ViperStud

We used to go TDY from Lunke to Mesa for sims. At the time the official line was that anything outside 50 miles was outside the local area so this process was standard.

After all these years, I've found new issues with finance - currently engaged two circle with losing cues. Anyone have experience getting the following reimbursed: Citi Cash Advance Fees, ATM fees and a Visa overstay fine? Big picture: TDY OCONUS to a country where cash payments were the only acceptable form of payment for lodging and driver. No one has a problem accepting that; the issue is with getting the associated expenses reimbursed. City CA fees: found a pamphlet (not JTR) that mentions they're not reimbursable. Nothing in the JTR that finance or I could find. Their default position - no reimbursement, regardless of the fact that payments could only be made in cash. ATM fees: there's a blurb in the JTR stating they have to be approved by the "Secretarial Process" by O-6 or greater ahead of time. My OG approved them. Finance chief says the "Secretarial Process" means routing approval to SECAF for my ATM fees, but says she doesn't have that in writing anywhere. YGBFSM. Visa overstay: issued a 30-day tourist visa in my official passport upon arrival and overstayed it a few days. Embassy gave me a MFR asking immigration to waive the overstay fee. They won't (standard slightly-underdeveloped country cash grab) and there is no reference of anything like this in the JTR. Their default position - no reimbursement. Pile-on: CPTS wants to use a website called OANDA for daily conversion rates. I kept meticulous notes of the overall cash I withdrew against the GOVCC and have an overall conversion rate that I realized. Using OANDA instead of the real conversion rate nickel and dimes me on every transaction. When pressed, they said there is no guidance to use OANDA anywhere but it's what their training courses used so it has stuck. That's a best practice, not guidance. This is the smallest of problems (monetarily) with this voucher but I want to fight back out of priciple. Anyone have experience with the expenses above?

Star Fox, we could give you much more sound advice if we know what we’re dealing with here...

This story is about 5 years old. First and foremost, AF doesn’t give AF about soon-to-be anything. You’re either married or not. Couple went through UPT at the same base with her about two months ahead. Both went -38s but she excelled and he did not. Flight CCs had some heart-to-heart discussions with them about being realistic; ie, he wasn’t going to get a fighter. When it came to decision time, they made two moves. First, she put Vipers number one and got one. Second, they pulled the trigger and got married. I don’t know how many times I heard him say “we’re hoping I finish up well and the AF does the right thing.” That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He ended up getting what he earned, which was not a fighter. Two years later the divorce was already final. Lessons learned: they were not on the same page. There are realistic aircraft assignments that make it easier, but typically not the most sought-after ones. Really love each other? Have her go to Toners and put KC-135s as number one. That’s true love. If you want fighters: Unless you can both perform well enough to be top third of T-38 track, you are ball-walking. Vipers would be best bet out of sheer numbers, but you’d both better kick ass. With her being 6 months out in front, you’ll realistically have no idea about your own performance before she needs to make decisions (track night, dream sheet). Have her fall off her scooter, break an ankle and roll back a few classes. That’ll increase your ability to make informed decisions. Edited to answer your questions bluntly. What happens to you is a function of (A) your performance and (B) how realistic you two are. I don’t doubt there were rare CCs who bent over backwards, but UPT is the most merit-based system we have. You will not be gifted an assignment if you don’t earn it. Yes, if she gets a rare assignment that hurts your chances. Bases do trade aircraft between them when drops go down, but it’s based on merit. You have more control of your destiny if you target assignments that aren’t as sought after: think FAIP and tankers at the top of that list. You guys need to think about what is top priority: relationship or chasing the dream of a specific aircraft. Having both is low PK.

You’re on point. I rolled my ankle playing hoops at ASBC eons ago. I asked my flight CC if I could skip one or two of their retarded “kill the bunny” exercises and just do everything else because my ankle was black/blue and hurt like hell. It was a bad sprain. After “consulting” with the SQ/CC they thought it best that I just go home and come back again later if I couldn’t do EVERYTHING. I told the captain that he and the CC were clueless (which he didn’t appreciate from a Lt, if you can imagine that), sucked it up and stayed. AF leadership hasn’t changed much in 16 years. Sad.

