Van1

Yes to all the above except the sanctuary part. I'm a traditional guy and have to sign sanctuary waivers in order to be put on AD orders.

Data point here. Just got notification from my ANG unit that I was selected for 0-5 on the last ROPMA board. I do not have a masters. I completed ACSC Aug '11. I am part of a special group of 157 AD majors that were not offered continuation after being twice passed over to 0-5 last year. Separated 30 Nov 11 and swore into the Guard the very next day.

What's with all the KC-135 slots in these nav drops? I thought they got rid of the nav 14 years ago.

All military personnel have to go through a Transition Assistance Program (TAP) when they separate or retire. It's mandated by Congress. This is a several day long program with classes in resume writing, interviewing techniques, how to dress, etc. I did it at Offutt last year and thought it was a pretty good program. A guy from the Nebraska Department of Labor ran it. You may want to check in with your base TAP folks before you try to reinvent the wheel.

I was at Edwards for 3 years ('02-'05) and lived on base. I lived in an older house in the "G" area. It wasn't too bad. They were tearing down and building a lot of new houses while I was there. Being on base I still had a 10 minute commute to South Base. My wife had a 35 mile one way commute to work in Lancaster. She put a lot of miles on her car. If you do decide on Palmdale/Lancaster/Quartz Hill, you'll definately want to stay to the west of the 14. There are some nice houses on the west side with lots of gated communities. The east side is pretty Ghetto. Quite a few folks live in Tehachapi which is northwest of base. Puts you all that much farther from LA though which is where all the good shopping is at. Shopping is not that good in the Antelope Valley. The mall there blows. We spent our weekends going down to Santa Clarita, Beverly Hills, and Glendale to go shopping. Rosamond was building up while I was there but it was still not someplace I'd choose to live. Overall, it's the kind of place where your neighbor is likely to have an old primered Camaro up on cinder blocks in his driveway. If you can stomach the commute, a few folks lived down in Santa Clarita. It would be a hike but would be opposite traffic for you. Does your wife work? Depending on what she does, you'll have to take that into consideration to split the commute.

I took in a stray dog during a one year remote at NSA Souda Bay, Crete and ended up bringing him back when I PCS'd out in Aug 2008 using the rotator. He weighs in at about 28 lbs and it cost me $100 to fly him from LGSA to Norfolk. Nice thing is at the stops along the way at Sigonella and Lajes the animals were deplaned and the owners were allowed to take them out for walks. Kind of broke up the trip for him. Yes, I did have to make arrangements well in advance to get one of the pet spots. I wanted to avoid going commercial out of Athens at all costs. Cost me $200 to fly him on United from Norfolk to Omaha.

There is a formula for paying back invol sep pay if one were to eventually earn a military retirement. I'd have to dig it up, but I know I figured my payback and that about 50% of my pre-tax retirement pay would go to pay the invol sep pay received and that it would take about 7 years to pay it back. Yes, invol sep pay is a nice interest free loan. Paid off a car, camper, and home equity loan and stashed the remaining $40k in a bond fund to make up for the missing 50% when I retire from the Guard.

I was playing flickerball as well. Remember coming back to the dorm to clean up and then heading over to the SOS building wondering why we were suddenly in Threatcon Delta. Spent the rest of the day in the classroom finding out why.

Let's just say that each item on that patch represents a story that made somebody legendary in the 45th. And not in a good way.

The CSAF and SECAF are a couple of turds. Nice how the CSAF dances around the question. What a wimp. He makes it seem as if now that they trimmed 157 officers from the force via invol seps, the rest will fall into place naturally to get to 1500 via some kind of magic.

Fight it if you want, but you'll need an AAD to be able to retire from the AF. I fought it and refused to get a cheesy masters not wanting to waste my valuable evenings locked up in some classroom in an old hangar just to get a crappy degree. At one point in my career, I even listened to some 2 star talk about how if the AF wanted you to get a masters, they would send you to school. But, I lost the fight and after getting twice passed over to 0-5, I am being shown the door at 16 years. With every swingin' richard getting a masters degree in basket weaving, it ain't worth fighting. You'll lose, just do it. If you want the retirement check, sign up for AMU today.

Not really sure why I should care about subsidizing SSgt Snuffy's kids. Perhaps he should have thought about his economic situation before cranking out 4-6 kids in rapid succession. While my wife likes to shop at the Commissary (except around payday as all of the paycheck to paycheck people crowd the place) we never shop at the BX. Never found it to be worth it. And I don't buy gas on base as they don't have diesel or 91+ octane gas. And the Class 6 isn't a very good deal and doesn't offer the stuff I want.

Thanks. Looks like similar info that I got from MSgt M a few weeks back but this is much more detailed.

Seems like you have a few different reasons of why you are considering 7 day opting and I think you need to consider each individually. One is to be with the family and the other is fear of not getting promoted. If your goal is to be with the family, the decision should be clear and you need to do what you feel is the most important. But I would not let the fear of not getting promoted be the reason to punch. That is unless you have a lucrative job lined up already. You state that your primary board is coming up which will be in the next 5-6 months or so. If you don't get promoted you will have almost another year to meet your APZ board. Results take a few months to come out and if you once again don't get promoted and don't get offered continuation, you will have another 6 months before you have to get out. Basically, you have over 2 more years of guaranteed employment at $100k+ per year if you don't get promoted and continued. Of course, you never know if some crazy RIF will happen for 14 year majors. And when you don't get continued, you will receive involuntary separation pay which will be around $120k. That's another $320k+ that you have to look forward to. If your main reason for getting out now is promotion fears, I say let it ride as the worse that will happen is you'll be involuntarily separated and will collect the invol sep pay. If you punch now on your own accord, you will get nothing. And as far as "scummy" contractor jobs, I'm getting ready to take one that pays $39/hr. Thats a little over $81k per year which is just about what my base pay is now. Pretty good money for posessing a TS/SCI.

Found out another 11R that I know didn't get offered continuation. That's 2 11Rs I know of to add to the list. Pilots definitely not immune to these kinds of actions.

I'm trying to raise a stink but talking with anybody at AFPC is like talking to a wall. I do have the attention of both of my state's senators which is nice. We'll see what they can do. I already have a job offer from one of the contractors on base that pays the same as my current base pay (nice to have a TS SCI). If I can work a traditional Guard gig as well with the unit on base, I'll be set. And in fact better off as I won't have to worry about 179s and 365s.

I know an 11R getting the boot, so add another pilot to the list. I'm a 12R being shown the door. I was even inside 5 years of retirement eligibility when board met (TAFMSD of 26 Jan 96, May 96 OTS grad, board met in Mar 11). Apparently the board didn't closely follow the SECAF MOI. So for those once passed over OTS grads that signed on early in the year, I wouldn't look at the being within 5 as your golden ticket next year. Best thing would be to volunteer for RPAs now. And as a side bar, according to AFI 36-2005, para 2.7.6, even rated dudes once passed over are ineligible for appointment with the Guard or Reserves. So, if you are once passed over might as roll the dice and see what happens next year before trying Guard or Reserves. Waiver process will be the same. Unless you have a Guard gig lined up already.