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Already done, but guys aren't stopping there. I have nine years left on my UPT ADSC as of this week. Know what the all the new copilots are talking about around the office? The ATP written exam.

Nothing surprising given our current fiscal climate (as a government and population). The average joe has demonstrated that the "here and now" is more important than the future by the way most people spend money or vote others to spend money (especially money neither they nor the government has); in addition fail to save or prepare for the future/retirement. Unfortunately the military is not immune from this line of thinking either. Also most members of the military don't have the benefit of seeing what those long term programs actually mean further down the road, growing up with Tricare from my parents was a huge financial benefit for them especially with kids, as well as them pulling in a pension while working full time. Unfortunately most young people's only concern (military or civilian) when it comes to finances deals with balancing partying with bills so they can eat for all 31 days of the month.

I'm pretty sure that applies to 90% of people in Asia in every facet of life and career field. "Flexing" to changes/non-standard is not in their lexicon.

This is not the first time I've heard this sentiment, and I still struggle to internalize it. How is it that the "real stars making things happen for the good of the organization" don't look "good on paper"? There are many paths to success and there is no one right answer. Here is my humble viewpoint on this for the younger cats: 1) Find a few people they look up to that have made O-4 already and get their PRFs, 1a) You should look at these PRFs and go, "Holy Shit!", if you don't...find a different one. 1b) At some point along the way, you should find a few sharp O-5's (by most people's standards already a successful career) that are aiming at full bird and start doing this with theirs. 2) Starting with your very first OPR, start writing your own PRF, 2a) With each iteration, compare it to the completed PRFs you acquired from your mentors (identify the "white space" in yours that needs to be filled), 2b) With each OPR, replace weaker content with your stronger content (you are creating a super OPR that covers your career, get guidance on what PRFs look like...there are multiple versions that work). 3) Work very hard to ensure that every single OPR has something worthy of filling in that "white space"...a good OPR may have many things, 3a) By identifying the "white space" and looking at your examples, you should have an idea of what kinds of things you'll need to seek out to do 3b) Be your own person and steer towards what interests you, this will help keep your motivation and passion along the way (the military doesn't change that much though, innovation be damned). 4) Continue this until you have a PRF that's as good, if not better, than your mentor's to meet your board with. 4a) Many people think that doing a good job in what you're handed is enough. If you only do what is asked of you, you will be successful...but, you will NEVER fulfill your potential. This is why you don't want "endless potential" written on your shit. It says you could, but you don't. 5) If you are a "real star that is making things happen for the good of the organization", and you don't look good on paper...you may be a "real star", but you are also likely an idiot. At a minimum, people in the know have seriously let you down along the way. A lot of your peers found (likely sought out) people that did no such things. You must do well at the things that are tasked to you, you must go beyond the minimum, and you must seek out opportunity. If you do not, do not complain about being in a situation where no one gives two shits if your PRF for the next board has a narrative or not. If you do everything you can, and it still doesn't work out...shut up and enjoy your paycheck flying the line and teaching the young guys (there are plenty of guys who won't get continuation or get tossed to the curb just shy of the finish line). Bendy

If you like your military retirement plan, you can keep your military retirement plan. Oh, wait....

They will do as much tinkering as they can without actually "changing" retirement. To all the new guys reading: if you are just planning on using your mil pension as your retirement, you're wrong. Start maxing out a Roth IRA and/or your TSP *yesterday*!

Not a stats or math major, so I may have done this wrong. This chart shows O-5 retirement under the current system as compared to REDUX (which no one should ever take) and the proposed COLA changes. I pushed retirement out to 2016 to show the overall effect of COLA = CPI - 1. Total retired pay (assuming living to 79 years) is reduced by roughly $128,000. Edit: corrected chart based on updated information. CPI - 1% from retirement to 61. Adjusted to full "original" retirement at 62 and CPI from there.

From a friend at Vance AFB. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Surely there are many moving parts here, but I think we can all agree on two things: 1. If Congress wants to change military retirement, they need to lead from the FRONT and make SWEEPING changes to their OWN pay/retirement system first. 2. Number 1 will never happen.

Not necessarily. Rent reflects what the market will bear. It does not necessarily cover the owners mortgage costs let alone tax liability.

The name of that band has got to be one of the biggest misnomers ever.

Beale AFB chalk up a jet for the kids...

There is one good study on just this question (there are lots of good studies on retirement reform...again this is nothing new and has been going on since 1948). You would be surprised at the opinions of your fellow .mil members. https://www.csbaonline.org/publications/2012/07/rebalancing-military-compensation-an-evidence-based-approach/

I submit that you do not know what the fuck you are talking about (fuck added for flavor/emphasis).

Uhh, yeah dude. They just track sorties from there. And provide support when TIB comes to town.

Bring back the boobs. Edit: Nevermind, it's back. I have no further requests. Thank you.

Can't wait to start some carbine courses!

And proof that Mandela was a racist...

Obama did not direct that the flags be flown at half staff for Thatcher. It was one of yet many poor decisions made by his administration. Great Britain has been one of our stauchest allies for all of the Twentieth Century, and we probably didn't have any greater relations with the Brits than what we experienced between Reagan and Thatcher. The fact that he failed to attend her funeral or honor her in any way has not gone unnoticed by many of my friends in the UK. How Mandela rates this distinction while Thatcher did not escapes me. It was a conscience decision on the part of the Obama Administration to recognize one and not the other, but for what reasons I cannot fathom...

you for ever having encouraged others to click on that.

