schokie

Well, all the Taliban I've killed would argue I do more than just ride in the backseat. To be fair, killing assholes is my primary job, EWO is is more of a hobby. Minus the eating boogers of course. I just wish Boeing could create a weapon that makes more of a boom and less of this weak new age tech BS. What happened to the MOAB?

What if you're an EWO that flies fighters? Sounds like a double win to me.

Your best bet is to find someone you know in the global based at Mildenhall or Lakenheath. Otherwise Phoenix Taxi can pick you up on base. Round trip train to London plus all day Tube pass will cost about £30-35. Get the express train as it's only a 45 min trip. The base is out in the county, so you need wheels to get somewhere near a train station if you want to venture out.

The Roth is far better for you. The traditional contributions in a tax free month won't be taxed when you withdrawal them, but the earnings on those contributions will be taxed. Since the earnings on the Roth are never taxed when withdrawn, both the contribution and earnings will always be tax free when contributed during a tax free month. You will also have a much lower tax rate on the other Roth contributions during your non-tax free months. The Traditional is useful to lower your taxable income, but you're already doing that by deploying so much. If you're only paying taxes on 2-3 months of income you're probably paying far lower taxes now then you will in the future when you're out of the Air Force and not deploying. That makes the Roth better. I also would like to know if it's possible to roll my regular TSP balance over to the Roth account. Has anybody seen anything on this? My limited research on tsp.gov didn't turn anything up. I'm expecting I would just pay a one-time fee or pay taxes on the balance at my current tax rate. I would like to do that now during a low tax year.

Head, who said head? I'll take some of that. And I did. And it was good. And there was much rejoicing..

Can't wait to try that out. I didn't like the small grip of the subcompact XD, so I'm looking forward to this one. Have you heard if Springfield will be offering mag extenders to allow use of the normal mags from the XD in the XDs like Glock does? Or are the mag wells of different size?

Gotcha, thanks.

LCPA?

Springfield's making a single-stack .45ACP XD? I must have one. I've found the XD45 a bit tough to conceal in shorts and a t-shirt, but if you dress around the gun it normally wears just fine.

So AFPC sees this happen on a regular basis and claims suprise at the number of people who tried to VSP? What's better is their solution is the zero-day, no-notice 365 ITDY. Unbelievable. Well, not unbelievable, but still dissapointing.

A Strike Eagle can hit 28 DMPIs in one pass. Or was that brief just comparing bombers?

I think a P vs DP playing such a large part in the promotion selection is a good thing. In my mind that's how it should be, a CC getting to say "this guy's awesome, this guy's average, this one over here is a dirtbag" and people get promoted accordingly. The problem is when CC's use things like PME and AAD to determine who gets a DP. It's like the chicken and the egg. Do you get a DP because you have your masters and are an SOS DG, or did you finish your AAD and get a DG because you're awesome, which in turn led to the DP? Any exec's have more insight on the DP allocation criteria?

What is more important, booze or guns? That's a tough one to decide.

"Chariot directs ... standby, the general says he'll fly this one himself."

I shot a buddy's 10/22 with the bull barrel and it was an amazing experience. The only downside is it's quite heavy. Not a problem for benchrest shooting, but not really ideal for carrying around in the woods plinking. The Volquartsen action and trigger mod is pretty good, though if you're handy with tools and have the right equipment it's a fairly straightforward job to mod yourself. I did that work on my 10/22 stock action and trigger. The gun goes from good to great with a lighter trigger, less reset, and auto bolt. I highly reccomend the auto bolt mod. You can also buy aftermarket loaders that make it quick and easy to load those 25 round mags in no time.

It makes a big difference which airport you fly out of. The location will change the contract carrier. The same airline will also have different policies depending on which airport you fly out of. They have different pet facilities at different places which drive the changes. The rotator mentioned in the article may not be that helpful. The one that used to fly to EGUN had limited pet spots that booked up quick. My dogs are so large I had to ship them over here as cargo anyway, so this change makes little difference to me. However, it is quite frustrating that the DoD does nothing to help move pets overseas. I can see their point of view, but it doesn't help me calm down the wife who sees the dogs as furry children.

I've only seen them at overseas bases where the 21 y/o drinking laws don't apply anyway. Oddly enough, they all seem to be packed out on Friday/Saturday night anyway.

