Leaderboard

Team Applicants / Selectees:UPDATES....1. If you don't have the address for the UFT Board Webpage.... here it is. UFT Board (CAC required). Our intent is to push as much information to you all through that website to keep you all updated... transparency is our biggest goal.2. Selects: This year we selected 60 pilots, 10 RPA pilots, 10 CSOs (with 5 more seats to fill) and 6 ABMs (with 9 more seats to fill). Yes, we are currently working options right now for folks that if folks didn't get selected for anything then perhaps offering CSO or ABM. We still have a LOT of needs as of right now. So if you ONLY applied for Pilot and want to consider CSO or ABM, give us a call and we will see how things shake out; can't guarantee anything though.3. Be patient with us... it is me (Maj Travis "Pred" Halleman) and Capt Devin "Drag" Stone who are doing all the work right now for the board with twice the number of selects than last year. If you have ANY questions, feel free to drop us an email or call. Just be patient for a response... we are working assignments and training as we speak.4. Break Downs: Tuesday we are going to load this years PPL/PCSM average stats to the website. Yes, due to the larger pick up of folks, the PCSM averages have dropped a little. Stand by and please check out the website for updates.5. RPAs: We had 3 people apply and all got selected.6. Next Year: Not sure on how many slots at this time. What I can tell you this that there is a LOT of discussion on INCREASING rated production. Not sure if this will continue but as I have been telling people this year... apply. It never hurts.7. We are loading training RIPs and Assignments here soon. We are working with assignment teams and people to ensure we get things right for individuals, their families, and the needs of the Air Force.8. WE are also looking for FEEDBACK from the field. What worked and what didn't work? What do we need to approve for next year? I will let you know that we are going to REATTACK many of the processes... from my point of view, we can improve things for you.9. I have a vested interest in this process.... I was a medical officer in 2008 who applied for UFT and got a Nav spot. Yes, I didn't become a pilot but I became a B-52 EW and made a name for myself without the radiator wings. So I will always challenge folks to consider the other wings besides the Pilot wings.What other questions?--Pred

What do you guys think about the new retirement system? BRS seems like it's actually a pretty good deal. I'm in that window where you can decide to go with the legacy 50%/top 3 or the BRS 40%/top 3 + matching. I'm an 09' guy, so if I switch I will have missed on 8 years of matching, which sucks. However, it seems like it makes sense to switch if you're not decided on whether to say in for 20 or not. I like the idea of the military paying me retirement now and giving me control of where I put the money. If you are in that group that gets a choice, what are you planning on doing?

Because that gives way too much bargaining power to the bonus taker. Don't want to do a 365? Great 7-day opt. Don't like those pcs orders? No big deal. They can't force you. The bonus is not to help you out, it's to make sure you are a slave until retirement or twice passed over or RIF, whichever works out best for the Air Force. Don't get me wrong a year to year would be perfect for those guys who are planning on staying until a better opportunity comes along, I just don't see the AF giving away that much power. My assumption on how this would play out would be at the end of your 10 year everyone would put out airlines apps, those that got hired by their end of ADSC would separate and go to their new job, everyone else signs 1-year bonus and updates their availability date 1 year later and so on. Perfect safety net for those planning to get out but don't want to slum it at a regional or go unemployed... not as good for a service that relies on ADSC to force people to do stuff that they would up and quit at any other job. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

Dream. On.

I know it's been a few months, but this video shows why these are pretty much useless (may required a Facebook account to watch)...

If MX is struggling, 7 days/week of flying doesn't always mean that all the IPs are working 7 days. If only 80% of the jets you need can be available on any given day, then you gotta spread the flying into the weekend to stay on timeline. That would mean that smart leadership (not a given in today's USAF, I know) would rotate the bodies to ensure that IPs are getting days off during the week. Still, UPT manning "overhead" (like RSU controllers, Ops Supervisors, SOFs, etc) still have to be at work, so it's pretty damn inefficient from a manpower perspective.

