TMFan

The effect is exactly the same. It's logic like this that allowed it to pass the House and Senate. Imagine the outcry if the proposal had been to lower the payments to 40% or 45% from 50% for 20 years served. Essentially, that is what has happened, yet few seemed to have batted an eye. The fact that we've been expecting it doesn't make it right. This was, no doubt, the first of many kicks in the nuts, but if we don't put up a fight, it will only embolden Congress and the administration to try it again sooner and take bigger cuts.

I work on a staff with a bunch of retirees and FGOs working their way towards retirement. What shocked me was how little most of them knew about the bill. After I explained how much of a bite it would take out of their retirement checks, few seemed to care much--certainly not enough to write to their senators. It seemed to get about the same amount of attention as another proposed Tricare copay increase. Anyone else experience the same in the office? For those of you who were indifferent enough not to write to your Congressmen, can I ask why? Was it a feeling of inevitability? Is it just not a big deal to you? Seriously trying to understand.

It seems most of us are willing to do our share to come up with savings during these tight fiscal times. However, if each retiree is absorbing tens of thousands of dollars of these cuts (over $100K for a retired O-5), we are making a sacrifice wildly disproportionate to our numbers in the US population. Skitzo suggests cutting EITC by $500. Hell, even the $20 suggested by the Chief will get us to the same place. Even though this one may inevitably pass, if we allow it to do so silently, it will only hasten further cuts. Make Congress and the President work for this. MOAA has it set up to quickly and easily be able to send a note to your senators: https://www.capwiz.com/moaa/issues/alert/?alertid=63026006 If you're a retiree or planning to retire from the military and do not take a few minutes to act on this, you are wrong.

Tricare Europe will review what needed specialists are documented on the 1466 and match that against what military and civilian providers are available in the local area (and waiting times to get appointments with them). It may be worth trying to convince the doc writing the 1466 to go easy on frequency of visits required. It could mean the difference between getting the assignment and not getting it.

This is true. However, it seems that snuggie was going out of his way to get enrolled. Depending on how far down that road he has gone, I assume there might still be time to back out. Maybe the issues his wife was having seem to have subsided—or at least that is what she could tell the military med folks.

How badly do you want to go to Ramstein? Might want to rethink enrolling, if it isn't too late. I've seen a lot of folks get screwed out of overseas assignments because the Tricare Europe people are worthless and the medical community is risk averse to the absolute extreme. Right now, the first priority for medical resources in the KMC are the medevac'd soldiers returning from Afghanistan--as it should be. Tricare seems to be very slow to qualify additional specialists in the area. If Tricare makes the ruling that there aren't enough openings with the right specialists for your wife, they'll recommend that your wife be denied command sponsorship and the medical community will happily deny it. Then, you'll be offered a new assignment to a location that the medical community deems has the resources your wife needs. You might want to think about whether your financial situation in Germany (with COLA) would allow you to pay out of pocket for whatever treatment your wife is going to need and reconsider EFMP all together.

A review of the Australia chapter in the FCG does indicate that they are strict WRT color of passort. Sorry on the bad advice. Good on Vertigo and ThreeHoler for keeping him straight. I would still reach out to the DAO to see if there's anything that can be done. The US and Australian embassies in Kabul also might be helpful.

Seems unlikely. This trip is quasi official and I would think that the Aussies would be understanding that this is the passport that he deployed with. Again, USDAO could give the straight scoop and might even grease the skids in advance--especially given the nature of the trip.

Best thing to do if you want to do this on the up and up is check with the USDAO in Australia. Contact info should be in the FCG. Chances are they'll be ok with it. Or you could just do it without asking and ask for forgiveness later in the very remote chance that someone notices and cares. Before you go this route, I'd recommend checking Australia's visa rules. Many countries that do not require an advance visa in a tourist passport DO require it for entry with an official or dip passport. Good luck!