Theoretically it applies to everyone, but most officers qualify for bigger housing, so you won't be forced in there. The memo said SOME O-3's and below MAY be affected. I don't know what the exact cutoff criteria are though. The best way to find out would be to have your husband call the Housing office via DSN and ask if he'll be affected by this and what the current on-base housing situation is for officers of his grade and number of dependants. You could call yourself commercial, but then you'd have to pay or the international call. PM me if you need the phone number.

I'm at Lakenheath now on my second trip here. I will strongly echo the posts that say ship your stuff early, live off base, and buy a British car. The DEFRA website linked above is a great resource for shipping pets. I shipped two large dogs (100 lb+ ea). I didn't have any trouble, but it wasn't cheap. PM me if you want specifics. Get started on that NOW though. You don't have to put them in a kennel here for 6 months, but it is still a 6 month process. I brought a Ford Escape over here before. It was like driving an Expedition in the States. Certainly doable, but parking lots and back roads are a pain in the ass. My suggestion is have the AF ship your car and have your husband buy a used car from the lemon lot. You can then decide later which you prefer. Don't live on base. The less you have to do with the housing office the better. They are not there to help you. They are a empire building organization with a bureaucracy that exists to save the taxpayers money at your expense. Yes, I'm a little bitter. Living off base means I have little to do with them. Also, getting base housing doesn't mean you'll live on base. You could find yourself living in a house off base provided for free. Additionally, there is old crappy housing that the base can't get rid of. There's a new push to get people to live there, so be prepared. They offer the crappy house to you, and if you refuse they turn off TLA and refuse to pay OHA. Which means rent is entirely on your own dime with no housing allotment. That effects the E-1 to E-6 crowd, but an O-2 or O-3 might get burned as well. Hopefully that housing surplus will be cleared out by the time you get here. Check out www.rightmove.co.uk for a great house hunting resource. I second the recommendations for Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge. The further you get from base the more house you get for your money. I live half an hour from base and have a decent yard with a large house by American standards. My wife and I had committed to living out in the country though with our large dogs. We've got a 2 year old girl who we send to British day care once or twice a week. When she turns 3 we can get a voucher to send her to a local school. We can also wait until she's normal school age and send her to the Kindergarten on base. Lakenheath has a normal American school system. What I've found causes the most frustration for people is expecting it to be just like the US. While it is a first world Western country, they move at a slower pace than in the US with reduced hours. Don't expect to have companies falling over themselves to get your internet installed tomorrow or being able to go to Walmart to shop at midnight. It's an awesome opportunity and it sounds like you're taking advantage of the great resources here. PM me if you have detailed questions.

Just to clear up a couple misconceptions here. 1) The fuel gage in the jet isn't like it is in your car. It doesn't show fractions of a tank, it shows thousands of pounds, and just a totalizer at that. So there is no way to determine how much gas you recieved without subtracting your remembered pre-AR total from the post-AR total. Reporting that in fractions of a tank requires more work, not less. 2) A topoff isn't just a quick couple thousand pounds. It means fill it up till it don't take no more. So a topoff for a Strike Eagle could easily be 25K each. So other than listing that I took gas, telling you it was a topoff gives you no idea how much gas I took.

Thanks for the help. I will debrief myself appropriately.

When you're searching the requirements it's not always clear what's available. You have to search in very general terms. Also, keep in mind a job description may not always match the AFSC listed. I've seen USAFE staff jobs listed under "A-10 pilot", but when you read the description you'll see that they just want a fighter guy, not specifically an A-10 dude. So search for any AFSC similar to yours and see what you get. Here's a link for the AFPC CAF assignments page: https://afkm.wpafb.af.mil/community/views/home.aspx?Filter=23014 You need a CAC reader to access if not using a DOD computer. It's got a bunch of great info on requirements to be filled and job opportunities. If you're not CAF, never mind.

The F-15E FTU hasn't been at Luke since over 15 years ago. It is now at Seymour Johnson AFB in NC. Expect 2 months for IFF and 10 months for the FTU. You'll also need to factor in a couple months here and there for PCSing and training dates not matching up perfectly. Example, I graduated Pcola in April, and made it to my first ops squadron in June of the next year. That was several years ago, so the timeline may have changed slightly.

I PCS'd a year about a year ago with a TDY enroute and agree with the above. I will caution you on the DITY (or PPM or whatever it is now) to your TDY location. You can only take 600 pounds plus pro gear TDY. I took a whole trailer with me and didn't get paid for the excess.

Careful with that advice. Such an action might just be what it takes to prompt them to bring in crossing guards from the local elementary school.