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If they did this, with guaranteed O-5 (unless there are major negative indicators), no non-flying deployments, no additional duties, and $50k yr bonus, I'd stay in. So I won't be staying in.

Because we should be like foreign militaries......never.

Kinda late for this idea. How long have we been saying do something like this and get laughed at? Oh and it's still up to Lt Gen Grosso to help approve this so that's a nope not going to happen. Let's just keep passing over our pilots and keep on pulling harder back on the stick as the pilot manning continues to increase the graveyard spiral that we are currently in.

I submitted this and still made it. I guess the standards have lowered.

CBP offers a good alternative to military aviators who do not want to spend a career in the airlines, flying freight, HEMS, Oil and Gas, contract work, etc. I know a few guys in the agency who grew tired of the airlines after 5-6 years. I also know former AIA’s who left CBP for the airlines. It is a great way to keep your active duty military years if you plan on separating or “double dipping” your years if you plan on staying in the Guard. The job can be exciting and offers a great amount of diversity. It all depends on location, but you have the ability to fly multiple FW or RW platforms. It is a heavy RW agency (why we hired a lot of dual and RW pilots), but we now hire dual, RW, or FW pilots. We have also begun sending FW only guys to rotary wing initial. No guarantees, but I know of three or four this year. Not sure of what your expectation is for aviation pay, but I have been with AMO for 8-years and grossed $135,000 this year. It is not active duty military pay, but it does not come with the commitments of active duty. I am home 95% of the year, I rarely work more than 8-hours a workday, and I leave every aspect of my job at the base. GS10 or GS11 non-competitive to GS13 is standard for Federal Law Enforcement (LEO) Agents. Law enforcement agents are considered special population and are entitled to following compensation: - An additional 25% for LEAP (Already discussed) - Retirement calculated at 1.7% of high-3, 34% after 20-years. Most federal technicians get 1% a year. - Retirement is obtained after 20-years and over the age of 50 or 25-years at any age https://www.opm.gov/about-us/budget-performance/strategic-plans/retirement-strategic-plan.pdf) - Our TSP matches at 5% - We can withdrawal our TSP penalty free (under 62 years) after retiring https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2146) - Servicemembers are entitled to 120-hours (3-weeks) of military leave to complete military obligations. 3-weeks of double dipping pay. Retiring from CBP and DOD entitles you to a great defined benefits retirement. Example: An AIA served 13-years AD and completed another 10-years in the Guard. After 20-years with CBP, they retire at 57 with a DOD retirement as an O-4 (for example) and a GS13 retirement calculated at 47% of their high three. (47% is calculated at 34% for 20-years with CBP and 13% DOD buyback.) Here are the dollar amounts in today’s dollar; 55-60yrs old: $65,000 from CBP (annuity plus Social Security Supplement). 60-62yrs old: approx. $65,000 from CBP and approx.. $36,000 from DOD. Older than 62: $50,000 from CBP, $36,000 from DOD and Social Security. (If it’s still available?) Locations: Initially, locations suck if you are not from the SW border. If you can live in a “bad” location for 3-years, who cares? I have a plenty of applicants who want to live in McAllen, Yuma, Puerto Rico, etc. We have good locations also: San Diego, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Great Lakes, Hammond, Etc. (See map) One of our primary missions is interdicting illegal personnel and cargo crossing the US Border, these locations permit us to accomplish this mission. Leadership and culture: Quite a few issues over the years, but it is getting better. It is very dependent on location. If you have any interest, let me know and I will get you in touch with someone at a particular location. Culture, same thing. It is all about local level leadership. I have been at two locations, one sucked and one was great. AMO Operation Location Maps.pdf

Not just the money. There's a lot of info out there on a terrible culture problem in CBP Air that's just as bad if not worse than DOD Aviation right now. Cool mission with some badass opportunities, but you're absolutely right. They're going to need to fix their pay, locations, and culture if they want any shot at drawing dudes away from the airlines or even full time ARC jobs. If they hadn't gone full retard for 8 years hiring rotary wing or dual-rated only, they might not be in this mess. Although in all fairness to the money argument, you need to add LEAP in that comparison. It's still not even close.

Glad to see MOB's jet get the Syrian flag on it. I figured someone with rank my find it "offensive", and stop that from happening.

Agreed, dirt is the way to go. I started with a wooden backstop (old, cut-up powerlines) and abandoned the project. It splintered like crazy, making it difficult to maintain and probably leading to ricochets down the road. I ended up stacking used tires and filling them with dirt. I didn't have access to a front-end loader, or I would have done a huge dirt berm. Those tires, once filled with dirt, have held up like a champ. Stack the thicker-tread tires towards the bottom, and be sure to fill the sidewalls as much as you can for structural support. Any tire store should be happy to be rid of their garbage. Go to a small local shop where all the jacked-up F250s get their tires and you're sure to find some beefy tread left. I stacked mine about 8ft tall, and past that I saw the potential for the tires to collapse under the weight. I drove a T-post into the ground before I started, so it would sit in the middle of each stack of tires and help support the weight. I stacked a front row of 8 tires, then staggered 7 tires behind them to fill the 'gaps' left in the front row. All told, I can shoot anywhere into that wall and have at least 2.5ft and about 2 layers of tire tread. In most places, it's about 4-5" of dirt and 4 layers of tread. I tested a 308 and recovered the bullet; it only made it about 2ft into dirt. The only weakness is slower bird shot loads, specifically shotshell loads from a revolver. They don't have enough energy to punch through the tires, so they bounce all over the place. 2rds of that pelting my shins and I gave up. Even the puny 20gr Aguila 22LR (480ish fps muzzle velocity) punch into the tread enough to stop and not ricochet, so I think it's just shotshells as an issue. I've moved a couple tires and found most pistol rounds just 6-9" into the dirt. As a bonus, you can drive screws directly into the tires to hang clay pigeons, steel targets, or old pallets from Home Depot to serve as a stable platform for paper targets. If you have a larger steel gong, wedge a couple pieces of rebar horizontally in between a couple tires as a hangar.

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My first question: what exact problem are you trying to solve? Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network Forums