HeyWatchThis

haha well I'll be damned...had me fooled!

God bless Katy Perry

Yes I have......hence why I said ALSO changing PME at AU......but thanks for the re-hack on BMT

It would also help to nip the mindset that everyone is equal (IE a warrior) in the bud by overhauling PME. Ensure the courses/mindset being taught starting at Basic/commissioning sources reflects that of "if you aren't shooting you are still important but bottom line you exist to support the guy/gals who do shoot". Make sure it's presented in a way that they can take pride in what they do but don't convince them from day one that their spreadsheet abilities are akin to putting a bomb on target. Then overhaul the abortion of a process(s) that they teach at AU PME to reflect the same. I honestly believe that is one of the central locations that bread this type of thinking.....

""Stop-loss is not a part of the Air Force's retention strategy, as we expect the monetary and non-monetary tools we have implemented will attract and retain a mission-ready force," Grosso said." Did I miss these "monetary and non-monetary tools" that they implemented?

What school house? I'm heading off to one Saturday and want to make sure there isn't some extra hurdles I might be facing....

I apologize my google-fu skills suck on my phone and my work blocks from posting here... What's the latest on per-diem if staying off base? Are they still reducing per-diem to 75% if your orders are 31 days+? Location is Altus of it matters...

Are you even at UPT yet?......bold move.....funny.....but bold

We have run into the same retention issue. The ART bonus SF50's were just processed and hitting paychecks this next round but 25% for one year is peanuts vs what a 2nd year airline dudes get. Couple months ago an email from AFRC DO was sent out promising 1.7% FERS multiplier and locality pay separated from the 30% "specialty pay" along with a few other longer term time items that would require legislative change. Those first two items were supposedly approved by AFRC, sent to OPM, and included in the 2017 NDAA..... That email was sent out back in Sept or Oct. It's been radio silence since on everything other than the one time bonus. **rumor warning** Nice little nugget that was dropped ealrier this week is AFRC is considering offering 1-3 yr AGR spots to ARTs who recently quit to go airline. This is so AFRC can "retain the corporate knowledge" of their pilots due to the mass exodus they are seeing across the board. The extra kick in the junk is that current ARTs will NOT be allowed to take the AGR orders. So, your going to guarantee me Major pay for 3 yrs while I build seniority at my airline? I wasn't considering airline but if they play that game that would push me out and practically every other ART other than your lifers........especially since any real talk of PERMANENTLY raising our salaries has stalled and this "on a yearly basis" BS seems to satisfy leadership for now...

Transgender Airmen Can Now Seek Temporary Exemptions https://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/10/17/transgender-airmen-now-seek-temporary-exemptions.html " Transgender airmen undergoing cross-sex hormone treatment may request an exemption from taking the physical fitness assessment, or PT test, "during their period of transition, prior to a gender marker change in the MilPDS," according to the memo. " Wasn't sure if this was a WTF qualifier but I WTF'd when I read it.... What amazes me (not really) is the speed that these legislative/AFI changes happen vs the response for pilot retention.....

What he said...... GTFO of that AD fun sponge asap...

AFRC 3 star just sent out an email updated (correcting) the email I mentioned yesterday that went out last week to all the OG/CC's. Supposedly the 30% SSR + locality special pay table has been approved by AFRC and is at the OPM level. Bonus is a possibility. The two above will supposedly happen FY17...longer term below: The FERs retirement multiplier will supposedly go from 1% to 1.7%. Would require legislative change but the email mentioned the idea of ARTs gaining access to TRICARE Select.. I'll believe it when it's actually in my LES but the steps above MIGHT prevent a couple dudes from switching....another guy got the call from Delta today...

Just got an update email from our OG/CC last week saying none of that is near the horizon. They are blaming it on 2010 sequestration level freezes, etc... In "unrelated" news....2 more dudes (ARTs) got their phone calls last week...one from Delta the other FedEx.... I'm sure leadership will respond just in time to realize they had a crisis a year ago...

