schokie

Does Scott Bakula count?

I'm not defending Big Blue. The AF absolutely screwed over quite a few folks, otherwise this conversation wouldn't be happening. I don't agree with every single thing Gen Welsh said, but I am excited about most of his ideas and goals. The skepticism and doubts that some have expressed are perfectly valid. I'm not terribly optimistic myself, but I do believe that he presents the best chance we currently have for lasting positive change.

He said this a bit tongue in cheek. I didn't mean to present it out of context. I admit I was a bit taken back as well when he first said it, but his point was that leadership never set out to deceive any one. Folks were sent to the RPA world in 2006 and told it would only be a 2.5-3 year assignment. Many of those people are still there. The caps we were flying then and the resources we had supported the 2.5-3 year claim. Then the number of caps quickly increased far beyond what AF leadership anticipated, which screwed people in the RPA world. Truth is truth, but the planning assumptions changed. The AF wasn't able to keep its word to certain RPA pilots, but that doesn't mean there was some general somewhere saying "gotcha, bitch!". Someone asked the question that assuming all these changes occur, what's to prevent the next asshole from changing them? Gen Welsh mentioned how quickly the master's policy was reversed before and he's keeping that in mind. His goal is to put mechanical blocks in the system, such as the one mentioned for SOS enrollment, to discourage CCs from working around the policy's intent and to make it difficult and time consuming for another general to reverse in the future.

Update from the brief: He talked for about an hour, then took questions. I've never met the man before, just heard about him from others. I left quite impressed with him and proud to be in his MAJCOM. The bro's I talked with afterward are hopeful that he'll be CSAF one day. He talked about alot of topics, but I'll just hit the highlights. If you've got questions on a particular topic or answer, please ask and I might be able to remember more of what was said. Problem: Fighter pilot retention. Pilot retention overall isn't ideal, but not bad. 11F trends however anticipate by 2020 there will be a shortfall of over a 1,000 fighter pilots. That's why he had the focus he did. I interpreted the stats to say that he heard from more than 200 people, but only about half were 11Fs. He said he did read every single response, and he's putting them into a booklet form that he will give to other MAJCOM CC's. He said since many of the responses were from other commands, those 4-stars might want to know about them too. Trends: He said there was no overall one trend. Many people wrote in saying "Boss, here's the one thing you need to fix to make everything better". However they were all different and in some cases contradictory. He said one person wrote saying that WIC grads are being passed over for rank and gucci assignments because they're too busy in the vault for PME and AAD. Another person from the exact same squadron wrote in saying that the problem was WIC grads get all the good deals and the rest of us get the dregs. He didn't comment on the validity of either point, only mentioned it to show that everyone had a different perspective and different reason. Overall there were 7 main trends, the top three being PME&Masters, Assignments, and Manning. He said he was interested to find that only 3-4 people mentioned the RIF. PME&Masters: He agreed these were bullshit. He said he though the same when he was a Lt. He polled 13 other 4-stars and all but one of them agreed that AADs before Lt Col were right out. They presented this to the CSAF and are pushing the change, but apparently it requires SECAF support. Standby to standby. He claimed credit for getting rid of ASBC. He's aware the length of SOS increased. AU had the excuse that they have a list of 149 different required learning objectives that must be taught in BDE, which is why SOS had to grow. He told them to give him the list because he's "pretty sure I can trim that down some for you". Expect SOS to change as well. He is pushing for your records to only reflect that you completed SOS, not whether you went in res or not. To prevent group and wing leadership from making people do it twice, he is trying to place a block in the system that will prevent someone with a slot for in-res to enroll or complete SOS in correspondence. His goal is 100% in res completion with no correspondence. This one is still in the works, but he claims other 4-star backing and is taking it to Corona. Assignments: He's aware TAMI21 was a kick in the nuts. He said the AF didn't lie to anyone, but the truth changed. The scope and need for the UAV changed drastically from the 2006 to now. The need isn't going away, so the only way to immediately solve the UAV manning problem is to reduce supply. The SECDEF emphatically told the CSAF "thou shalt not reduce supply". He said the CSAF is stuck in a tight spot and it eats him up that he has to do this to people. There isn't much he can do about this one. Manning, or doing more with less: Manning draw downs are the nature of the beast. This will not change. What can change is what we're required to do. He has assembled a list of taskings in USAFE that people think are BS. He made a top 10 list and has his vice working on them. Common kickbacks from queep masters were "We'd love to not do that, but AFI69-### says..." He said "I'm the USAF CC, I'm pretty sure I can change an AFI". If he thinks it's a bullshit tasking that is costing dudes on the line time, he wants it gone. He knows there's a disconnect of yes-men in the middle, so he's having regular meetings with wing cc's to stay on top of this. He's going to take all these things and keep pushing them. He said he's not afraid to keep bringing them up to higher ups because "I'm a 4-star general, I'm not worried about getting promoted anymore". There was a lot more he talked about with many other interesting comments, but these were the highlights as I saw them. Was there anything else someone was looking forward to hearing about?

