pcola

Login name, But you haven't seen a full body shot yet...I heard she's really "blown up" after that photo was taken.

What are the odds of doing a C-21 tour, then an MWS tour, then an IP tour? I hear that two non-MWS tours are discouraged and that it will hurt your chances of making it beyond O-4. Any truth to that? I'm selecting in Jan and am considering a C-21, but I'd also go like to go back to Whiting to instruct at some point. Any thoughts?

I bought these Raybans (minus the puple lenses) recently specifically for flying and they are killing my temples. Guess I'm gonna have to break down and give the standard issued aviators a shot. Rocker, you can imagine how goofy they look on my narrow face.

C-17 and Murph, don't those hurt with the headset on? I can't find a pair of glasses that don't squeeze my temples under the headset. Becomes almost unbearable after about an hour and gives me a headache the rest of the day.

Hey, if you're gonna give up skydiving to keep from getting injured, you may as well give up playing basketball, football, racquetball...pretty much anything physical. I'm pretty sure that I was briefed sometime that the AF loses more production to sports injuries than any other problem. Yeah, nobody wants to get injured and risk getting washed, but don't hide in your house and get fat. If skydiving is allowed, more power to you, just dont try to cheat the system to do it. One more thing, didn't an Ensign die at Corpus last year trying to rig up some kind of parasailing device on the lake? Maybe that's why they are so uptight about the skydiving. Of course, the Navy always has gone overboard on the ORM stuff, could be totally unrelated.

I've been looking on the net for a frame for my commissioning certificate. I wan't something simple with a mat and an Air Force seal, nothing extravagant, to hang next to my diploma in the home office. I've found lots of things in the 8x10 and 11x14 sizes, but nothing for the odd shape (10x14) of the commissioning certificate. Just wondering what any of you guys did with yours (I'm guessing that a lot of you guys have them in stuffed in a drawer somewhere) and if you know anybody that makes a frame specifically for the commissioning certificate. I seem to remember getting a pamphlet when I graduated OTS that had similar products, but I can't remember the name of the company. Thanks

Dont forget about crappies. If you're in the mood for a fight, head out to crappies. Hell, the name alone makes it worth the visit.

If you lease, consider the possibility that you'll be stationed overseas within the next 2 years. Most leases cost $ to get out of, and I don't know of any that will let you take their car overseas.

Just wear the always appropriate and classy tuxedo t-shirt. That'll let them know just how much personality you have.

Damn, I missed the second phone call! WX, any way you could put the link back up for a day or two? Maybe you could email it to me, its in my profile.

JS, your funny math is omitting a few key variables. You didn't have to pay rent, utilities, retirement, or insurance out of your 24K/year. That adds at least 1000/month, and that is before taxes. So now were at 36K/year comparable civilian pay, BEFORE taxes. Add roughly 20% to that and your 24K take-home equals roughly 43K equivalent pretax civilian salary.

If you have prior service time, 48K is about right for 2LT. Base pay for O-1 over 3 is ~$3000 + ~$180 BAS + ~$125 flight pay + ~$700 BAH = $4000/mo = $48K/year.

I'll have about 100 in the T-34 when I'm done at Whiting (next week!) Thats with about 4-5 mandatory 86 rides for being out of the plane longer than 5 days prior to solo flights. You can finish in around 90 hours if the weather and schedules work in your favor (doesn't really matter if you suck or not.) We also get 34 hours in the sim.

Should my ribbons/medals from my prior enlisted Navy time be in my VMPF? They are all on my DD214, so I wear them, but none of them are listed on my vMPF. I wasn't sure if some of them that are Navy specific (like a Navy good conduct medal, or Navy achievement medal) should be listed on my Air Force records.

How many form rides do you guys have in phase II of AF UPT? Here at Whiting, we only have 9 total form rides, but we have 39 Instrument sorties, including sims. I heard that AF UPT was the other way around, tons of forms with less instruments.