17-07 4 x F-15E WSO 3 x B-52 WSO 1 x B-52 EWO 2 x B-1 WSO 1 x AC-130W CSO Cannon 1 x EC-130 Nav 1 x EC-130 EWO 2 x JSTARS Nav 1 x RC-135 EWO 2 x U-28 CSO Cannon 1 x C-130 Nav Montana ANG 1 x C-130 Nav Missouri ANG

Why would the AF ever offer a bonus without an ADSC? You think that money should come with no strings attached? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

False. Plenty of smokin chicas right across the river. Gotta know Spanish, tho, bc they don't habla. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought Laughlin was pretty damn close to an exchange tour...flying, drinking, but no women!.

Good on ya for saving as much as possible, however you must have had a ton of cash to throw around if you can casually shift from 5% all the way up to the IRS limit of $18K annually. Unless you're making $360K per year...if so then well played! This article is excellent at explaining the pluses and minuses of Roth (or after-tax) investing vs traditional retirement investing. BL: If you're not saving the extra money you have in your pocket due to a lower tax bill now, you're falling behind vs where you'd be choosing Roth. If you put the money you realize in tax savings into another savings/investment vehicle in order to foot your long-term tax bill, then you'll come out ahead. But very, very few people do that, and thus Roth is a good crutch (i.e. pay your taxes now, and whatever money you have on the backend is yours and yours alone). Unless you know for a fact you'll be hanging with CH and the ladyboys in Thailand with a dramatically lower tax rate. My working assumption is that for most youngish, smart, hard-working, high-earning people, their future tax rates are likely to be higher rather than lower. Personally, I'd rather pay my taxes now and do my future budgeting without having to worry about unknowable tax rates biting a piece out of my pie. Cavet: if you're even having these types of conversation you're in like the top 6-9% of investors out there, so don't sweat it too much either way. It's like working out, you don't need the perfect program to be better than all the fat slobs out there, just go out and do something and you're already way ahead.

You shouldn't call your Mom a ladyboy.

You asked so, yeah, you're out of line here. Comm officers don't do the same work (danger/personal risk//length/duration/intensity of training) but they also don't get flight pay or the bonus opportunities you have. Does current flight pay/bonus structure cover the value difference of the two jobs? No, I don't think so. But I also don't feel the need to undercut the value position of a career field that I think is dangerously undervalued in terms of emerging threat horizon either. Our position stands on its own merits. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network Forums

I just don't think it's going to work with the flying public anytime soon. IMO we are generations away from people willingly climbing aboard a drone, in a nasty rainstorm, to fly across the ocean at night with no humans driving from the front. I also think it'll take all-new design aircraft before it's feasible...too much retrofit required on the existing fleets, fleets which will be around a long time. There are other significant issues to overcome but I think human nature will be a huge obstacle for a long time.

TK nailed it. AFRC does and can hire independently. The BUFF/BOne guys are good/recent examples of this. Most of your average heavy units in AFRC will direct you towards an "Officer Accessions Recruiter" in their area who helps them organize the paperwork and vet applicants. That same recruiter can prepare and send you forth for the unsponsored board if you so choose. So, I'd call that area recruiter... or find a number for the Ops desk and go that route.

Someone is welcome to correct me, but I still think Reserves can hire just like guard units. The unsponsored board thing is a separate entity where you get picked up for a slot, fill out your dream sheet either before or during UPT and/or talk with units you want to fly for during that time, then finish UPT and accept the offer you most desire. Guard does seem more open about hiring. I think the unsponsored thing is what people do when they are more focused on getting into an airplane faster and worrying about what they fly later.

Just submitted my package to the Oregon Air National Guard to be an F-15C pilot. Wish me luck!

IMHO this covers about 69% of what most people would ever need to know: I also enjoyed Predictably Irrational by Professor Dan Ariely. I'm a big fan of behavioral economics vs rational economics...the former seems to explain the real world much better.

2! Before, I was paying $1,200/month to live in a single family home. I bought a duplex with a little leverage, now I generate enough income to pay both of my mortgages and all of my monthly bills. This! I listened to his book while driving across the U.S., and his plan is extremely basic for most of the members of this forum. However, I think his book should be read by more Americans. It provides a good base for people so springboard off of, to other financial endeavors. As a country, I think we do a TERRIBLE job of teaching our young financial intelligence and responsibility. Unless your parents teach you, where do they get educated on this? This is one of my soapbox items.