The whole system doesn't make sense if you ask me. BPZ and APZ are less than 1%, so essentially you have one chance to get promoted. Each Wing CC gets one BPZ DP to give, they should do the same for APZ as well. Having worked in the front office at the Group, Wing and on GO's Staff, every single time I was there for a board there was an O-6 or GO scratching his head wondering how the hell at least one person didn't get selected. You know they aren't going to use a DP on an APZ guy (extremely rare) and statistically you have a 0% chance of making O-5 with a P APZ... so what is the incentive for a pilot passed over as a Major to do anything but breathe and log IP time for the next 6+ years? I don't mean to cross threads here, but if you look at the new pay scale for the US Air/AA merger in 2017 you can START at $93K as a first year FO! Is that check of the month club worth sticking around to lose 6+ yrs of seniority when you can switch patches and pin on O-5 within 2 yrs across the street at the Res or Guard Sq? I know several of the 157 from a few years ago... every one of them is now an O-5 and many of them just got the call from SWA or United (some from both) in the past month. The pendulum is swinging very quickly back in favor of the pilots... too bad the shoes and the box checking Yes Men have their faces too buried in the Power Point slides for "Pride Month" to figure it out. Talking to my old boss who is now a 1 Star and has sat on a few promotion boards; sending up a blank PRF and an APZ PRF with just a P is the same thing... they essentially go into a separate pile and are not even considered. For the past 10+ yrs Big Blue just assumed that they had these folks (pilots) until 20 either way (and they were right)... that may not be a good assumption anymore.

Next up, removing the chapels from base property.

Shaw is at the pinnacle of full retard...thanks a lot Bin Laden.

Any Viper driver knows exactly how far toward "full retard" Shaw has gone lately. I am not surprised in the least.

If by "not the most authoritative source" you mean "batshit crazy" then yeah, I guess you're right. InfoWars is ridiculous

OK, time to add some levity to this thread...

Interesting video... One thing is for certain...I just can wait to get more of that delicious socialism over here. My research leads me to believe, that overall, the place is a shithole. I'm glad we're spending 3/4 of a billion dollars to go to another corrupt government. In a month we won't be talking much about it anymore, and their socialistic ways will continue to bring their own country down.

For not wanting to argue feelings, you initiated it with the passive-aggressive pet names. Sweetie? LOL. Grow up. I am arguing facts. I am arguing based on what is published in academic journals (ie Council on Foreign Relations) to counter your extremist blogs. You want to blame the Marikana Massacre on Nelson Mandela? Seriously? You are trying to completely discredit his efforts to promote nonracial democracy and racial reconciliation, which is severely misguided, on the failures of his successors. I and the others advocating his legacy agree he is not perfect and handled some things poorly, but he had shaped South Africa to be free of repression and to be a place where human rights are guaranteed by law. As far as unemployment in South Africa, yes, it is not good, but don't cherry-pick statistics because you're missing out on the whole picture. They are regarded as an emerging market by experts (not just message board members) because they are making progress and show signs of growth. They are chosen to become the bridge for the rest of the world with Africa. I should have but you are right that I do not know much of her. I was born in 1994, only a few years after her reign.

As history proves, this is the most likely COA.

Why can't we have both? My money's on pilot force shaping followed by pilot stop loss.

You're still alive. Bullet-proof theory proven!

Because mustache regs were EXACTLY what Gen Welsh was talking about...

Not sure where this is from, but good lord, I almost choked on my beer laughing. Probably the best 7 second silent summary of US foreign policy that I've ever seen.

Actually consumer spending has been more steady than AGI:

Put it all on red.

Watch it. 17% growth this year on my IRA, 10% on TSP due to his advice. Simple math on OCare, it is terrible, it will fail.

I normally would agree with this, but the picture - while not taken out of context - did not have the full context of what was going on. The atmosphere at this event wasn't like most of us would picture a memorial. From NBC Nightly News: Selfie at a funeral: head-up-ass level of ignorance and tackiness Selfie at a celebration of somebody's life: not that big of a deal

::opens can of worms:: I haven't watched the Ramsey video on the ACA, however anyone who thinks Ramsey is a wizard when it comes to simple math is seriously fooling themselves. His advice on the kind of returns you can expect on retirement savings and his logic behind why you shouldn't use credit cards is enough to convince me his grasp of basic economics math is not the greatest. Totally off-topic and ready for incoming spears from Ramsey-lovers but it had to be said.

Stop arguing feelings and attacking the source and use facts, sweetie. What was the unemployment rate for South Africa in 1993 compared to the end of 1999/2000? What is it today? What was the average per capita income when he took office vs 2000? What is necklacing, and who was Winnie Mandela? What was Mandela's relationship to the ANC? What was the Marikana Massacre? Was the quality of life improved for all South Africans? Even white South Africans?

OK, it was Buddy Spike; but I was trying to help you out as your side isn't doing too well... And you should have mentioned the Iron Lady, but I guess since you probably weren't even born yet you have no memory of her awesomeness!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaRoNFBNcY Heard this at the BX the other day. Skip to 1:30.

While attending the funeral for someone who was on the U.S. Terror Watch List until 2008, POTUS found time to shake hands with Raul Castro and take some Selfie's during the service.

Selfies are taken every time I fly.... That's not against the regs is it? Again though, Mandela's funeral wasn't a typical funeral in the sense we think of it but a celebration of his life and the South African people made it a celebration...

So the American President can't be a normal person when at a celebration and out in public? I say bull-shit on that one... I think seeing the President like that makes him more human and genuine and I don't mind it at all....