zach braff

I recently received an 80% rating. Filed BDD claim in May, retired in September, award received in late December. I worked with a VSO and contrary to some experiences on this thread mine was excellent. We went through my records, he offered his recommendations which I mostly agreed with but did not claim everything. For example he saw a mandatory mental health screening and without details he listed that in his draft, but I'd never been seen for an actual issue so didn't feel right about including it and pulled it from the app (oddly enough my comprehensive exam doc added added a follow on mental health appointment but I didn't receive any rating for it). Ultimately I had one 50% rating, another 20%, and several 10%s that worked out to 80%. There were also several 0%s but that remain in my file. In the end I was a little surprised but there wasn't any gaming of the system and I used only what was in my records and offered honest explanations during my appointments. One note... they denied my claim for dependents which I'm having to re-file for and should be fixed shortly. Should have included marriage & birth certificates in my app it seems. TLDR: Long process but ultimately what appears to be a fair rating based on VA's guidelines and my records, albeit a little higher than I expected. ZB

So Finance took my retirement/sep package, signed off my outprocessing and issued my Terminal Leave #. Then did nothing. Literally... nothing. Just happened to find out that no record of my retirement existed in the finance system while inprocessing for a new GS gig I've started at the local base (thanks to a solid NCO at the desk I just happened to be chatting with). This was two days prior to my official separation date. Now trying to unfvck from my gmail address with my previous servicing finance office. Not fun. Had I not happened to find this out due to my new job I wonder how long I would have been waiting and wondering about my final pay and retirement pay starting. Anyway, don't trust the signed off checklist. Stay on these guys when you separate. zb

Super info. Might you have the reg or other law/statute that cites this? In my case my perception is that the hiring office bringing me on doesn't quite know the process and I'm going to have to walk them through it. zb

Anyone familiar with or been through the process of a 180-day waiver for going direct into GS employment after retirement? I got offered a perfect post USAF gig pending approval of a 180-day waiver. Just curious if the waiver is a pretty smooth process or if it’s anything I should be sweating. Not putting all the eggs in that basket and still taking a couple other non-government industry interviews while I wait out the process, but really wanting the GS gig to work out. It’s not as much money but it’s doing some cool stuff. Appreciate any knowledge y’all might drop! zb

Thoughts/insight on the 3 years to retire in rank for O-5 and up rule? Was thinking about punching at the 20 mark next year as I’m in a great position right now to transfer over to industry at my current location and keep the fam stable. However, if I do I’ll be at only 2yrs 8 mos as an O-5 and as I read the rules that would mean I’d retire in the rank of major. I don’t mind having a few months of O-4 in the high-3 pay calculation but still wish to retire in the rank I earned. Any avenues on getting the requirement waived? In my case extension isn’t really an option in my current gig and I’m obviously not keen on taking another PCS or remote just to cover for four months to meet the O-5 retirement rule... PCS would likely be to command which is generally two years. zb

Virus Tolls Similar Despite Governors’ Contrasting Actions Corona gonna Corona zb

Is this Baseops or the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook?

Pretty sure I rode with this same dude in SF earlier this year. It was such a great story, I only wish there more cases like his than of those who were killed/imprisoned trying to gain the asylum they’d earned. zb

Having his scathingly critical DEOCS posted publicly to Facebook certainly didn’t help him. Once the world saw that it was only a matter of time I’m sure. zb

I have maxed the waist measurement points and scored mid-high 90s (with a few 100s sprinkled in) on every fitness test I’ve taken since 2008. But if you get a pic me from the wrong angle - namely this on-stage side-angle/face-forward pose, I could easily end up the laughing stock of the Air Force amn/nco/snco page as the fatty mcfatface officer who should have been kicked out years ago. My point: these uniforms do not mix well with certain profile shots. zb

I’m a FAO serving a FAO tour and I fully agree on your #1 and #2. That said, I think the FAO Fellowship (in-res for all FAOs) may have backfired on its creators. Since everyone who does FAO deliberate training gets it, it becomes devalued. Mind you I don’t think too much weight should be put on in-res anyway, but which do you think a SR will value more? The guy/gal competitively selected by the DE board for an IDE program/equivalency or the 16F whose SURF says in-res simply because they qualified as a 16F? Better would be to go back to the old system - FAO training (and certain other programs/fellowships/etc) are eligible for equivalency, but you still have to be selected by the DE panel. Yes this would mean not all FAOs get the cool in-res mark on the SURF, but those that earn it would match equally against their in-res peers. zb

Boss called me to the office today. Made the O-5 cut. PRF was a P, not even a Super P. PRF that wasn’t great but records under it were good and definitely undercuts the “only the bottom line matters” theory (mine was meh), but it still worked out thankfully. Anyway, cheers to those who made it. Sorry to those who didn’t. USAF gonna USAF and we can all find our way regardless - lord knows I had my backup plan lined up if it hadn’t worked out. ZB

