Herk Driver

I stand corrected. Average tax rate, it is. My point and your point is still that flight pay is not taxed at a higher rate than any other income. Unless, we are all missing something.

CARSA's memory serves him well. That's still all you need. Force protection considerations are another story. My family travels like Jersey Girl's and we are overseas now as well. Of course, when traveling between EU countries, you don't need a passport. You only need one if entering/crossing borders of non-EU countries.

Bender, Not trying to slam you. Sorry if it came across like that. Rainman is 100% correct. ILS is the preferred method, but sometimes you may need that PAR especially if that is the only approach that you can "legally" fly. Would always use the ILS to back up the controller, if one is available. Also, having the Nav backup the approach with the AWADS radar is nice as well. In the case that I needed one for the Wx, the ILS was working just fine but was being called below mins and there weren't too many alternatives since I was landing on an island. In this case, the alternate was several hours away, a shorter runway and the weather there was deteriorating. We chose the lesser of 2 evils. [ 16. January 2007, 04:24: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

In the end, doesn't all of your money (with exception of capital gains) just get taxed at your marginal tax rate? Flight pay may initially get taxed at a higher rate, but when I file my taxes, I'm paying tax on all my wages at my marginal rate. Of course, capital gains, are treated a little differently, but also has it's own schedule to take all that into account. [ 16. January 2007, 03:41: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

A few of the bases that I've been to, send the guys that have done the whole thing in correspondence or, at least, have the most tests done. Seems asinine since the guidance out there is that we will not make people practice bleed. I know that doesn't directly apply to SOS but the intent is the same. I won't hold my breath to see a cultural change in the AF. Practice bleeding Eeyore, there is no "DG" anymore for SOS. Only "Top Third" now. Chicken, residence is a little icing on the cake. There are not enough slots available to send everyone anymore, so getting it done in correspondence is the only way to make sure you get it done. FWIW, the only people that I've seen that have to worry are the ones who just don't get it done, one way or the other. Seen several of those that have not gotten promoted. Edit: clarity [ 16. January 2007, 03:46: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

OK, let's forget BIKF and use another USN field as a case study. NAS Pensacola (KNPA) ILS Z Rwy 7L (AL-736) S-ILS 7L 223- 1/2 200 (200- 1/2) PAR 7L 123- 1/4 100 (100- 1/4) Don't call BS too soon... Edit: Added link to the IAP KNPA ILS/PAR Rwy 7L Can't get to the overseas pubs here without way too much pain involved. The FAA site has all the US stuff, thus the P-cola example. However, the NGA site has removed all their pubs from the public site. [ 12. January 2007, 06:39: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

To my knowledge, there is no PAR with mins less than a Cat I ILS, and Cat I ILS's are much more prevalant than PAR's. Hopefully this helps to answer your questions.

WTFO? The crawler on the bottom of the screen for an ABC news program just said that the US military is announcing that a servicemember shot and killed a civilian on a US base in Krygyzstan. Edit: military dude killed someone, not other way around This could get interesting. AP article [ 06. December 2006, 15:50: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

How many hours did C-17 guys get before 9/11? If 400 to 500 is closer to that number then all these changes seem to have done what was intended. I think that getting the force back to a sustainable tempo that is closer to normal is a good thing even if upgrades take "longer" now. Is that not the case?

If you can take a pass, then no problem. If you wind up not getting per diem for the days of leave, then they will not pay for your VOQ/hotel either.

Or fly at 10K like the older gunships do. Not that that wouldn't suck. O2 is not an issue when you have OBOGS, unless you mean that's a lot of time on the hose.

