Leaderboard

//wall of text alert// No. DP allocations for IPZ/APZ and BPZ are different. A DP given IPZ traditionally gives you your 99% chance of getting picked up. A DP given APZ is rare, comes from the SR's allocation of IPZ DPs, and 50+% of the time, gives a guy a 99% chance of getting picked up. A DP given BPZ is also rare, but not as rare as APZ. I'd say they have a >50% success rate. AFPC keeps stats on all boards, and several MAJCOMs (A1) sites will have more specific demographics. Example (very simplified) cohort: The AF has 1378 LAF majors (all zones) eligible for P0515B (promotion board, to O5, CY'15, second officer promotion board of the year). 800 BPZ, 200 APZ, and 378 IPZ. Promotion "opportunity" is 85%. So there are 321 promotions to be had (378x.85=321) A Wing has 70 of the 1378 majors. Of the 70: 40 are 2 or 1 year BPZ 15 are IPZ 15 are APZ (1, 2, 3+ APZ, continued) The Wg/CC is the Senior Rater (SR). For this board only, the DP allocation rate is 25% I/APZ (378x.25=95 DPs) 10% BPZ. (800 x .1=80 DPs). So, our SR can give 3.75 DPs to I/APZ records (15 IPZ x 25% = 3.75) The SR will allocate 3 DPs to the 3 "best" I/APZ records (as he/she decides), and take the .75 DP to the MLR. The SR can award up to 4 DPs (10% of 40=4) to the top BPZ records. At the MLR, all the SRs in the MAJCOM (usually, wing/CCs, staff directors, etc) toss their "leftover" DP fractions together to create whole DPs. Our guy put in .75, all the others put in their leftovers, and after adding them all up, the MLR can award 4 more I/APZ DPs. Now, the SR (typically) shows all the other SRs the DP records he awarded on his own, then competes his next-best record for one of the MLRs DPs. Our guy has good records, so he wins 2 more DPs from the MLR (5 total). After the MLR, our SR's rack-n-stack looks like this: BPZ. IPZ. APZ 1 DP. 1-4 DP. 1 DP 2 DP. 5-14 P. 2-14 P 3 P.* 15 DNP 15 DNP 4-38: P 39-40: DNP** * this guy is eligible for DP, but SR doesn't think the record supports a DP. **(All DNPs are guys with referral OPRs, Art15s, prisoners, etc) Assuming the rest of the AF did it nearly the same way, most SRs lists will look very similar. At the actual board, the 1378 records are randomly assigned to maybe six panels, each panel comprised of 5 LAF Colonels. So each panel scores ~222 records, scoring each one between a 6.0-10.0 scale, in .5 increments. If any 2 or more Colonels scores differ more than 1.5, the record is flagged and the "split" is discussed and resolved. Your record's board score is the sum of the 5 scores from each Colonel. You got a P, and your record got: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 7.5. 7.0. 7.0. 7.5. 8.0 =. 37.0 The best record in the board got a 50.0. The 1378th record got 30.0. The list looks like this: 1 50 2 49.5 3 49.0 4-79: 48.5-46 80-121: 45.5-42 122-176: 42-40 177-289: 39.5-38 290-316: 37.5-36 317-321: 35.5 322-399: 35-34.5 400-1378: 34-30 So, since there are 321 promotions available, everyone who scored 35.5 or more gets put in the initial promotion list. As a quality check, all the records with scores between 35 and 36 are rescored and a final top 321 list is built. Record #322 now gets rescored, if that record is fully qualified for promotion, then the process is complete (#322 does not get promoted, but his being fully qualified ensures everyone who DOES get promoted is fully qualified). In the end, our fake board promoted the full 85% (321), with 275 IPZ, 35 BPZ, and 11 APZ. There were 800 BPZ, 80 BPZ DPs, and 35 promoted. There were 378 IPZ, 83 DPs (22% of the 25% allocation rate), and 275 promoted. There were 200 APZ, 12 DPs (3% of the 25% DP allocation rate), and 11 promoted. Congrats to all my fake Lt Col selects. Your board #s will vary, but this illustration is typical. Check your records (PRDA) , check your SURF (AMS) and DQHB (vMPF) often, and see your CSS to correct errors...and keep your ADP, VRED, and SGLI updated at least annually. And not least: talk to your Sq commanders, talk to your group commanders, find a mentor. Ask questions, ask for frank feedback. And...don't suck. Good luck. ETA: for the purists out there: yes, this is oversimplified, yes, I left out some stuff. This was intended only as "telling-time", not how to build a watch.

The class is aware of this thread and have been reading it to prepare.

If we're going to criticize others, we'd better be able to take criticism as well as criticize ourselves just as well. Plenty of assclownery to go around for everyone. AF is no exception. If the AF was an exception, then 85% of the gripe threads on this forum section would have to disappear........

The only young E's (E-1 to E-4) I have ever heard of needing to get food stamps were those who were married (wife probably didn't work) and have kids. But when you think about it, young E's get paid more than the typical college student working a part time job/getting loan or financial aid money (that isn't going to tuition/books)...and when I went to college, I never had to go on welfare to be fed and had a little money left over to clothe myself and drink some cheap beer. Young E's are housed (pretty well actually...better than I was as a college kid), are fed, are given free education if they want it, don't pay a dime for health insurance, and can actually save a little monry if they plan well. If I got married when I was 19, had two kids and a wife who didn't work, all by the age of 22-23 when I was still in college, then yeah, I probably would have had financial problems/could meet the requirements for welfare...but...wait for it...I didn't. And that wasn't by accident. Hell, I didn't feel I was financially or emotionally/mature ready to get married and have kids even before I was a Captain! If you can't afford to get married/have kids then you probably shouldn't. Last I checked, birth control is now free. So just because young E's qualify for welfare doesn't mean they're not being paid enough. If they do it right, they can easily be ahead of their peers who went to college and graduated after 5 years and are still looking for a job--and I've seen plenty of awesome young E's who have done it. Now I definitely believe our NCO's are underpaid because of the expertise that they hold, their leadership and management skills, their strong commitment and job performance, etc...at least the good ones, that is. And fortunately I would say I've definitely had the pleasure of serving with more good ones than bad ones. But even then, if you're an E-5 and think you should be paid enough to support a stay at home wife with 3 kids (while also have their flat screens, iphone, cable, etc) then I would say that NCO didn't plan well. Grant it, shit happens in life that people can't always anticipate, but if everybody practiced self responsibility, then this would just be the exception and further from the norm, especially in the military. Just my $.02

Also the WHMO will be intimately involved. Look at the now-cancelled VH-71 program for evidence of requirements creep even more egregious than the F-35.

No thanks.

Try this article, which links to mypers and even more stats... (CAC login) https://www.afpc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123416000 I know far more dudes who got DPs BTZ and got skunked than I do that got promoted. Chuck

They probably didn't, but they were enormous dickhead prima donnas. I get Lawman's point - they hindered mission accomplishment all while saying, "fuck off, we're above you" to all the Army bros. I have many reasons for joining the AF instead of the Army, but I think you can only go so far with the "well you made your choice" when it comes to something like this.

Approved traditional PC today, 4 weeks at AFPC, 3 weeks SAF/PC. Intent to hire letter, recommend approval from CC, Wing/CC, and functional. Late rate '03 year group... waived 3 years 1 month of UPT commitment as of my separation date in June. B-1 FTU instructor pilot, going to new B-1 reserve unit.

biggest UPT mistake? Not dumping my girlfriend (ex wife now) before going...Now all the graduation pictures are ruined for me. She wasn't even hot, god damn it.

Going active duty instead of direct to the guard/reserve.