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No way will this ever get approved, but the hypocrisy of Congress seems to know no limits. Let's look at the difference between Congress's plan versus the proposed military plan: -At 50, both can 'retire', but the military guy has to wait 7 more years for a paycheck. -The military paycheck is computed off the last five years; the Congressman's off the last three years. -In the military, if you serve for six years and get out, you might get a 'thank you'. In Congress, you get 9% of your pay as retirement. -The retirement check of a Congressman is nearly twice as much as a retired O-5 gets. If they're going to play the whole 'times are rough, everyone needs to tighten their belts' line, they should lead by example.

In my current job, our retirement pension is something that we constantly have to defend because it is usually the first thing brought up for proposed cuts when times are tight. Even though I am a republican, I am thankful for the union when jobs and pensionz are on the line. Similar to this situation, smarter heads will prevail and all will be safe.

The reason a "DG" is important is very common: 90% of officers (pilots) are equal in piloting ability. It's the OTHER stuff you do that gets you stratified amongst your peers. Everytime you are in a group, you are competing for stratification--be it at ASBC or in the squadron. You belong to the group of "copilots", or "wingmen", or "tactics cell", or "training shop", or "SELO" or "SDO", or even SNACKO. Makes no difference. Your SQ/DO and CC are looking for ways to tell you people APART. Why is chucklehead X better or worse than chucklehead Y? They both got Q1's on their checkrides and didn't screw up on their first deployment and are progressing normally through upgrade. How do I tell them apart? The answer comes in all the OTHER stuff you do to enhance my unit's effectiveness: administrative excellence/morale booster/unique program management/inspection preparation, etc...that's what the CC needs help with--UPT and IQT do a good job of making you a good technician with an OK skill set, and our training shop has a program to get you up to speed on the mission...so since you're all equal in those regards, I need to know what ELSE you bring to the table to differentiate you from all the others... ANYTIME you get a chance to distinguish yourself from your peers (by getting a DG, Top 1/3, #1/3 Asst execs, etc) this helps BOTH the CC decide who to go to bat for (early upgrades/choice PCS/another flying gig) and who to send on less desireable assignments, or even to approve the bonus $$ for. Works in reverse too--the copilot who gets two DUIs in a week probably wont get to go to SOS in-residence...Know the rules of the game you're playing. Blow off ASBC and you lose a chance, perhaps five/ten years from now, to attend WIC, or go in-res to ACSC- because the dude you're competing against THEN got the DG from ASBC, and that became the CC's deciding factor on who to send. It happens. Since you don't KNOW for a FACT you're separating at the end of your commitment, or you're on track for CoS, might as well learn early the rules of the game your playing, and do everything possible to set yourself up to be a contender for WHATEVER job/career goal/aspiration you have. Get off course, even a little, and your decision maybe gets made for you and you lose options. Whether you want to be a SQ/CC or a terminal iron Major with 25,000 flying hours, or separate ASAP, you should probably try to garner the same distinctions every chance you get. You'll either make your goal and be a CC, or make your goal and turn down Lt Col, or make your unit CC cry when you separate. But the key is, it was YOUR CHOICE every time. Fail to follow the rules, and you don't get to choose. Its your life and career--work it any way you want. /off soapbox...again...

You know it! Though I have yet to buy some man-capri-pants or get a purse...I mean satchel. If people don't want to be subjected to airport security: 1. Don't fly, thus avoiding all this or 2. Reduce security but increase your personal comfort, thus while accepting the increase in threat from people who want to do bad things. It was my understanding that the new scanners are a response to situations like the underwear-bomber. Just as we started going shoe-less after the shoe bomber. (what's next on the explosive attire list?) If you don't want to go through the scanner, then you get the new and improved TSA frisk. If you refuse that, well what then? Should they just take your word that you're a good guy? Is there other technology out there that can get the same job done? What happened to the puffers? *note: after watching news clips on this subject to me it seems that the people that are complaining the most about the scanners were either: A) obese B) had fake tits

Really? Choke yourself.