Apples and oranges. Talk to Housing about housing and talk to Tricare about tricare. Don't mix the two. "2" on HD posts above. My wife has been with me 4 times TDY to LR. Our experience is the same as Herk Derka's. I was paid Corpus BAH as well, but I wasn't living with my dependents in base housing. That is very normal. As for BAH, if you are on active duty and not Guard or reserve (since I don't know their rules) and you live in base housing, you will lose your BAH. BAH is provided for the sponsor to provide housing for his/her dependents. When you move into a housing unit on a base, you are no longer entitled to BAH. You will probably not see this reflected in an LES until signing into your PCS base, but I would be very wary of this situation. Little Rock finance will not be the one's that process the travel voucher but they can provide you the info regarding what entitlements you will get with regards to this or you can call the finance guys at Randolph. I would be highly surprised if you would be paid per diem for lodging, recieve BAH for your last PDS, and be allowed to live in base housing with your dependents. TDY or not. [ 28. November 2006, 14:13: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

Must be a former Ramstein CC. They do that shit over there. Does it specifically say off-duty as well? If not, read that to mean, at night, on and off the flightline, while on duty.

Don't give up on billeting. Before I PCS'd in 2005, I was told that the newer (notice I didn't say new) billeting had been transformed from the one room with a shared bath into a living room and bedroom (with the bath in between). Call billeting and find out. If that's true then that isn't so bad compared to what HD is probably remembering from his time there. Things have gotten much more family friendly at the Rock. If they let you into housing on base, you will lose your BAH at Corpus. The housing office has all that paperwork down pat. However, not sure if they will let you into housing since it is a TDY. Call the housing office, with the privitization and everything else, you never know. The TLFs are great, but they will not let you stay there if you are TDY (last time I was there). They will not let you keep pets in the TLF or in billeting. You'll have to kennel them or leave with family or friends. Call the housing office and the billeting office to make sure my info isn't dated. The number for billeting is 501-987-6652 (DSN 731). [ 28. November 2006, 08:08: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

DEROS extensions are looked upon favorably now. I would guess they are just a matter of paperwork completion. Not sure if future tours will be 4 years accompanied/3 years unaccompanied or not. I know that curtailments are at a minimum and have to have GO/FO justification. I'm hoping against hope to get a curtailment out of this staff job and get back to flying.

The military also reimburses some adoption costs. I'm no expert here, but a friend of mine adopted and I found out later that some of his expenses were reimbursed through the military. There is some paperwork involved. Not sure who the OPR on base is, but I'm sure someone here will have the details.

I don't know. Go to the desert long enough (sts) and you can get pretty good at performing "ALL" possible tasks with one good (sts) hand.

IIRC, Northrup was developing the E-10 which is a replacement for the AWACS, JSTARS and EC-135s. However, funding has been on again, off again. Maybe if we cut another 25,000 personnel we can afford it. Then we just need to figure out how to pay for a new tanker.

Brabus, Go talk to a JAG or if you don't trust them then get a civilian guy to weigh in. CA does NOT make you pay taxes if you are military and not stationed in the state. At least that was the case 5 years ago. If you are stationed there, you will have to pay taxes while you are there, period. Then if you retire there, you will pay taxes after retirement but no one will be knocking on your door for failure to pay taxes while AD. If you don't retire there, then no big deal, you didn't owe CA anything to start with since you weren't stationed in the state. [ 27. October 2006, 01:47: Message edited by: Herk Driver ]

I checked into this when I was a 2Lt which was more than a decade ago, but this was the JAG advice that I got. You have to have a physical presence in whatever state that you claim as your residence and an INTENT to remain there. How do you show intent? You register to vote, get a DL, register your car, buy property, etc. You do not have to do any of those things but it helps if someone challenges your residency like the case mentioned earlier about the guy from CA. You are not required to do any of the things that the state requires to establish residency, since you fall under the SCRA. IIRC, the servicemembers civil relief act actually spells out teh residency thing. If not, you can pop into the JAG office and they can explain it all. Yes, finance only requires a form but that doesn't make it legal. That only gets the money part fixed and you can still be tried for tax evasion, etc. The story about the CA Col is actually funny since CA doesn't require servicemembers to pay taxes on income earned while stationed outside of the state. So, that's a little fishy if you ask me. However, there have been states that have gone after servicemembers exactly like described. For example, if you are from VA and move to FL under military orders you could change your residency to FL. You could move a dozen more times and keep your residency in FL. However, when you retire, if you move back to VA, they will more than likely come after you for back taxes since they could make a pretty strong case that you INTENDED to retire in VA and only changed residency to aviod taxes. There have been cases like this. So, just figure out now that you will retire in FL or TX or at least not return to your original HOR state.

