zach braff

Somebody get the tater tots and star wars decorations. Otherwise this will suck for the officers pulling extra duty to make up for these 37 taken off the red button.

I think he's comm (cyber). VSP Eligible. I'll bet he was under investigation for something else and fled. Nobody would desert when they could wait a couple months and take $90K. I wouldn't think.

Or you kick out the prior e because they're a lot closer to collecting a retirement check for life. And a much larger percent of the prior-Es are in for the long haul - get 'em now before they can make the lifetime check. Paying a few grand now is better than 1.5 mil later... Not that I think either is a factor, but if it were - it would probably make more sense to cut the prior-E guy/gal. zb

Good luck with VSP. And for the remaining RIF survivors - what will the promotion board look like? They'll have just cleared out the bottom folks - if they keep promotion rates the same (or reduced) it could get be lot more competitive next Dec - now you'll need a masters, SOS and a Deid "I pushed paper and won the war" bronze star! zb edited for posted three times...wierd

I transferred my USAA Roth to Vanguard this past autumn. It took about a month but it was no trouble. I did the application online with a rep on the phone, then mailed the paperwork. One day about 3-4 weeks later I had no money in USAA and a bunch in Vanguard. Didn't have to do anything on the USAA end. After the transfer you have to do one more ID verification with Vanguard before you can deposit/trade any more $$$, but you can do it by email. Super easy. So while we're on the net worth game - I started late after making a few dumb mistakes in my 20s. Now sitting okay but lots of catchup to do. Age 35 with about $75K(ish) between IRAs, TSP, kiddo's 529 and cash. No debt, good or bad (car is paid off, CCs paid each month, not a homeowner so no mortgage). Comm cyber O-3 with no bonus or flight pay, but pulling a little extra cash being overseas right now. Now I'm maxing IRAs for me & wife, plus loading the TSP & 529 as best I can. I'm not a very "active" money guy so my strategy is put as much away before I ever see it (via allotments & automatic deposits) - then I treat my checking account like I'm still in college - have as much fun as I can with it and zero that beeyoch out every month. zb

So actually, she's not the disgusting human being I don't think - she's just telling us about the disgusting human beings out there. This is from a few years ago - as I recall she's actually an artist using satire to poke at the ridiculous state of welfare, especially in California. Everything she says is true, but she's not the one doing it. She just used this (and her awesome video - "It's Free, Swipe Yo EBT" - google it) to call attention to it. Although I don't have time to go back and look up the specific references - that's just what I remember. I think. zb edited for found the snopes here's some details on it - but yeah it was made in fun then took off... https://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/parasites.asp

So all the improvements seen since 2005 are comm-related. Incidentally, I entered the AF as a comm officer in 2005. Yeah, that makes sense then I guess. Hehe. zb

StoleIt - If you read the article, Cpl Tejeba was actually called hot, and thus a bad example to use with PA articles. I'll bet she's okay with it.

Not guilty (per AF Crimes breaking news of FB). Does this mean he'll be reinstated into his former job?

Can't speak for IDEs but second that on DLI. I did Japanese there. Any of the Cat IV languages will beat you silly, but the Korean department has a special reputation... It takes a lot of self-motivation, but luckily Korean has a lot of practical use so you're gaining a life skill which is very cool. You'll be envied by many of the students learning less useful languages. Here's a video made by the Korean students that will give you an idea (made during the Psy Gangnam style craze last year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyvqQU0o4Hk And Monterey (and that whole area - PG, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Santa Cruz, Capitola...) is absolutely beautiful with tons to see and do. Study hard during the week, enjoy the area on the weekends. I had a great tour there even with the intense study schedule. PM if you want more info - I just left there a couple months ago so my info is fairly current. zb edited because I remembered the video those kids made while I was there

The board delay should only delay the actual pin-on by a few months. If the board were held next month as originally planned, guys would get results in late March, then wait until probably Feb-Mar 2015 to start pin ons (for the early line numbers). Now the board will be in December 14, with results in late March 15 but pin ons probably starting in April-May 2015. End result will hopefully be only a 2-3 month delay in pin on. However, to your point - if your AFPC team assigns you based on your projected rank that is almost an extra year of not being a projected major. zb

I am aware - just surprised how much they closed the gap.

The '03 maj select list is projecting about 13 months to clear through. At that rate the '04 guys will be exhausted before the '05 results are released (if '05's board is in December with results in March). If I'm lucky enough to get picked up, considering a January date of rank I should have a couple weeks to finish ACSC and check the "ACSC complete before maj pin on" box. ;-) Not complaining - just interesting how quick the pendulum will swing from guys (and gals, and transgenders) waiting 18-24 months to pin on to what may be only 1-2 months for some of the early line numbers. zb

In the late 90s, Gen Joe Ralston was VCJCS, top in running for CJCS. Came to light he'd had an affair in the 80s. Forced to retire in his 1980s rank? Nope, given Supreme Allied Commander NATO/EUCOM job instead. Good thing he retired before the sexual assualt witch hunts. https://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/105866/general-joseph-w-ralston.aspx It's too bad Congress hates Col Select-Then-Non-Select Wilkerson, because normally I'd say he should get his congressman involved. zb