Why does everybody keep calling it 100% TA? I could be wrong, but isn't it capped at $250/credit hour? I have only done a limited amount of research on this, but so far I haven't found any reputable online degree granting institutions for nearly that cheap. Most of the universities I looked at were $700-$900/hour. That's more like 35% TA which still equals a whole lot out of pocket.

Jay, do you know what kind of waiver your friend got or how he went about getting it? As I wrote, I did 3 yrs 9 mos AD enlisted before getting a 3 month early seperation. The 12 weeks of OTS did count, but that put me to 3 yrs 11 mos 27 days. I'm still 5 days short! If I could get them to count any of my 4 years of ROTC then I would be set. This waiver information could be very valuable to me. Any info you have would be great. Thanks

Does the ROTC field training time count as AD enlisted time? The reason I ask is because I am currently O-1 over 8 on the pay scale (3 yrs 9 mos AD enlisted time plus the IRR time.) However, I only have 3 yrs, 11 mos, 27 days of AD enlisted time, so I don't get the O-1E pay. As some of you know, I did ROTC and OTS. The OTS time counted towards my AD enlisted time, but the finance folks aren't willing to work with me to find out of my 5 week AFROTC field training time counts. That would be enough to put me over the top. It sucks being five days short of an additional $500/month.

The Capt. Sijan story is one of the most moving and inspiring stories I've ever heard. I suggest that everybody at least look it up on the web, if you don't read the book that CH mentioned. That was one hard core dedicated dude and when you read about his problems, all of your's will seem insignificant.

no no no, guys, you've got it all wrong. This is the diagram he was talking about, the defensive egg:

I don't know how it works in the Aero world, but it seems that daddy's view is a bit overly cynical, to put it nicely. I am an EE, and yes, I started out earning 50K right out of college. Within one year, I got a 10K raise. I left the job because it just doesn't compare with flying for the AF. If I had stayed, I would have had a few more guaranteed raises over the next few years. I was a DOD civilian employee, working on US Navy sonar equipment and had better job secruity than AD folks. The jobs are out there, you just have to know where to look and to have the right attitude. Also, my daddy is not connected either. The only leg up I had in getting my job was a few points worth of veterans preference for my enlisted time and a good interview. (Yes, my job came from a University sponsored career fair!) I didn't have a stellar GPA, nor did I have any internships or go to a big name school. However, I worked right next to guys that were University of Illinois, Purdue, Rose Hulman, and Mich St. grads. They all made the same amount that I did. I can guarantee that if I hadn't had an engineering degree, I would have still been delivering pizzas all the way up until I started OTS. That is assuming I would have got in to OTS at all. I have no doubt that my degree and my professional work experience also gave me a leg up on the OTS app. My recommendation: take daddy's opinions with a grain of salt. He's just one disgruntled guy who thinks that everybody must have the same problems as him. If you have the mental capacity, get the engineering degree. It is a good back up if flying doesn't work out. It will also give you good study habits that will help you out in UPT, and may even help you get to UPT. [ 01. February 2005, 16:06: Message edited by: pcola stud ]

The latest I heard was that the Marine "jet draft" was over, but that was just the opinion of one Marine. May or may not be true. Anyway, I personally know of one Marine that wanted helos but got jets at Meridian because his NSS was 67. That was in November.

tktk, quit whining and go for the 38. You are so friggin modest it's unbelievable. You know you have the skills and the attitude, failure is not even in the realm of possibility. I saw you drooling over that fighter video at the AF career brief. If you don't take the 38 I'll kick your ass the whole way through T-1's. There you go, decision made.

Umm, did you not read his very next paragraph? If you didn't get the sarcasm while reading the paragraph that you quoted, the very first word in the next one should have tipped you off. I believe it was "nonsense."

Here's mine: Classic. [ 23. January 2005, 17:16: Message edited by: pcola stud ]