So I'm running into a bit of an issue at work. I'm a GS employee for USAF (not an ART) and I'm now being told that if I want to do reserve work and not use Mil Leave (LM) then I have to either burn Annual Leave or go on LWOP (Civilian). I've been coding my leave time as KG - Military Furlough because that is the only other military code besides LM in the ATAAPS system and the only code that will then utilize LWOP-US. Primary reason I am concerned is if I use LWOP vs LWOP-US (aka Military LWOP) it starts to negatively impact my benefits, step increases, etc because I will be coded in the civilian system as Leave Without Pay...no military designator on there... All the ARTs in my squadron and all the other IMAs and Reservists across the base that I have reached out to are using KG once they are out of LM so I'm a little confused when my time keeper all of a sudden comes back and says I'm not allowed to use KG.... Anybody have any insight into this?

Mil Leave should be coded as "kg" in the leave system. That's the code that allows you to continue to accrue retirement, seniority, etc My recent step promotion was automatic and that was after being on mil leave for 2+yrs. Also just an FYI, you can carry forward up to 120 hrs of mil leave a year. Example: I was hired in August 2012. I didn't file the paperwork to start my mil leave until October. Mil leave re-ups every fiscal year so I was able to go back and get 120 hrs from when I worked August/Sept of FYI AND get 120 hrs for FY13 in October

We had an E9 give a newly hired PJ (for a UPT slot) a hard time for wearing his beret. He didn't have any new uniforms yet so he wore his bag with beret and the E9 lost her lunch over it and gave him all kinds of crap. She even went so far as to look up his "pilot trainee" afsc and point out to him that he was "no longer" a PJ AFSC so he wasn't authorized to wear his uniform. Needless to say when the squadron found out about it business was taken care of.....thankfully

Had this happen to a fellow student in my flight.....she was the first to hook out of 38's at our base in over two years supposedly (last year)....

If you go to the Oregon District area there are a handful of new brewery's that just opened up that aren't UD/Hipsters. Check out Warped Wing Brewery, Toxic Brew, and 5th Street Brew Pub. You can also grab really good food down in that area from Southpark Tavern which serves a local pizza place's pizza along with great wings and an awesome beer selection (FYI none of those places have a cover charge while places in the actual Oregon district do) In Beavercreek, right outside Area B's (where the medical stuff is at) you can check out Kings Table..over 40 draft beers and their chicken fingers with signature hot sauce (porn sauce or "side of ass" sauce) is great. If any of you golf, the Beavercreek Golf Club is a really good course. If you want to drive 20 miles north and hang out with a bunch of hippies you can check out Yellow Springs (Dave Chappel lives there)... Over by Wright State (also right outside Area B) you can check out W.O. Wrights....not a grand beer selection but on college night it can be fun...If your wiling to drive down to Cincinnati you can go to one of only 3 of the Haufbrau houses in the world (unless they expanded since the last time I checked) Those places should entertain you long enough for your TDY I would imagine.

4.5 yrs? Someone needs to tell your boyfriend to $%$& or get off the pot I just finished up UPT earlier this year, I will admit that I appreciated having my wife/kiddo there with me. If your boyfriend went to a real college (which being in the ANG I'm pretty sure he did) then he had all "experiences" that he is going to have at UPT. The only difference is that unique bond that can happen in the military from going thru the same (sorta) miserable process together. He will have a great time whether you go or not but I can speak from experience it was fantastic having someone who wasn't part of the process to come home to and just talk about anything BUT flying (FYI: be patient with him because his brain will be wired to talk about flying way. to. much.) But seriously 4.5 yrs?

Stuff was incredible. It ain't cheap (~$20) but at 11+% it gets the job done..

I was told that either way, you don't HAVE to stay on base because they can't force you to spend money at a certain location however they only have to give you the base rate if lodging is available and you still opt to stay off base while TDY?

Well, my experience at Del Rio didn't follow this. We were told you will do/buy X, Y, and Z (none of these were part of the official graduation) or you will not graduate. This came from leadership (IPs) after the club was telling us what we shall be buying from them and students trying to throw the BS flag.....

https://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20140515/CAREERS/305150044/Air-Force-offer-3-years-off-airmen-start-families Apparently the Navy has been doing this since 2012. I get that they will supposedly get "reset" in a new year group but won't it still be obvious when you have a 3 yr gap in OPR/EPRs?