What pisses me off is here is two-fold. 1) Congress put the AF in the situation they're in having to look at drastic cuts like this. If they had their shit together and could pass a budget the A-10 would be perfectly fine for the foreseeable future until a real equivalent capability came along. 2) I sincerely doubt the opposition to cutting the A-10 has anything to do with the safety of troops, but everything to do with jobs in certain congressional districts. Again, if safety of the troops was the real concern then congress would not have put the DoD in the situation they're in. The A-10 is my favorite f-cking jet in the inventory, I don't want to see it go. But if that's the response needed to answer to the drastic lack of dollars then so be it. Although, again - were it not for congress I'm sure the AF could easily cut 20% of it's spending and still hack the mission with A-10s and F-35s and new bombers too... But every time they come up with a worthwhile option to do so some representative has a hissy-fit about losing money in their district and prohibits it. zb

I know what gives? It's October now - the schedule's almost always out by late September... Where are the execs on this board? Somebody has to have seen it.... zb

I probably wouldn't give up my citizenship, but I could definitely see myself leaving the states and not coming back someday.

Not calling bullshit, but sort of calling bullshit. Even in today's AF a patch being passed over to Maj simply for lacking a masters sounds like an extreme case. Maybe it happened, but I'm guessing there had to be more to the story than just lack of AAD. Really? Again 90% of officers make make Maj. The few guys I've seen not make it have generally had several if not all of the following factors: no in-res SOS, no AAD no deployments, no awards/strats/job growth not really good workers. And you're saying that patchES (plural) are getting passed over with the direct feedback that it was their lack of AAD? Again not saying not true, but sounds fishy to me. zb Edit for iPhone keyboard typos

I stand corrected than. Interesting. Possible strategy for CCs then (in an only-selects-will-likely-go-to-school-environment)... Encourage those in the top 30% but not quite top 15% bracket to do an AFIT/NPS/etc program. Your top 15% get the select and go in-res, the next tier even as non-selects can likely still get the IDE credit. Now you end up with twice the in-res officers in your unit/community. ??? zb

Any suggestions on long term investments but not quite as long term as retirement? I've got IRAs maxed for myself & wife, plus a good amount in Roth TSP and a 529 for the kid. So I figure I'm looking good come age 60. But I don't want to work until then. I'll probably punch from USAF around age 50-52 and would prefer not to work after that so I'm looking for some options to supplement a military pension and get me by until 59.5. I'm not a huge investment guy so right now I'm thinking of just opening a mutual fund account to throw in whatever's left after the tax-advantaged retirement & college funds... But I'd love to what some other folks are doing, although I think real estate is out - I don't have the patience to be a long distance landlord. zb

Unless I'm mistaken, no. IDE credit for past programs is only offered upon being nominated by the DT. So you still have to compete (as a select or candidate) and be picked for IDE. But you still count against the DT's numbers.

The two rumors I've seen/heard from this thread and from AF folks semi-in-the-know are 1) pushed back a full year - so Dec 2014 or 2) Sometime Apr-Jun(ish) 2014. Of course nothing official is out so both could be completely off the mark. I haven't heard anything about pushing all the way to 2014. CY2014 board schedule should (key word) drop within the next couple weeks - it's usually released in late September. I had a narrative PRF already completed from a previous gig due to a long school, but with the board delay my accounting date will fall at my new unit, so I'll get to do the whole process again... Hooray. zb

Oh actually going to a MAJCOM staff isn't bad, just having it as your push is... So a couple years ago I had a supervisor/div chief (I'm a support guy) who was a 4 times passed over captain who somehow eventually made major and became my supervisor. She was actually a very nice person just dumb as rocks. Well I also had a new CC at the time who was adamant about officers NOT writing their own OPRs. In most cases I get it, but this situation was not a good combination. Well I just happened to be filling in temporarily on the Senior Rater's staff one week and I see my OPR come through with a "big MAJCOM program next" push, zero PME push and lots more bad code. This in a year when without the boring details had done some major mission-shit and also had some high level recognition to boot. She really was trying to write me a good OPR as best she knew how, she just didn't and was going off her old OPRs that I'm sure she thought were great. And the CC being new, he didn't really know most of us yet so I'm sure saw the OPR and thought "oh, I see the message here" and moved it on. Anyway, THANK GOD I had a couple good mentors earlier who taught me some of this sh-t... Additionally the exec also knew the code and called a WTF, called the CC and got things fixed before it went for signature. So yeah it sucks that code is there but somebody needs to be teaching it. That was my top OPR in my last RIF board - if nobody had known that Fing code that could have been a very bad thing. F the code - but until it goes away the young bucks need to know it. zach "MAJCOM Next" braff

How sad is it that I'm a 17D and didn't even know we had E4L webmail? I'm so off the radar... Nobody tells me anything anymore. zb

And what about when you have a certain guidance at one gig but then PCS/PCA somewhere with different guidance? I was in a unit where SOS correspondence was seen as rather silly so I enrolled but never touched it. Then I PCSd to a unit that would not even look at you unless the correspondence was done. Thankfully it was just SOS so that was a quick 4-5 week fix to knock it out, but that situation could really suck were it ACSC or AWC... So as much as it stinks, because I won't know what the future holds I'll probably be doing the ACSC so as not to screw myself. Thankfully I'm an '05er so it'll be a long time before I have to worry about it! ;-) zb