SocialD

Mostly what Weed said. Line bidding has a packet of pre-built monthly schedules. Then you just rank order the lines and they award them down the list. PBS - you put in your preferences and and the system builds you a line. What weed said about it avoiding conflicts is true, but it is a contractual thing. You most certainly CAN have conflict bidding with PBS but most do not right now based on current contracts. An example my monthly bid looks something like this.... Set condition to min credit Prefer off Saturdays Prefer off 17Jan, 18Jan, 19Jan Avoid if layover in GRU, LOS Avoid if layover >48 hours Avoid if trip length > 6 days Award if HNL limit 1 Award if 4-day if DH day if layover in AMS Award if 3-day if layover in AMS Award if layover in FCO PBS will then start at the top and try to honor every possible line from top to bottom. Even at 90% in my category I can generally build a line within the parameters I ask for...for example in December I was able to build a line that gave me from 20Dec to 31Dec off and gave me the layovers I wanted. Some months are better than others.

On three separate occasions I have gone 4 months overdue and one time it was so far overdue that they shut down my card. Not once I have I seen at hit on my credit score. One of these times I even had a finance SSgt over the should my entire voucher process and somehow it still got fucked up. I put everything that's reimbursable on the card and nothing that isn't...if it's on the card, it's the governments responsibility (as long as I do my due diligence and submit the voucher on time). Our FM tried to dick swing on this issue and used the threat of a credit hit to try to coerce me into paying the bill. Dude, I paid cash for my last house and car, and have a credit score of 800+...I'll be just fine, do you damn job and pay my card. How fucking hard is this! On another note, it's been over a year and they still haven't unfucked our (part-timer) flight pay. It's pretty humorous to log into mypay and have 7 pay stubs per month, with half of them being $3.33 to catch up my flight pay. I honestly don't even care anymore because it's peanuts, it's more of an ongoing metaphor for how fucked up things have become. In other news, I just checked...Delta got my greenslip paid correctly.

You'll get there some day junior.

This! Another issue that may slowly creep up is the issue of the 5-year USERRA limit. Case and point...we have guys that are at or near the 5 year limit. Now anything orders they wish to do has to be in involuntary status (or less than 30 days), which thanks to the 12301d vs 12304b bullshit, might be less than ideal. Oh well, bring back the part time SQ/CC and OG, that's how it should be anyway!

Not sure why Bird Box is going so viral...I thought it was a pretty shitty movie.

Right...I draw the line at taking out a mistresses. WTF did she ever do but provide happiness and pleasure?!?! To you second point, ease up brah...he was just trying to do us all a solid an prep us for our future careers.

Your numbers are pretty close. Brabus is right about the flight pay, I think the old 650 went to 700 and the old 840 went to 1,000 (could be wrong). If you want to really fine tune your numbers, orders less than 30 days get you BAH type II (might be 30 days or less). At a minimum, as a part time Guard guy I get 111 pay periods a year. 48 UTA, 48 AFTPs and 15 AT days. If you become a technician then you only get 36 AFTPs. How you use your days is something of an art and may vary depending on your squadron. In my squadron we pretty much manage them all ourselves as our leadership let's us use our days how we see fit (within the law). I rarely, if ever, go into work without logging 2 pay cards. If I'm going to the base, I'm going to make a day of it and log 2. There once was rumblings of using 1/day and the part time mafia just LOL'd. AFTPs. 16/qtr max up to 48/yr. Since they're restricted quarterly I always use these up first, even if it's UTA weekend. I generally use the max in each quarter then start using UTAs to fill in the short fall. This usually leaves the 4th quarter of no AFTPs and all UTAs. Obviously that gets balanced out on years where I have a deployment. UTAs can be used anytime in the year, except while on orders. There used to be a WOM that if you were on orders for a month, you lost that months UTAs unless you had already used them. This led guys to using up that months UTAs before the orders started. I don't believe it's actually true, but I still try to use them before any known orders because who knows. AFTPs can be used on TDYs in lieu of orders (with some restrictions), however UTAs generally can't unless there is TAG to TAG approval (never have seen that in 17+ years in the ANG). AT can be used pretty much whenever throughtout the year. I usually use them for one of the many TDYs we may do in a year. That said if it's early in the year and someone else is willing to cough up ST (special training) days, I'll use those if able. That way I'll still have my hip pocket AT days available. Many years you'll see that close to the end of the FY a bunch of AT days show up. There are a few nuances with using more than 15 AT in a year, but nothing big. As an airline guy in a guard fighter squadron, I find it hard to actually use up all the pay periods available due to TDYs, deployments, the airline and actually having a life. Each month I normally work 8 pay periods in 4 days...some months more but no more than 5 days/month unless TDY. If I do get to use all 111 of them, as a major (17 years), I expect about 30K gross (min). That said, due to deployments, TDYs, etc...I've rarely dropped below 50K/yr. 2018 was a 3 month deployment plus a single 2 week TDY and I think I grossed 65k. Best of luck, I've been in the ANG for almost 18 years and I'm still learning about all the pay statuses we have available. With the exception of technician, I've been in pretty much every pay cateogry we have....AT/ST/UTA/AFTP/ADOS/AGR/ADSW. I've deployed overseas with another squadron and have sat alert with other squadrons. Even went TDY with my squadron while on alert orders with another squadron...talk about blowing finances mind!

Lol I can see how that firing went... Dugan: why am I being fired? Brass: You admitted that we fully intend to break a bunch of laws/executive orders. Dugan: well that's exactly what we're doing. Brass:. Well...ya...but that's beside the point. Dugan : ........... Ethics rep: Hey guys, whatcha talking about?

