BFM this

There's just so much agenda in that statement I don't know where to begin. COO's of the airlines are fighting to the death against the 1500 hour rule, which as much as anything is a labor protectionist measure every bit as much as it's concerned with safety. Gen Fogleman of course has his finger on the pulse of the military, and Air Force manning in particular. So when he leaves a boardroom where everybody is hyperventilating, it stands to reason that he would be concerned about the impact on mil-pilot retention. But that's only to say that he's got his eye on another labor-protectionist issue as well: the military one. Get rid of the 1500 hour rule, airlines can continue to soak up starving regional FO's that are willing to live in ghetto crash pads and make $16k/yr while the pilots that the military generates can continue to believe that life is better inside the walls of the safe and secure asylum that they are so accustomed to. 144k ATPs. Pilot shortage? Really? That's why I'm shopping around for a good B-school after I hang up the flight suit; Washington will accomodate the airline executives who are telling them that the sky is falling, sooner or later. Edit to add: the average age of the ATP holder has gone up 3 years in the last decade. So there's no denying that the retirement wave is going to happen.

Mixed to not at all. Someone with exec stink can chime in with a better set of data, but it seems that for those prior MWS dudes released back to their respective porches, most go immediately toward the bill paying side of assignments and not necessarily back to a tx. What is the easiest bill to pay for someone with their credentials?...Holloman. But a few thinking that they've won their lottery ticket to the Island end up striking so there's that to look forward to.

One night, as a 20yo E3 playing DD for two of my buds, driving through the gate at Cherry Point, my bud in the back seat is passed out and visibly shithoused. When we finally got his ID, the E3 at the gate sees that Otis is also underage and waves us over to the parking lot for a sobriety check, which I obviously pass. SNCO of the watch gets called up to the gate to confer. Once he gets the story, the exchange unfolds thus: SNCO to Gate Guard: "So, these three were in the vehicle, and he was driving (points at me). GG: "Yes, SSgt. That one is drunk" (points to my bud), "and his ID says he is underage." SNCO: "But he was passed out in the back seat." GG: "Yes, SSgt." SNCO nods thoughtfully with a slightly pained expression: "Uh Huh." motions to the GG: "Come with me." Points to us: "You three can go."

Wurd

Uhh, is my math off? Isn't this the bonus, as it has been, for several years now? How is this bonus "Fatter"?

I would hang onto/retrieve everything that you can get your hands on for now. It can be tough to tell when you'll need something. I was in the middle of T38's when I got an email from someone down at Randolph. It seemed that very little data transferred with me from the Corps, and the DD214's that I'd supplied did not constitute valid documentation of service. AFPC was about to reset my pay date to OTS, in which case I was going to skip about 3 paychecks after loosing 10 years and the "E" after my pay grade. When it was all said and done, I faxed everything that I had laying around including all enlistment documents going back to the original contract that I'd signed in high school (not making this up). This absurdity has repeated itself a few more times, albeit on a smaller scale, with things like awards and decs. BL: approach the shredder at your own risk during this transition. You might feel like something of a pack-rat, but better safe than sorry here.

And on that day, throughout all the land, not a single fuck was given.

Mooney 201J's can be had for under $90k. Might not be the best solution, but it would take the edge off of some fair Wx days.

AKA: the inmates are running the asylum

Yep, about that time. Step 1) make conciliatory gestures to get some aid 2) after most of the shipments arrive, some sabre rattling to increase the deliveries 3) heated rhetoric after they get called out for being assholes (gaining some additional last minute concessions). Maybe lob some missles across the Sea of Japan for good measure. Lather, rinse, repeat. Been the standard act since the Soviets bailed. Thier only promising move has been their special economic zone project near the border, but even that's been used as a poker chip when they've gotten cranky.

Shack! I'll second the Marine response above; I actually took shit from bros for two things early in my AF career: 1) I would put on my cover approaching the gate (chuckles from bros) 2) I wouldn't salute when wearing civvies ("dude, what are you doing!!!") But for the SP to sit there withholding your ID? WTF? I've actually given atta-boy's to SP's at the gate. For instance, driving through the gate one day at a base that normally posts mall-cops at the gate, SSgt SP is there checking ID's. Takes my ID, briefly looks at the front, eyes going everywhere through the whole process (he's alert!, obviously he works the security side of SP's), flips the ID taking a .69 sec look at the back, (eyes still moving about), hands me my ID, snaps to Attn, salutes, and says "Happy Birthday, Sir!". My Bday was that week! I thought that was awesome! I took 15 min out of my morning to send a note to his CC highlighting his professionalism. Where is that sky-cop thread anyway? I loved that thread.

