Khruangbin33

Copy all! As a late-to-rate guy who spent a lot of his O-4 time playing catch-up and didn't spend a lot of time performing duties commensurate with his rank, I would like to add a deployed LOE to the record as proof that I'm not a POS. The favorable contents of that that LOE were never included in any documents that are meeting my board. Obligatory self-awareness follows: Technically, there is nothing unusual to account for or explain. My supervisors put what they saw fit to put in my records, and that is that. If I don't measure up and I'm not what big blue wants, then tough $h!t. But if I am justified in wanting to advocate for myself appropriately, then I think I shouldn't leave this option on the table.

Bump regarding Letters to the Board. Since this topic was brought up in another thread for purposes of hastening separation, I figured I'd ask the question here for those who are trying to achieve the opposite effect. Internet consensus seems to be that 1) most letters do more harm than good, and 2) you should really ask an O-6 for their opinion before you send something dumb. Any wisdom out there for someone who does not have access to an O-6 in real life?

Thanks for explaining; I'm going to keep this in mind when it comes time to deploy a 6 figure sum.

Genuinely curious...in what ways? I've just been auto-buying a target date fund and ignoring it, plus a few brokered CDs for the hermit hut fund, so I don't have many interactions with the institution/platform.

Do you have office space behind a door with a cipher lock? Put it back there.

Pile-on: What happened to any CZTE additional contributions that were sitting in the Traditional TSP, tagged as "tax-exempt"?

Zeihan's latest He briefly pulls on the Israel-Ukraine-Russia and the Israel-Saudi-US threads.

Not necessarily the Deid, but yes, with rather appalling frequency. Could not believe the BS tours that were (are still?) being handed to multiple brilliant/fresh graduates in a row. All were jobs which could have been gapped or given to schlubs like me. I won't say much more than that.

Thanks again for the perspective, everyone. I think I'm probably most useful as a flier, and damn right, it's what I joined to do, so there's not much sense in pointless thrash if odds will stay 50/50. Better to be a reliable crewdog than the alternative. I'll check back in with results once all this plays out.

BLUF, I assess that my presentation to the board will be as an as an AC with a P, school boxes checked via correspondence, and a pro forma PRF. That said, I will go get an official vector from leadership. Don't want to get into specifics and dox myself, so long story short I'm probably 14 months from IP qual. That won't make it into my record before the board. Won't be eligible for staff next year because I won't meet time on station requirements to be considered for a move. Was also told not to go to staff without making IP because I would end up in MLR with a weak record. Drilling down to root causes here, there were about 6-9 major career/life decisions I made in the last several years which sent me down this path, so the only person I have to blame is me.

https://hiddenforces.io/podcasts/fiscal-dominance-banking-syste-us-deficit-charles-calomiris/ "How the U.S. Government Will Force Banks to Fund the Deficit" This podcast leaves the juicy bits for the premium second hour and I'm not a paying subscriber, so I don't know the specifics, but the propositions in the first hour do track with what's being discussed here. The guest's paper: https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/2023/06/02/fiscal-dominance-and-the-return-of-zero-interest-bank-reserve-requirements.pdf

Thanks for the information everyone. Your replies constitute more mentorship than I've received in real life over the last four years, which I suppose is telling in and of itself. I'll continue controlling the the stuff I can control, remaining an asset to leadership and the young bucks, and making sure I am prepared for whatever big blue decides to do with me.

@mcbush @StoleIt Been at the current sq/wg for minimal time, so I'll have continuity all the way through boards 1, 2, and the selective continuation board. No skeletons, just a lot of ground left to make up. Not overly concerned with the short term $$, just would like to have the opportunity to retire as an O-5 and leave the door open for O-6 if I decide I want to keep going. Totally understand that is highly aspirational at this point in the game.

Just looking for some advice here. Short background: did some time as a nav before reclassing to pilot in a different MWS, eventually non-vol'd to a non-fly deployment in my first post-UPT ops tour. This added about a year to my upgrade timeline. While deployed, managed to earn a top 3 AEG O-4 strat on an LOE. Returned to home station and was strat'd bottom 50% in the next OPB. Subjectively, I don't think I'm a POS. In garrison I bust my ass off. I am complete with ACSC and Masters will be done next spring. Weak points are zero awards and, due to becoming a pilot, being roughly 7 years behind my peer group in terms of my current MWS experience/crew position upgrades. I have one OPB left before my O-5 board, with an ADSC several years beyond that. Do I have any end game orthogonal pulls left to turn this thing around or do I embrace my lot in life and focus on being a solid pilot and a bro for whatever time I have left?

Are you going about visits wrong? No, I don't think so. Should you cast a wider net? Yes. If you don't ask (in the form of visits/applying), the answer (interview/hiring letter), is always going to be no. Your average hiring board members are juggling civilian work/life, military quals/currency, and day-to-day unit admin on top of finding people to invest in. They're going to go for hard numbers and quals first before looking at your subjective information. I would break this down into things you can and can't control. Things you can control: Your stats and quals (AFOQT, TBAS, PPL) Who you ask for letters of recommendation The units you reach out to Your interviewing and socializing skills I realize that a wider net and a PPL are financially resource-intensive efforts, so I can't make that value judgment for you, but the other aspects don't cost much to practice or develop. Things you can't control: The way units choose to sort through hundreds of applicants The way they notify individuals of non-selection Your age This is a tough path and there are no easy solutions, only tradeoffs. Take a look at how badly you want this, and what you are/are not willing to do to get there.