^^^This

I’ve never been to a naming where neither the CC nor DO were present. If both are unavailable, it gets rescheduled. There’s a reason for that...and it’s what we are talking about right now. Fail

Pawnman, stop fellating me bro. Bashi might get turned on and not know how to handle it. /s

Thanks for the advice. I’m obviously not in the 87th but got the story from someone at XL. Some good dudes got caught up in this, no doubt. Here’s the thing Bashi - sometimes good people fvck up. When that happens, sometimes those good people get canned. Good CCs know how to find the sweet spot between letting people burn the place down and micromanaging the shit out of them. Sounds like someone couldn’t find that sweet spot. Might be a great dude, but by definition not a great CC. Don’t let one of those cloud your judgment of the other. Before you respond that I don’t know all the details - you’re right. I’m not there day-to-day. The details I do know, though, warrant someone getting canned. It’s too bad there was so much collateral damage.

CC or DO is at the naming specifically to prevent some retard fighter FTU washout from naming a chick after her nether region (ESPECIALLY in front of some GO). Pawn man is spot on. Ive been to several roll calls where the boss has told us to rein it in; typically it was warranted. The worst part is, right or wrong, namings will now be verboten in UPT and maybe even other phases of training - all because some dumbass crossed a line and his CC failed to put him in his place.

I stand corrected. Holy shit I can’t imagine the dearth of SA that leads to that. Dumbass must feel great; literally contributed to 3 dudes getting fired. This is precisely why I told my boss a while back that I refuse to act as mayor ever again. Like a fvckin SOF tour.

Went down with the ship. Pure speculation, but maybe the bobs got wind of the incident and knew the two 0-6s didn’t shitcan someone over it. That’s the AF these days. Youre not in the “too big to fail” club til you pin on a star.

Rumor is the last straw was a naming where a female student was named an abbreviation. Think of the worst possible word to call a female and that’s what it was. See you next... If true, I doubt it was the -38 sq. Any fighter pilot who has actually been to a naming before wouldn’t fvck it up that bad. My money is on the toners. Anyone know? CC should have stepped in an nixed it. Just so much stupid all around...again, if true.

Ginsberg is holding on for all she’s worth; no way she retires willingly until the next Dem administration. I chuckle when people whined about the politicization of the court over the past two months. YGBSM. You think it was a coincidence that Souter & Stevens retired under Obama? Did Rehnquist and O’Connor coincidentally retire under W? All this drama with the court shifting barely right (trading conservative swing vote for more conservative justice); imagine what happens if Trump names RBg’s successor. The whining will be unbearable.

You don’t know what you’re talking about. The BMGR, Sells MOA and airspace north of Tucson is already saturated. Fat Amy squadrons at Luke block off two-hour periods (vice the 50-min standard the Viper used to use) of larger Chunks of airspace, and Luke is only getting more jets. Tucson and DM are supposed to be gaining jets in the next 6-9 years. When we call up the daily airspace schedule it’s typically booked solid, and we takeoff NLT 0800. Large pieces of airspace and available airspace are two different things.

Am I the only one who is a guard guy and thinking this dude is a sycophant?

YMMV. My last 3-monther overseas: 75% lodging was $167/NT and scored a furnished apartment for $70/NT. A little effort was worth $100/day. If applied properly it benefited both govt and member: govt by bypassing hotels that automatically set rate right at perdiem max and members willing to put in some small effort to find a (generally) larger place and pocket some cash Stateside, it didn’t work as well because hotels are smart and set govt rates right at perdiem This rule was great for overseas TDYs though, where hotels give zero fvcks about US military perdiem rates.

This is a bad deal for folks who do long TDYs, especially overseas. I’ve done several OCONUS TDYs where I could procure furnished apartments for half of my 75% allotment - and pocket the rest. I never did understand why there was such uproar over this rule. If you actually understood it, and put in a little effort to find something beyond the Hilton/Marriott, you could really make some coin.