It's been updated since. Board adjourned 22 March I think, so about three weeks. Two weeks is the average so with some of the new guidance/experiments three weeks checks. I'll bet it takes a bit longer for release tho - my guess is late July/early August. zb

The MyPers board status states current as of 29 March, with the O-5 board still not showing as adjourned. Longest board ever? Perhaps due to all the additional exercises they’re doing based of the Corona decisions... zb

Just got mine back... Got a P with bottom line #2/5 I/APZ, no “my next DP,” but command/SDE/Definitely Promote. Not having the “my next DP” kinda sucks but if DP allocation was indeed 45% and we only had two IPZs that would make sense. Playing a fun gamble as the new guy with an Army SR thousands of miles away who I’ve never met. Feels kinda like when you’ve put a couple hundred on black and now the roulette wheel is spinning for the next couple months until the results drop! I’m cautiously optimistic as I’ve got IDE in-res and a top OPR with a hard Maj strat in the top 10% of the wing plus hard rank (or “CGO”) strats on nearly every OPR. Still - if I don’t make the cut that opens up a lot of options as well. Looking forward to this summer’s list and good luck to all! zb

No worries - but as a comm dude I'll second 17D guy... AFSPC sucks. The network and cyber stuff will be much better with ACC.

USFJ just added on a curfew of 0000-0500 for all military, in addition to the alcohol ban. I never would have imagined I'd say this, but if anyone over there needs a little freedom come on out to Korea. Soju flows freely til 0100! zach braff

Just want to make sure all my fighter buddies know what they're up against if the sh-t goes down. Check out this North Korea Pilot Training video... These dudes should not be taken lightly. ZB

Check a few posts ago - was direct from AFPC's .mil site. It's on the main portal now as well. https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1309770/air-force-announces-100-percent-promotion-opportunity-to-major/

Ref the article on the program from the then O-5 (now O-6, maybe the program worked). It was written as advice from AFPAK Hands towards standing up APAC Hands - same program but for the Pacific. I remember hearing about APAC Hands and even reading homeboy's article, but it looks like the Navy was the only service that has rolled with the APAC program. I'd do that one for a few years and build some relationships over Mai Thais and sushi on the beaches across Asia. ZB

Made my day when I saw the news this week. It will be a good thing to have the network run by a community that understands there is more of a mission than just the network. Perhaps my cries of "your nonsensical fvcking rules are hurting my wing's ability to launch jets" might fall on an ear that gives a sh-t. zb

Maybe not the best way to do so, but I think I see where the kid was going here. With the new C2 construct we have to fight for what limited resources we can get to fix issues, and it appears this squadron might be trying to prioritize based on mission. If he uses this data to gain a higher priority for your ticket (vs. the personnelist who has a ticket because facebook is slow), you may get your sh-t fixed faster. Probably could have been better staffed/advertised in your wing though. Of course they should probably know most of this stuff already... In our sq we have a standing rule that units directly involved in our wing's core missions get priority, however, at this point very few of our major issues/tickets can be handled in house. We have a good pic internally of what missions are out there and impact of these tickets to provide when we have push them up, but sometimes we try to get a better picture so we can fight to have 24 AF actually fix our sh-t instead of letting it sit in a black hole. Again - just trying to give the kid the benefit of the doubt...looks like they may have the right idea, but an approach that needs work. Or he could be an idiot (or worse have idiot leadership), but there may be another side to the story. A call to the Sq/CC or DO should fix easily. ZB

We are pissed off. Basically AFSPC added a new layer in between your base comm squadrons and the 24 AF units that have the majority of actual control over the network. So we're not allowed to call the squadrons that do all the network sh-t that affects our base anymore. We have to go through our MAJCOM - thing is, they didn't tell the MAJCOMs about this, they just up a did this sh-t on 1 February. Most MAJCOMs have a reporting cell to provide network SA and mission impact to the A3 & CC, but they are not resourced to control/coordinate...well, AFSPC has decided they'll have to do it anyway.

Maaaaan I knew there wasn't gonna be a bonus. Oh sure, eventually they'll drop something but forgive me if I was skeptical from the moment I saw this even as the rest of the career field is flipping out. I got nothing else to do so I'll take it but I doubt I'll be eligible now as I'm edging within a couple months of what the initial stated eligibility was. Hope you're able to enjoy it if you're sticking around though! zb

Lstcause257. The cutoff date would be whatever date your SR signs your PRF. All items in the PRF are supposed to be cited from OPRs, TRs, DECs, but SRs always have wiggle room. So if you have a big award or something, it shouldn't be a problem. Your wing may have their own process, but an MFR from your CC stating the award (with documentation like the official announcement) going up with your PRF package should cover it. I had a few items in my PRF and previous RRFs that were recent and not-yet in OPRs and there were no issues at the MFR or at the board. Good luck. zb