Khruangbin33

Is there a point where the value of the IP and retention of technical manufacturing skill for national emergencies makes this worth the outlay, or have we missed any such cost-benefit intersection entirely?

Seems like if there was ever a time to write your representative, now would be it. As best I can tell, both houses have agreed upon common language, but it hasn't been put to a vote. Selfishly, the amendment doesn't seem to be very well written... For people like me who would hit the 2 year "sanctuary" period and then have their ADSC expire later on within that period, a strict reading of this looks like "hit your ADSC under (c)(1), then get separated under (a)(1), and do not continue to retirement, TYFYS." More flimsy argument follows: The "first day of the seventh calendar month" under (a) did at least give the member a built-in six month advance notice as the consequence of an administrative action. Although it is fringe, I can see situations where some people would have much less than 6 months between board announcement, ADSC expiration, and apparent/immediate separation. Curious what others think...if there's merit to these thoughts, I'll probably be typing up a letter tonight.

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.

Saw a Reddit post a few days ago from an American who went from 0 hours to Spirit FO in 4 years. Did it by going to a FAA part-whatever school and then building hours in China by teaching aviation cadets. Supposing a smattering of those cadets end up in PLAAF cockpits, I rather doubt that the fellow realizes he aided and abetted an adversary and contributed to putting American lives in danger.

Open invite to merge this with the "Things to Listen to While Drunk on BO" thread...but here's the equipment angle. Does anyone here have a sweet stereo setup? Thinking about ditching my 2000's era 5.1 stuff and buying some restored vintage equipment for a 2.1 setup. Or, after 10 years and 1500+ hours of jet noise and another 10-20 to go, should I even bother?

Ok my posting skills are weak, couldn't embed the tweet. Here's the link: My favorite strategist's take on the SWA/airline issues writ large

Unsure if anyone has seen this yet, but there is some interesting data in this AWC paper from a finance O-6. Edit: Timing is worth thousands, at least until this gets fixed. Big takeaways (If you are on the left side of your retirement date): -- Plan to retire in a month that ends a fiscal quarter (March, June, December) -- Never retire in September -- If able, retire in March to realize the best historical chance of highest pay Tin foil hat time...Broader question (with the caveat that I'm a dumbass): Given all the turmoil that is going on (debt ceiling, US govt ability to service its debts), how much faith is everyone placing in their pension payout 10-15 years from now? Are you planning to cover your own expenses with something like a 4% SWR and viewing the pension as a bonus? Or do you believe the point at which you can't withdraw your own money is coterminous with the point at which your monthly pension payment stops occurring? Edit: Added why this attachment matters - namely COLA calculations as related to your retirement date. Sorry folks, I been drankin. The_COLA_Trap-PSP-Fowler.pdf

O-4 here, late-rated. UPT ADSC won't expire until three years after my APZ look for O-5. By my reckoning, that's too much ADSC to be considered for palace chase before getting passed over a second time (therefore ineligible for AFRC/ANG transfer), and non-continued in the worst case, leaving me compelled to continue to do the AD song and dance until the very end. Have I painted myself into a corner?

Copy all, thanks for the info!

Seeking clarification on the current special leave accrual policy. I'm hearing multiple stories from different sources. The two most popular are 1) that we can continue racking up and carrying use/lose balances across fiscal years until 30 Sep 23, with a maximum of 120 days total. 2) is that we can only carry as much use/lose into the next FY as we carried into the current year (eg if I had 20 days use/lose on 30 Sep 20, the most use/lose I can have on 30 Sep 21 is also 20 days).

The admission/enrollment side was friendly initially; the discipline-specific staff (dean, instructor) less so. Generally inflexible and hostile towards reasonable requests to maneuver within the bounds of a particular course's syllabus while still accomplishing course objectives. Much as propflux encountered students with no business being in the program, there are occasional instructors with no business holding that position or title. However, if you assess Brandman to be a good fit, my animosity towards them and their non-MBA-related program should not be a factor for you. Three caveats up front: 1) I haven't seen the following COA run to completion, so it is speculative and spears for me are welcome; 2) Attending WIC solely for the purpose of executing the following COA is the absolute wrong answer; and 3) AFIT NWEPP could be tough to get into if you don't work in the nuke world. All that said, if you go WIC/AFIT NWEPP-->Air University Online Master's in Operational Warfare or Nuke Weapons-->O-4 Select-->ACSC, this would allow you to min run IDE/PME and still get something out of it. Completing WIC/AFIT NWEPP reduces your Air University Master's course requirements to 6x8-week core courses, and then you are Master's complete. The AU Master's gets you credit for several ACSC courses, and then you do the rest of ACSC. Alternately, complete the AU Masters without WIC or AFIT, get credit for some ACSC courses, then finish the rest of ACSC. This keeps you flying the line, and saves your own money, TA, or GI Bill for a brick and mortar program later on if you want it.