I agree with part of that. Apparently, public speaking and writing are a lost art in the AF, but I would disagree that PME and a Master's have to be time taken away from your family. You can do both while deployed and fill the down time that you have. Make the most of the time that you already are forced to be away from home. PME and a Master's didn't force me to spend one more minute away from family than I was already spending. Use the "free" time while deployed to knock that stuff out.

Phlash, It Depends! I know people that have a Master's and were picked up to go to PME (IDE/SDE)which now is a Master's as well. I also know people that had a Master's and wanted to do ACSC/AWC and they were sent to AFIT to get a Master's that the AF wanted them to have. Don't know what is going through the nuggets of the guys sitting on the boards. My take is that the USAF has always looked for indicators of success when selecting people for programs. If you have completed a Master's degree with a 4.0 then you can probably complete the academic program that you are applying for. A guy that works with me had a Masters' degree and applied to do the Olmstead scholarship program. He was selected for that program and now has 2 Master's degrees. IMHO, I don't think you will be turned down for a program just because you have completed a Master's. The AF is looking to groom leaders and higher education, whether you like it or nor, is about building better leaders. It is about expanding the way you think, complex problem solving and critical thinking. These are the skills that the AF is looking for. This doesn't mean that the AF will send everyone to school. That's why it is important for everyone to get started early and knock out the education requirement so they can remain competitive when they don't get selected for the program they wanted.

IMHO, there is NO perfect time. Others chime in with your thoughts. I am 100% sure of one thing only; that I don't have all the answers.

Gen Moseley took over as Chief in Sep 2005 and the following letter was published in Dec 2005. MEMORANDUM FOR ALL MAJCOM-FOA-DRU/CC FROM: AFIDP SUBJECT: Developmental Education Developmental Education (DE) is a critical component of the force development construct and represents a large investment in the continuum of our Airmen's growth. DE is a deliberate process for developing our future leaders through traditional military education, advanced academic degrees or experiential assignments with industry or academic institutions. It's designed to provide the Airmen with the right learning program across the tactical, operational, and strategic level for future utilization based on career field and Air Force needs. Based on the demonstrated potential for further development, many officers are "selected" for in-residence DE via their promotion board. As "selects", the Air Force has committed to ensure they attend DE no later than their last year of eligibility. Therefore, "selects" are not required to emoll in or complete the distance learning DE (correspondence, seminar, etc.) while waiting for in-residence class attendance. "Candidates," or those not selected for in-residence DE by their promotion board, are encouraged to complete distance learning DE due to limited opportunities to attend in residence. The Force Development team is dedicated to serving our people and the Air Force. To maximize time and minimize PERSTEMPO, supervisors, commanders, and senior raters need to change their mindset that "practice bleeding" makes an officer better. Our future leaders will receive the right level of developmental education at the right time. I think that last sentence still says that you will get edumacated when the AF needs you to in order the meet the needs of the AF. Since school selection boards are still not giving people what they want, when they want, it appears that the AF is still "forcing" some people to go to AFIT that wanted to do ACSC, for example. The people that used to be candidates off their promotion board are now selects and I don't know anyone that has not gone to school that was a "select" from their promotion board. Do you? That being said, I would get my Master's as early as I could if I were a 2Lt. Do it while you still have the time to do it. Even the message that came out about getting a Master's emphasized the point that checking a box was not what they wanted. Why else would ACSC in correspondence be getting you a Master's these days when it didn't in the past? They are still looking for relevant advanced degrees, not basket weaving.