He'll be at my base later this week. I'll let you know what he has to say.

A copy of Boddinton's Bitter that I brewed myself. I'd give it a 8/10. It would give it a 9/10 if it was slightly more bitter and the cranium retention was better. I think it might get there though with another week or two conditioning in the bottle. I'll second the recommendation for Chimay Red. The only thing better is Chimay Blue!

I'll be there! Not fortunate enough to be there for the entire show though.

Agreed. When I was a Lt I wouldn't salute a Capt that was in a bag, but if I was in the BX parking lot I would salute a Capt or Maj that was in BDUs. It certainly wasn't that I respected treesuiters more than flyers, just that I was aware that different communities and areas of base have different 'standards' for C&C. And as nsplayer mentioned, the last thing I wanted as a Lt was to get shit on by the Boss because he got shit on by his boss because of something I did. I don't see this as someone not caring about C&C or military tradition. We of all people can appreciate military tradition since we're always bitching about out the AF doesn't seem to care about it. It has more to do with the bro level way of life and the group dynamics of a flying squadron. The way I as a Capt interact with a Maj or Lt Col is my squadron is not at all the same way those ranks would interact in the Army, or even in the Comm Sq. No rank in the jet, no rank in the debrief, and no rank in the bar naturally leads to an attitude of no rank in the office or the parking lot. Not saying it's bad, just saying that's the way things are in the flying world. But when it comes down to respecting rank, we all understand flight discipline and the way the military functions. Our way is not the only way, nor is it best for everyone else.

I'm eating pork all day to celebrate!

Kenneling costs due to customs regulations (like in the UK) are reimbursable, but the actual shipment is not. Trust me, I wish it was. I just had two Great Pryenees shipped to the UK and my wallet will never recover.

I've shot my buddy's Saiga 12 several times. Birdshot doesn't provide enough recoil to reliably operate the action. I experienced multiple jams shooting #8 shot. But with slugs or 00 buck there were no problems. The semi auto action does a great job soaking up recoil. I could shoot slugs all day with that thing. Can't do that with my Mossberg 535. Walmart sells value packs of slugs and buck in Winchester, so if you shop smart cost isn't too bad. But I imagine you're not looking to use this as a skeet gun anyway. There's a crap-ton of upgrades and people offering mods for it. It's definitely on my list of guns to buy, but I've got a Garand and a few 1911s ahead of it.

Except for the fact that his wife was 27 years older than him. Maybe he was regretting that?

I have absolutely zero desire for an MBA at any point in my life. I would like to be competitive for a technical IDE such as AFIT. I'll admit my ignorance and lack of research on this topic. Would it be more worth while to take the GRE than the GMAT? Doesn't the education office refund part of the cost of the test? ETA: What else can be done to make yourself competitive for non-ACSC IDE? I imagine having great OPRs, lots of Strats, and high undergrad GPA is the key. Since I don't have any of those am I just SOL?

