am planning on using this time table regardless, but I just wanna know if I am going to be charged a couple days of leave before I do it.

So for the guys about to graduate in 6 to 9 weeks, and enter active duty 6 to 9 months after that? You should be fine for the foreseeable future. That said if you are a pilot you should be golden for those 10 years, the only deal is like some guys previously mentioned they are being cheap with the bonus in comparison to the guys that didn't have the 10 year commitment, because they figure us hanging around for the retirement is enough of a carrot to keep us in. For non-rated officers in that year group who knows where the Air Force will be manning wise in 4-6 years when everyone's commitments are up. That said every single one of us is here at the convenience of the Air Force, and don't ever forget that they can tell us all, "Thanks for playing and where would you like your household goods shipped to?" tomorrow.