Shack. I watched a dude work his ass off while on an extended casual. What he had going for him was that he had already been around the block, and leveraged that experience to get shit done while everyone else sat around waiting to be told what to do. He finished up his last few months on casual as the OG's exec. No shit. On casual. Effect your own rescue.

Anyone you know still at DM? Give 'em a ring. Just for laughs.

As usual, solid words from FG. Thanks!

All: thanks for the replies. In this case, it's ~$750 not in my favor. The tribe had to beat feet to the new PDS (higher BAH) to start work/school. I might still PM FG for the reference, but if the situation were reversed, I would be basking in the $ and be happy about it. Oh well, at least I get FSA, so its a wash. DITY: check! on that note, schokie: sounds like TMO fucked up your claim. Royally. I did mine and filed 3 vouchers: -Full weight: Old PDS-->New PDS -TDY weight (600#): Old PDS-->TDY -TDY weight: TDY-->New PDS TMO math is a little hocus-pocus, but I ended up getting a better reimbursement per pound for the TDY legs than I did for the full weight leg, although the main leg was still the bulk of the claim. Standard DITY caveats apply: reimbursed amount minus claimed expenses (gas, weight tix, tolls, oil changes) taxed @28%

Searched the forum and scrubbed this thread for an answer to no avail. PCS'd with a 3 month enroute TDY: when does BAH swap from old to new duty station? -wife and kids went VFR direct the day before I was final out from old PDS, so they were at the new PDS the whole time. Anyone know where this is spelled out in the reg? Its about $250 difference btw old and new, so it's a significant difference one way or the other.

Wow. You just swept past Scoobs, PYB, and Crew Report for the biggest douchebag comment of 2011 seen on this board. Congrats.

I put this question to a visiting senior leader a couple of days ago. Takeaways: 1: He did not appreciate the question (nothing was said, but I got the point) 2: AIP is not an entitlement. It will go away when it goes away, and that's that. 3: Its looking like it will hang in there for one more year. 4: On the subject of fairness, he pointed out that troops stationed at the puzzle palace have a much longer commute than we do, yet they don't recieve AIP. The last one is a good point, but a little apples-to-oranges as there is housing w/in 10 min of there, whereas the nearest housing development to here is 30 miles driving. You just can't live anywhere close to DC because of the cost of that proximal housing. But there are other mechanisms to address this, namely COLA and BAH. I was a little surprised to find that there is no COLA for DC. Not only do I think that's a no-brainer, but I think COLA would be a more appropriate tool to address the Creech issue. It's not the "services available on base" which are still quite negligible, it's the cost associated with the assignment and the CHOICE that the AF has made to put this mission where they did. Doing the math using the JFTR operating cost of $.51/mile works out to about $610 per month to the individual. Edit to add useful link.

Just the essentials.

They've exposed themselves to way to much competition (Hulu, Amazon, Blockbuster) with their buffonery. They had dominant market share (still do, but declining), but are going to finish on the other side of this struggling to recapture thier niche, which they'll never get back. Hollywood is happy with this just as any supplier would be; who wants to sit across the table from a distribution monopoly that constantly rakes you over the coals? Will they still be around in 10yrs? Probably, but a decent growth stock? Nope.

Their price restructure wasn't random. Acquisition costs were about to skyrocket: the price model that NF was working under was based on an old "lets see where this internet streaming idea goes", and was about to increase fivefold as Hollywood now has a good handle on the profit potential. Likewise, although the USPS woes are only now making the MSM front page, companies who's entire distribution (for the disk side) depended have had a finger on the pulse of that trainwreck for some time. Random they weren't. Heavy handed and without regard to the consumer, yes. Believe it or not, despite all of my bitching on this board, I still subscribe to the old-school sentiment that says the AF shouldn't give two shits about my personal desires; that, yes, Needs of the Air Force should be the trump in management and decision making. But I also see things happening, beyond the AF and even DoD, that has the potential for long term unintended consequences. The operative question here will be how the AF navigates these unpredictable events. Bang-bang, like always? (like NF, in this case?) And like MMoose in his original post, I think that might be worth thinking about.

Netflix swung, and missed. So before you cleverly type how Netflix isn't an "ideal" or that the AF isn't a business, forfuxsake, read the OP and the slides! Netflix isn't necessarily a perfect parallel with BigBlue, but might not be too far off. From 25m subscribers, some by design (and some NOT) they're down a cool 1M from that peak. In two months. And they're surprised by this. https://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html If AF leadership ever leads with "I messed up", we're already fucked.

Don't tease me.

AAaaand there's the hook. Priceless.