All the L funds put some money in bonds. For the further out funds that percentage is fairly small. As you get closer to the end date of the fund the percentage in bonds increases while the percentage in stocks decreases. It's all about balancing the risk. I agree with you that a younger person could comfortably invest most of their money in stocks, but it's foolish to not diversify your risk. Different risk levels are required as well as different types of stocks. If you take an active role in managing your allocations you stand a good chance to beat the L funds. But they're a great option for someone who doesn't have the time or desire to do the research and the constant upkeep required to maximize their investment. The forums at TSPcenter.com have several great threads discussing the L funds in detail.

I haven't seen it in writing either, but I was told the same thing from TMO doing my outprocessing briefing at Randolph. The lady said it was actually a good thing, since it meant the movers couldn't just throw it on the truck without special handling. Any idea what the cap on TV replacement value is? My TV wasn't cheap and the UK doesn't have a lot of Best Buys that take real American money. AAFES sucks. Hopefully it won't be an issue.

I'm in the middle of an overseas PCS right now and I shipped a 60" plasma. I'll let you know in a couple weeks how it fared. I didn't keep the original packing, but the movers made a custom crate for it. There's some bad gouge out there that you can't get full replacement value for a plasma, but that's not true. Not sure if it was ever true. You get FRV for everything, regardless if it was shipped in the original packaging. One key though is to make sure the packers verify it works when packing and annotate that on the forms. Otherwise they might try claiming that it never worked to begin with you try to claim damages.

Randolph has an MOA with the La Quinta for reduced rates since they send so many people there. The folks at Lodging interpret that as Contract Lodging. The memo that Finance Guy posted earlier in this threat specifically mentions this type of situation and states that it is still considered Commercial Lodging. However, it notes that the traveler is still obligated to exercise prudent judgment and not incur additional cost for the government. The folks at Lodging use the plain english definition of Contract, not the AFI version. That's where the confusion is. That being said, there are multiple hotels in the San Antonio area that offer Government Rates that are competitive with the La Quinta and are better quality establishments. You shouldn't have any problems finder a better hotel at similar rates.

The Randolph Lodging staff are morons. I've had this fight with them multiple times. The bottom line is they do not understand the definition of 'Contract Lodging'. Stay where you want to and you'll be reimbursed up to the local rate, not the on base rate. I've given up on them and just do what I want. No problems yet, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Did he ask you what a C-17 looked like when you told him that's what you flew?

This is something I have yet to determine. At want point are we allowed to swear? I feel like I'm stuck in Dante's version of Kindergarten.

I've heard an urban legend that someone tried that once. The problem is that if you auto respond to the listserv it sends another email to you since you're on the list. It then starts the cycle of autoresponding to yourself as fast as the system can handle, which very quickly becomes not fast at all. What was once a great idea now chokes the base email server into submission. While some might argue that's actually a good thing, you probably won't be one of them when leadership is mad at you. I think the idea of autoresponding a 'noted' or 'thanks!' to whoever sent the email is great, I just don't want someone to get too eager and accidentally take one for the team here.

It sounds like you're in the same situation I am. I've got a final out scheduled in 7 days for an overseas PCS and I don't have orders yet either. This FY transition gave AFPC the bright idea that they should be the only entity to cut orders. Your local MPF is no help. The good news is that there is a way to expedite the orders. I put in my request yesterday, so I can't tell you if this actually works. But here's an email I got from my DO yesterday.

This is what I get for procrastinating on buying an M1. Thanks! I love how no one wants to take the credit for making the decision. Fox News Link

I've got an 'Infidel Air Pirate' patch, a throwback to the Yankee Air Pirates of Nam. Doesn't mean I'm comparing myself to the Thud drivers. Maybe the guy was just being ironic?

Your link says FBI, but it actually takes you to Military Corruption. That's one site that hasn't given up on her. However, they demonstrate shoddy journalism, a website design that hurts the eyes, and don't substantiate their sources. They make the AF Times look like Pulitzer Prize winning media outlet. MC is essentially the National Enquirer for the military.