Dupe

Married filing joint is virtually always the most beneficial for tax purposes. The only reason to file married filing seperate is if you're seperated and want to screw your spouse over (a number of decent credits are not availible to those filing MFS).

The free version of TaxCut is not intended for financialy well-to-do captains and majors. Its meant for an E-4 who's married with kids. Your VITA office on base can do more complicated returns (to include trickiness such as foreign earned-income, capital gains, and rental properties)for free if you make the time for it. Also, the VITA office can do your state return whereas TaxCut really just seems like a marketing trick to get you to pay for the software working up your state return.

I've now seen TIMS, PEX, and COOL. COOL is the best, but I've ultimately seen each software product 'bypassed' with magnetic pucks and dry-erase markers. I'm entirely convinced that 'big board' sheduling is the best way to see the schedule. Maybe someday, large touch screens will be cheap enough for this purpose.

I was quite surprised that the Eagle in Cambridge, UK didn't make the overseas list. Not only does the pub have a room essentially dedicated to Allied flyers, it was also the place where Francis Crick first announced the discovery of DNA. Stop in if you're passing through Moldyhall or on a good Lakenheath boondoggle.

Does anyone else use/heard of COOL? It's an Edwards system that essentially has the same goals as PEX, but it actually works. I had a jaundiced-eye when I was trained on the system, but I'm now a huge fan to the point where I think the AF should scrap PEX and go with this system.

It's not that hard. I passed the FACT, and I'm a scrawny bastard. All it took was a few months of gym time to build up to it. The hurdle of being not an idiot is much higher than the hurdle of passing the FACT. ....Just one WSO's opinion.

They covered the UK when I was there and even had a London office with a free-phone number. Unfortunately, they're only an insurance company in Europe, so you'll have to use Communist(Community) Bank to exchange your currency to pay your non-US dollar bills.

Make sure you plan for the tranist time on your vehicle. You can either bum/rent before you PCS or throw your car to the shipper, jump on the airplane, and ship/rent while you wait for your car on the other end. Either way, it takes about 60-90 days to get your car accross.

Anyone else besides me think that the tradition should be updated? Back in the '40s, a silver dollar was a big deal...that was a dinner and a beer. Now, a couple 20-spots may be better than a coin that most folks would give their kids as a neat trinket. Other thoughts are maybe a silver dollar from the turn of the century (worth $25-$40), a bottle of booze (okay...a little tough to put in your pocket), or an AAFES gift card. As a sidebar for fighter dudes: I think the "Standard Bomb Bet" needs to be updated as well. Back in the day, the best way to ensure bombing success was to be on parameters and pickle at the appropriate time. The guys with the most quarters were the guys with the best physical flying skills. With the advent of system deliveries, it is no longer the pilots with the best skills that make the quarters but he who flies the jet with the the tightest radar, the best INS alignment, the most recent TGP boresight, and who has the best batch of BDU-33s is the one who has the tallest chip stack. On top of that, combat deliveries are now exclusively PGMs that are not as sensitive to parameters but much more dependent on things that don't even enter the BDU-33 range brief like laser spot placement, lase-time, TLE, or target coordinate category. My experience is that good procedures and being decently on parameters will get a BDU-33 inside the HAT every time and will occasionally, luck-dependent, get a shack. Buffonery will still generate buffonerous results. Bottom line is that I don't think the accuracy of system-delivered BDU-33s correlates well with aviating ability or trains crews well for combat success thus making the bet a side game and not much more. A new bomb bet should still punish buffonery and reward success but take the "bent fin" factor out. There is one area, however, where parameters still matter: Strafe. If you're going to lay down 20 or 30 mike-mike danger close, you damn well better be on parameters. An updated bomb bet needs to reflect this. All this said, here's my opinion on what the "Standard Bomb Bet" for the 21st century should be: For all BDU-33 deliveries: $1 a foul/gross error, $1 a shack...nothing else. When you move over to the strafe rag, go nickel a bullet if the range can do accoustic scoring. If not, revert to $1 a hit. The new standard bet will reinforce good/bad behavior and may even get you a burger and a beer if you have a good day. Ok...maybe that was more than a side-bar. Still...feel free to PM me with spears or your thoughts.