For some reason, these guys do not inspire much confidence: https://www.af.mil/shared/widgets/popup.asp?url=https://www.af.mil/shared/xml/rssVideo.asp?mrsstype=2&id=1&cid=3&pos=5

So even if an agreement IS reached in time, such an agreement could still include huge additional defense cuts.

Has anyone had personal experience having a single line item from non-temporary storage delivered to a consecutive NTS-authorized location? I currently have some of my stuff in NTS and will be PCSing to another NTS-authorized location, but want one line item from my storage inventory delivered to my next location. I don't know if this is authorized and/or funded. Would like to hear from someone who has tried or been successful doing the same thing. Thanks.

Some info was released today on the rescue of the WSO: Full article at https://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/31/libya.war/index.html?hpt=T1#

The stench of the BS is worse than that wafting from JM herself

The FBI couldn't "poke holes" in her story because they would have to get a team in country to do some investigating. Anyone really think that would be a good thing for already tense relations with the Kyrgyz? I am sure the result of the investigation was "inconclusive."

go away

"Yeah, you wish you could work as hard as I do"

Who runs the reflective belt site on facebook? That might be another good forum to mobilize against TIB.

Done. Took me about 5 minutes.

Someone needs to get a video of "The Ginger" in action and post here

UFB. "Take your sunglasses off." Sounds like an order. I can't believe the balls that these airmen have. I think that they must be getting direction from their leadership that they are OBLIGED to be barking this s***. I can't fathom that they would come up with that on their own.

https://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/sauna-world-championships-turn-fatal?GT1=39002 A Russian man trying to win the Sauna World Championships died after collapsing with severe burns in the final stage of an event that required contestants to sit in a 230-degree (110 Celsius) room as water was tossed onto a searing stove, officials and witnesses said. Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy was pronounced dead late Saturday after he collapsed in the sauna alongside reigning champion Timo Kaukonen of Finland. Medical workers pulled both men out of the sauna and administered first aid in front of nearly 1,000 spectators in the southern Finnish town of Heinola. TRAGIC SPORTS DEATHS Sports has lost many athletes way too soon. We list a few.Both were shaking and bleeding from what appeared to be severe burns, said Hakon Eikesdal, a photographer with the Norwegian daily Dagbladet. Kaukonen was hospitalized in stable condition Sunday, contest spokesman Ossi Arvela said. The annual contest, which had over 130 participants from 15 countries, had been held since 1999. It will never be held again, Arvela said. Half a liter (a pint) of water is added to the stove every 30 seconds and the last person to remain at the sauna is the winner. There was no prize other than "some small things" Arvela said. He declined to provide details. Arvela said Kaukonen - the defending world champion - had refused to leave the sauna despite appearing sick. Sauna bathing is a popular past-time in Finland, which has an estimated 1.6 million saunas for a population of 5 million. Temperatures are normally kept around 158 to 176 degrees (70 -80 degrees Celsius). "I know this is very hard to understand to people outside Finland who are not familiar with the sauna habit," Arvela said. "It is not so unusual to have 110 degrees in a sauna. A lot of competitors before have sat in higher temperatures than that." Arvala said all rules in Saturday's competition were followed and the temperatures and times were similar to those in previous years. He said police are investigating the death.

Jughead, can you clarify that you have seen first-hand an individual with a DLPT score on the books get non-vol'd for something? From what I have seen of the way the Air Force (mis)manages these programs, it often puts an individual through a year or more of language training instead of tapping someone that already has the proficiency. I know many people that have high DLPT scores in high demand languages (including Arabic) that often get volunteer solicitations, but have never been forced into anything.

If memory serves me correctly, you don't really need the gas receipts. You'll get reimbursed for mileage, no matter what you paid for gas. This is independent of the DITY. As for the DITY, you will pay taxes on the PROFIT made, meaning the difference between what the USAF pays for the DITY and your expenses (gas, etc). In the remote chance that the IRS audits your taxes, the receipts would be useful. I've never had an IRS audit, but I suspect that they don't assume you moved without reasonable gas expenses. Your banking account statements would probably be sufficient.

Am I the only one that finds it odd that two dudes were vacationing together?