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Don't discount that China / Russia would accept a unified Korea with ties to the US, if they want an Asia with a reduced US military footprint this is one way to that reality. Status Quo is an option but it will exacerbate other problems (nuclear proliferation, ballistic missile proliferation, NK other illegal activities of synthetic narcotics, counterfeiting, etc...) and keeps us engaged in SK forever + 1 day. I'm not saying to not keep up the non-kinetic efforts we have going right now but it is time to break the ice rather than argue for the same things with the same regime as we have done for 26 years with nothing to show for it.

It took me 2 years.... no that wasn’t a typo, Years, to get paid for a 6 month TDY that built a 18k dollar balance on my GTC. This night went across 3 commanders and 2 duty stations. In the end Citi and the govt paid me no interest or any kind of compensation for penalties and interests accrued keeping above water and IG could do absolutely nothing about it. This was literally DFAS and DTS playing “Not my problem call the other guy” for 2 years because of how some F’ing shoe clerk chooses to interpret orders. Citi and the GTC places all of the burden of F ups that are entirely the fault of the bureaucracy on the shoulders of the troops we sent to schools/missions and tell them pay for it via this program. They know it routinely takes months to get people paid, but they are issuing charges and fines like these troops have the money in their pocket the whole time. In doing so citi is making billions (seriously) over the decade long period where they own the contract to facilitate and operate the GTC program. They are nothing more than a predatory lender with connections in congress every time they start to look bad.

Remember, BRS wasn’t created to benefit you. It was created to save money. If you have any inklings of going to 20 AD ( or equivalent in the guard or reserve) it’s an easy decision.

Is a credit rating considered personal property? If so, ordering military personnel to contract with a private company (and put their credit rating on the line for govt expenses) raises some issues. In addition, with your credit score often being lowered for too many accounts open, it could affect their personal credit even if no issues paying it off - any personal finance gurus know the point at which this would occur?

Valid point but with 30 x GDP and twice the population it would be some version of the current SK by the sheer weight of their influence and fact that they would be bringing the North up to modernity by transfer payments. Also, I doubt China would want the new Korea to be anything close to the DPRK, they may not like a capitalist democracy with good ties to America on the border but that is a helluva lot better than a wildly unpredictable, WMD armed communist dynasty ruling millions of desperate people on your border. Probably 30 years in total to rebuild and fully change the vector of a post communist economy and after effects of 70+ years brutal dictatorship. Trillion+ $ https://www.uskoreainstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/YB07-Chapt6.pdf

You assume, of course, that reunification would look like South Korea .....

Prime has a premium ... about $600/yr for the family. But There’s no out of pocket really. But you still have to do referrals, mtf, etc. Min total cost $600 .... max total cost is $600 standard has no premium. Go anywhere, see anyone, no referrals, no permission. Pay 20% with a cap of $3k per year for the whole family. Min total is $0. Max total is $3k. No hassles. Delta gold is similar (20% ish co-pay). Costs over $650 a MONTH and the max out of pocket is $13k I think. Seems to jive with other industries in the outside world. I wouldnt expect healthcare costs to get any better either. DON’T DISMISS the health care costs associated with your retirement / 2nd job. Especially if you or your family (or potential family if may have kids someday) has any significant issues.

Well...Mississippi University for Women....

Active duty "light"? Your gouge is dated homey. We str8 up AD now. Nothing sets us apart anymore. Individual staff/non-flying Invol Mobs in AFRC now, just like regAF. If you're looking for reasons to quit this tonedeaf rudderless ship, SOS ain't it. Invol staff deployments are probably the near rock right now, at least in my corner of the ARC. Welcome to the Navy Reserves. And a big '2' on @SocialD comment regarding full time workload in the ARC right now. This shit's full stop broken, the airlines keep siphoning people away, yet the O-7s keep getting green slides on the stand up. Good thing I got that ATP before the old rules expired; I may need to quit the military and swing bitch gear for rent money earlier than planned if this bullshit keeps up. This place has lost its damn mind.

First problem is that the reserve pension won't give you 50% or 40% of your base pay, because you won't have 7200 points. You'll have somewhere around 5,000, so your pension will be around 34% or 27% of your base pay. As to your main question, you'll just have to model all of your assumptions in Excel. PV, FV, N, etc. https://www.tvmcalcs.com/index.php/calculators/excel_tvm_functions/excel_tvm_functions_page1 Don't forget to model healthcare expenses in your comparisons. Tricare at 60 is nice; make sure you have some plan between 38 and 60.

Yea, I don't know if it's location that matters some either. Family is in CA/OR/WA, so they've not taken part in the "Starve the Beast" strategy some of the other states have. Their states have taken all the Fed money, OR even threw some of it away w/ fraudulent dealing setting up the ACA website that didn't work. Don't know if that applies in your two areas of experience. It's strange, but a good balance having that side of the family. We do need some kind of reform. Having the government force me to have a transaction with a company is antithetical to freedom and our Constitution.

This thread has been extremely amusing. I'll throw my 2 cents in. Listen to what is being said here. Some of it you may agree with, some of it you may disagree with. But understand there is a lot of years of experience floating around on these forums. Grow some thicker skin and never miss an opportunity to STFU, whether it's here or in the squadron bar. You'd be surprised at the amount of good will you garner from just listening and not highlighting yourself. If you are going to rebut anything (and this goes for this forum and in life/your future flying career) be humble about it. Being an arrogant little $hit will get you no where, so work on your approach. Now when it comes to travelling, buy a vehicle and cruise the country. Hell if I could do it all over again I would have left 2-3 weeks early and gone camping all around the US on my to UPT. CA-MS is an awesome trip if done right. Take your time, avoid free ways and go see America, it's a big country with lots of amazing places and people in it. You can't take money to the grave, but you can enjoy the hell out of life while you're young. Also, good luck trying to pick up any girl, anywhere with some lame beater you got off the lemon lot.

Generally we (military) have a very narrow viewpoint into what a lot of other citizens feel about certain things. This is further reinforced with choice of news source, and social media's echo chamber. HOw many people do you know (while active) that had legit non-service related disabilities? Some of us will, but our culture/environment isn't set up to put us in contact with individuals like that for the majority of 20-40+. I've married into the only conservative side branch of a VERY liberal family. Got one bro-in-law who's a union organizer, and 2 bro-in-laws who are legitimate hippies (ugh). ACA is very favored by most of that side of the family. Doubly so because they have chronic, genetic diseases that would otherwise keep them in poverty (wife dealt with this) or kill them as children w/o expensive, continuous treatment. Kids that have it now are doing awesome as adults, very motivated, paying taxes, etc. Even my wife who's strongly conservative has seen how it's eased the lives of her family members. Even my family that isn't military has struggled with healthcare costs and they're all very motivated and educated. We're in a very unique bubble with how we view healthcare ("free"), doubly so when we retire.

The same Huffington Post which gave Hillary a 98% chance in winning the election? Oh ok...

Thing is, the bullets we spend so much time writing matter very little. The strat, (or lack there of) job/staff level push and school push are what count. Omitting them can't be overcome by well written bullets, or even being good your job.

My view is that they want everything from us but have very little to give in return other than the, "Thanks for all of your hard work and for what you do!" every other UTA. I get it. I know that's really all they can do, but this $hit is just not that fun anymore and noone seems to want to throw their package on the table and say, "stop using us like and expecting us to be Active Duty-light!". Everyone is so scared of pushing back. They can't do this without us. The ARC has the upper hand. I don't know why ARC leadership can understand that.