Is this all rumor mill or is there a credible source on record?

Meh, I applied for separation mid-July with a separation date of 30 Sep (2.5 months out) and it was approved. Only thing was the VMPF thingy said it needed WG/CC approval if within 6 months. He must have approved. Sep orders in-hand a week later.

The latter happened first, so they turned to the former.

They can't force you to do anything beyond your ADSC, but the choices you're left with may complicate your personal life since you chose to marry an AD chick. I was join spouse for two assignment cycles. The first time, her functional pulled a rabbit out of a hat and matched her to a ground job near me, flying her with a local guard unit (drug deal). The second time, our good deals fell apart due to manning in the Viper world and her lack of IP-ness so we ended up matched to white jets. If they can't get you a job in your MWS near her, they may offer you a white jet near her and try (seems like they've been successful lately) to stick you with the 3-yr ADSC for PIT. You don't HAVE TO take it, you could say no since PCS and/or training ADSC would take you past your UPT commitment. Overwhelmingly when I've seen dudes do this, the AF keeps them at their current assignment for the extra year, often with a 179 or 365 as a "thanks for your service" gift. I've seen a few rare cases where they PCS a dude anyway (to a location that doesn't require re-training/ADSC) and only get the ~1.5 years out of them there. For us Viper dudes, that means Korea. BL - you'd likely end up choosing between (A) staying at your current base and (unless they can delay her PCS) apart from her until you separate, or (B) taking the PIT job and getting stuck with the 3-year ADSC. Footnote - I was one of the lucky ones who got out of the PCS ADSC. When I PCS'd and went to PIT it was contentious but I signed the ADSC paperwork (adding 7 months to my ADSC) based on which battles I chose to fight. When I got to the UPT base, I called the ADSC office at AFPC and put it a magical trouble ticket based on the discussions above. Two weeks later, they whittled back my ADSC to UPT date. Looks like they are not doing that so much, coincidentally the shit has hit the fan with the pilot shortage...likely not a coincidence. Edited to add: ThreeHoler is right - AD was more than fair to me/us when working join spouse stuff. Matching KC-135 and Viper wasn't easy; sounds like your match isn't easy either. That was your choice, not AFPC's.

Guard bonus is better than AD. First and foremost, it’s not an ADSC and can be curtailed if you change your mind. Second, you can sign multiple contracts (newsflash, dollar amounts have been going up, not down). Third, they’re even offering a bonus, albeit smaller, to DSGs who get a full year of MPA. The flexibility far outweighs the negative factor of annual amounts that lag a year behind AD.

Incorrect. What, ~3 form rides in IFF? The only ones that get a dedicated form ride in the FTU are internationals. IFF/ FTU syllabi are built on the assumption that UPT taught them basics, like formation. I left Luke back in the day with almost 100 hrs. Punks now leave with <69 hrs. There is no room in the syllabus for re-visiting basics. When they suck at admin the end up on CAP and unable to do basic employment tasks like running FCR/TGP, using visual references to find a bomb wire or executing a valid threat reaction. There is only room on the iceberg for so many penguins. When students spend so many brain bytes on form/admin, they fvck up many other basic tasks. Worst case, they try to do everything, prioritize the wrong things and run jets together. This has happened and will continue to happen. Having an attitude of “these 20+ Dedicated form rides in UPT aren’t critical, they’ll fix that shit in IFF/FTU” shows that you don’t know what the hell you're talkingg about. Get over the butthurt. It’s not about IP ability/aptitude, it’s about IP skillset/experience.

Blame leadership. The GS-13 positions you speak of ate Title 5 non-dual-status jobs. Every time this comes up, leadership shits on the idea because they have “no control” over a Title 5 guy. If he’s not also mil, what happens when he gets fat or acts like civilian who doesn’t give a shit about drill weekends. What happens to a guy you have to pay overtime rather than just put him on orders? BS reasons for sure, but that’s the rhetoric that gets pushed every time this comes up.