These people ship APO and you know they're serious because they're from MN: Midwest Home Brewing and Wine Making Supplies

I don't know...maybe it will work. The threat of revoking Federal Student Loans got quite a few college employment offices to reinvite recruiters back onto their pitch. At the same time, I have a big issue with using education funding as a carrot (granted..most of the money isn't education funding...but why include it?). Its the political equivalent of divorcing parents spinning their kids against each other.

Counter point to my own arguement: the initial article said that $2.1 million in Federal funding was in jeopardy. Of that, about a third is for a ferry service, and roughly 15% for school lunch programs. It didn't say what the rest of the money was directed towards.

This may come as a shocker: not everyone in Berkeley is an uber-liberal. Some folks are just working to get by. The "precious brat-ass children" probably have parents who are able to give them $15 lunches of humus, organic carrots, and bottled mineral water from Norway. It's the low income kids who have to eat what ever Norma the lunch lady throws in the fryer at school. These are the kids that will be hurt if the bill passes. Thankfully, I think the bill is just a political shot over the bow and unlikely to make it out of committee. Targeting children is usually not a way to win support for your cause and generally provides more fodder for the other side.

Does anyone else think Rep DeMint's idea is equally silly? Sure, Berkeley's actions are pretty dumb and short-sighted (this isn't really news). However, I don't think targeting public school nutrition programs is really that wise. Let's face reality: the kids using public school nutrition (nor their parents) in Berkeley don't have much to do with the anti-military fight. They are really the most likely to join the Marines in a few years.

Thanking a troop would require talking to a stranger. Here in Britain, that's not seen as sign of kindness...its more a sign of insanity, extreme emergency, or that one is a Yank. Anyone who's experienced the London Tube system knows what I mean.

I'm glad our squadron spent 10 grand on a smart board a couple of years ago. This guy (guy = PhD at Carnegie Mellon) made one using a Wii controller, some radio shack components, and a $0.15 Bic pen.

They usually don't have a great location within the airport (they also probably don't pay rent...). Atlanta's is on the the 2nd floor above a food court just before security in one of the terminals. It's in and among a bunch of administrative offices. Indy's is by the baggage claim and is easily camoflaged as a "lost luggage" office.

Here's my personal USO rule: -Pop is a $1 donation -cookies are a $0.50 donation. As a Lt or better, please make sure you give a couple bucks to the USO while you're there.

For every cherry Lambic in Belgium, you can find a great ale like Chimay or Duval. There's one good function for a fruit beer: getting your girlfriend/wife drunk so that you can continue to enjoy your beer.

1. Chimay (Belgian) 2. Leffe (Belgian) 3. Landlord (English) 4. London Pride (English) 5. Spitfire (English) If you've done the Oktoberfest thing and spent some time in English pubs, your next stop should be Belgium. So many incredible beers there. I'm at the point now where I hate returning to the states just because of the lack of great beers.

Environmentalism is a bigger concern in the UK than it is in the US. Is it rediculous to the average American Chevy pick-up driving USAF flyer? Probably. However, if you're a citizen of a small yet crowded island nation, you have more of a vested interest in keeping the overall environment usable. I'm not saying they're right...just that their collective national priorities are not the same as ours. As a side note, I like English tobacco warning labels much more than the American ones. We've all seen the twelve paragraphs of 6.9 point font legal spew they slap on a pack of my beloved US-marketed Marb Reds. Here, they simply say "Smoking Kills" in writing that can be viewed from space.

Do you want a bar, but your squadron doesn't have one? Here's the solution: build one. Get your Lts together on a weekend, buy the keg first, and go to town. Once the boss sees the bros having a good time, it will be tough for him to say "tear that down." The bar is your sanctuary from all things silly and queepy. A good LPA can get anything done. Anything.

When I went through, AF dudes were not allowed to be "stashed." You just showed up twice a week or whatever and spent the rest of the time hanging on the beach and goofing off.

If you ever get the time, read the "Dear Boss" letter. Its amazing how little has changed (or how the pendulum swings) in the AF from the early 70s to now.

Our squadron has an "honorary squadron commander" who happens to be a guy who runs an aviation museum that operates one of the few remaining flying Spitfires in the world. He donated an hour flight in the Spit to our snacko fund. Our snacko then auctioned off the ride for $20 per ticket. We made about three grand on it. Maybe if you know or run into someone with a similar hook-up, you can work it.