AnimalMother

Then there is no pleasing you Mr. Powers... Everyone screws up, how they try to make it right is what really matters in my book (within reason of course). USAA could barely return my weekly emails last time I refi'd. As for the closing, they didn't even bother to show up, seriously.

Ah yes, the standard AFSOC banter, it's like watching shit-talking at the special olympics. But that's just my opinion...

Shouldn't have clicked the link but I couldn't help myself. Reminds me of a 30,000+ word diatribe published in the Washington Post in 1995, authored by a certain Ted Kaczynski--only more garrulous, half as germane, and twice as dry. I probably shouldn't open my mail for a few months after posting this...

Wow, I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time! Some dude really thinks people care about his political views on a Texas Longhorns sports forum?! haha, I laughed so hard I almost shit myself. I think Ive finally caught up with the PYB story and Ive determined that this individual clearly exhibits pathological behavior. Normal people do not spend their lives attacking others on random internet forums. On a serious note, is this dude still flying planes in the AF? Because that's certainly not someone I would trust with one...

Never argue with an idiot...

The issue isn't whether or not the airlines care about SOS DGs, or even why SOS DGs are leaving the Air Force. The issue is why the Air Force has determined that SOS DG is somehow an accurate indicator of leadership ability/potential. It's truly amazing how content the Air Force is to watch so much talent and potential walk right out the door everyday. "Thanks for your service!"

While I agree that driving to work poses a higher threat to the average individual in the near term, the remoteness of probability is not sufficient justification--in my opinion--for lack of mitigating action, particularly given the potential severity of the consequences. The time for preventative measures is beforehand, not during or after the fact. You don't wait to buckle into your should harness as you're flying through the air after pulling the handles--despite the remoteness of the probability of ejection. If anything is clear here, it's that the transmissibility of this virus is not as low as originally advertised--swimming in vomit is not required. Finally if there's one thing I still have faith in, it's the utter inability of large beauracratic organizations to have any coherent idea of what the hell they should be doing, much less do it correctly. While the media certainly loves to sound the alarm to sell papers, the consequences of Ebola going--dare I say viral--in the US, are almost unfathomable, and certainly not worth the risk or inconvience of robust preventative measures--yesterday.

He should just tell the Navy that it's unrealistic of them to expect perfection.

I like how the first thing they do is shut down the entrances. I thought they told us that restricting access (i.e. flights) wasn't a useful/viable option. I'll show my misanthropic side here and admit that in some ways, I'm actually rooting for ebola this time around...

Unreal. I wonder how well that excuse would go over if I used it to explain why I accidentally torched a motor. I guess it's also unrealistic to expect zero sexual harassment/assault complaints. What the hell is going on in the Air Force?

That's probably the crux of it. Little to no trust remains within the system and so guys are forced to play defensively.

So essentially the AF is so systemically dysfunctional, that not even an inspirational and respected leader--placed at the very top--can affect the service in a lasting and meaningful way? Sounds about right I guess.

"Guys, the Chief of Staff won't be around much longer, get your master's degrees done. You don't want to be caught off guard when they change it back." Just a FYI stake in the ground from my sq/cc at our commanders call the other day--in case anyone is looking for a benchmark at how well the CoS' changes are being received down here at the sq level. Anyone else seeing similar?

7 figures and I'd reconsider. Honestly, at this point, what the hell is the difference? Just call Mrs. Yellen and ask her to keep the presses running for a few extra days. No one would even know the difference.

Don't waste your HOR move to ship a few boxes of clothes. Buy a decent slightly used truck before you move. You likely have 4-11 years of service ahead of you at a minimum so you shouldn't have any problem paying it off. Also, you will most likely have at least 3-5 more PCS's ahead of you, the truck will come in handy there too. The amount you can make off the DITY portion with a truck can be decent, plus they're just damn useful in general. Alternatively, you could just take what you can fit in your smart car and buy an extra pair of wrangler jeans at walmart or the BX. You really won't need much.

Or maybe we just have two enemies...

Thanks for the info.

Wow, just wow. Im ing speechless...

I think the odds are unfortunately pretty high that most, if not all AF bases will eventually end up dry, if not worse. I miss the good old days when taking away crew booze was a legitimate cause for full blown mutiny. It's like taking away your child's binky, you just don't do shit like that.

Confirm they didn't charge you any fees? I keep reading about a 10% fee or some crap like that. So you converted to Roth within a Vanguard account, or is the conversion done prior to that? Thanks for the info man.

I agree, but I think it will inevitably come to this regardless. After all, when the preponderance of candidates have a master's degree, what's the next "logical" discriminator? Maybe at the O-6 level there's more relevant substance in one's records, i don't know, I can't speak from experience, just playing devil's advocate here. In either case, I think we (the AF), just took a baby step towards the trust tree on the whole master's thing-which is good. As Ive gotten older and perhaps a bit more mature, I agree with this more and more. However, for this construct to be truly effective, there needs to be a solid foundation of trust, from the bottom up and the top down. Otherwise, people will not accept the "trust me" explanation when/if they fail to understand the root of the issue; leading to disillusioned and disgruntled employees. We are seeing a lot of this right now and it is costing the AF substantially. The fact that many people are continuing to pursue master's degrees is proof positive of this, as are many of the posts on this forum. I hope to see more of this, after all, malicious and public belittlement of subordinates isn't exactly an attribute I generally associate with stellar leadership-not that Ive seen that in the squadron or anything... Finally, I don't think some people over-inflate their value [to the service], I think most people do. Self-aggrandizement and an inability to accurately self-critique are byproducts of a system that fails to provide honest feedback, and are exacerbated by excessive pomp and circumstance, and obsequious and sycophantic staff officers. But, nowhere have I found this more apparent than in much of the squadron and wing leadership I've served under over the last decade. Most of us know-at least at some level-just how expendable we really are. A lot of brass seem to forget that stuff pretty quickly and may even think otherwise. Our CSAF was fired a few years back wasn't he? His name escapes me right now though...

Anyone have experience separating and rolling over your TSP into a regular IRA or 401k?

Ain't that the truth. Wouldn't use USAA to buy my next house for anything. Don't care to use any of their financing services for that matter.

Two thoughts: First, the waste of time created by useless masters degrees and double PME, is only half the coin. The other side of the issue is the use of a system whereby people are offered what amounts to free points for essentially accomplishing and demonstrating nothing-potentially making up for failures in other, more vital areas. So, instead of strictly earning promotion through hard work, success, and competency, we subsidize it to some extent with busywork (I'm generalizing a bit). Second, (and I'm not just trying to split hairs here) I think we should work towards a system that gets it right more than just most of the time. We're talking about deciding who will progress to assume positions of potentially massive responsibility, we owe it to ourselves to be as discriminating and selective as we can. Is it sufficient if we stop most of the sexual assaults in the military? Is it okay if I don't break my taxpayer-funded aircraft most of the time? Of course not. And while these two examples are certainly more easily measured than successful promotion outcomes, I don't think it necessarily absolves us of the responsibility to critique the system to the most exacting standards that we can and improve on it whenever possible.

I would advocate for a pivot towards America, the United States of... What's really funny to me is the towns in California that are staging protests over illegals showing up. My guess is they still haven't connected the dots between their vote and their new illegal neighbors. How's that damn change working out for you now that Jose took your job and his 13 kids gave your 1 TB? I should probably stop there... Laws?! Oh those laws?! Yea, those don't apply. Look, I signed a piece of paper.