What OSU said, plus here is some info my 26 year TMO buddy passed along. Hunt around on move.mil for any additional information. Attachment K3 is apparently a one stop shop for shipping a car. AFI 24-602 Vol 4 if you really want to nerd out. https://move.mil/sites/default/files/2018-12/dtr_part_iv_app_k_3_0.pdf Enjoy Hawaii!

LOL, so true. I remember and old C-130 guy talking about when he bailed from the ARC after Desert Storm. His view was they the ARC was meant as a "break glass in case of the bear coming over the poles," type scenario. He thought that his squadron getting called up for a "bullshit skirmish in the desert," was crap and figured the paradigm was about to take a major shift...he was right. Well they've figured out dual status Title 10/Title 32 so anything is possible. Yup, we tend to live in our own little world in OPS in the ANG. We're constantly sending various folks out on 179/365s in both our RCP and other RCPs when units can't cough up guys. For the most part we're still filling them with volunteers but that will only last so long. Now that title-5 is ramping up, the pool to pick from is getting smaller and I expect that volunteers will dry up. Welllll....take a look at what was going on with Bama around that time, and who was the leading of the ANG at the time. I think there was more to the story than just a 6 month mob. Also, those guys had the option, although likely not a good option. Talking with a Bama bro, they lost a few guys prior to and after that trip.

This right here! We've already hit the last few guys who had any hope of getting close to an AGR retirement, and some of them aren't even chasing it. We have some who are still under their ADSC who'd likely come back if the could get the bonus. But alas, we can't think outside the container and give bonuses to guys under their ADSC... If there was even a hint of possible 365, leadership wouldn't even have to show guys the door. All they would see is the doors swinging closed as a shit ton of their experience walked right out. Yup! On one of our TSPs we had a pilots only sit down with Welsh...we asked about why we were doing these non-contingency (read: proper fucking). His response, your TAGs asked for it... I have a strong feeling that the INVOLs Eli and Buddy Spike are referencing are the same.

Funny enough, I was just about to edit my post and mention the C-130 Afghan stuff, but I had only seen it happen in the Reserves. Me thinks if you drill down a bit, you may find this more of an offering by your local, senior leadership than a mandated requirement sent down from above. Kinda like when Montgomery was "forced" into a 6 month deployment to Afghanistan... If this happened here, I'll bet that 20-30% would be a fairly low number. We already have a fair number of guys barely hanging on after the last few "deployments" we've had to go fly CT missions half way around the globe. Interesting, I'll have to ping a bro up at NGB...I would be interested to see the numbers, communities and how many were actually volunteers. I'm guessing if it had happened in my community we'd know about it asap as bad news spreads like a wildfire.

I have yet to see a guard PILOT get involuntarily, individually mobilized to a 179/365...only Reserve pilots. I'm not saying it hasn't happened or those days aren't coming, just that I haven't seen it yet in the ANG. I think leadership is smart enough to grasp the reality of the mass exodus that would happen after the first one. Either way, this is just another reason why I'll always recommend the Guard over the Reserves to all my buddies leaving AD.

What makes sense? Are you sure we're in the same Air Force?

Lol right. One of the few places where an overwhelming majority of your experience is on the "JV team." Also, I've consulted with the OFPs and they think the F-4 was a better fighter than the F-35 could ever hope to be. Brb, gonna go hit up Pierre Sprey...

LOL, the Fresno of union events.

Hold on, let me go consult with the Old Fighter Pilots FB group, they all seem to be experts on how shitty of a jet the F-35 is...and how great of an idea this will be.

Ya, I don't compare myself to other industries because it's a massively different dynamic and set of nuances. I guess if I were going to look at another industry I would also look at the Maritime industry and see how that has worked out for the American worker. In their case, only the Jones act has saved what is left, and even that is under attack. But again, lots of different dynamics. I don't disagree about our inability to change between airlines, but I don't see that changing if unions were eliminated because you'd still have to contend with seniority issues wrt to basing and upgrade. F/As have no union, yet have the same issues and get treated infinitely worse than us. How do we decide on schedules, upgrades, etc....merit, the pilot willing to fly more overtime for single pay, the pilot who has the biggest kneepads? That seems to be working out well for the AF right now. I'm certain of one thing, DAL management would be salivating over the idea of no union on property. They've already stated that if they could, DAL pilots would be flying about half as much of our current international flying. If that were to happen, I'm guessing our hiring woes would be solved overnight for at least the next decade. Along with slashing our section 1, I can see them dismantling many of our QOL items yet still be able to make it bearable. IMHO (which isn't worth much), we'd lose big on QOL and pay and only potentially gain the ability to move between airlines. By chance, did you go to B school? Either way, interesting discussion. Openly is a relative term. Fighting to force us into shittier rest facilities. Building trips in the quest to cut credit, with zero regard to fatigue. Attempting to completely disregard the contract. Trying to readjust profit sharing rules so they can take management bonus money from the PS pool, also lets me know how they feel. Many have been squashed by then union, while some still need work. Imagine if we weren't governed by an archaic and extremely employer friendly law called the Railway Labor act and we could more freely exercise even the most basic form of self help. Many places do have protections over and above FAR 117, just because APA is faltering doesn't mean unions are useless. Protecting WB CA spots is huge with respect to jobs and will always be a fight worth fighting. That said, the work rules need to be good for the entire work group. Remember that WB CA spots at AAL make up < 10% of the pilot group...you can easily out vote that demographic. If your union isn't listening to the majority, it's time for a change. I don't disagree with you there, I briefly worked for AAL and saw that act when they wouldn't adjust our pay dates to align with the USAir hired guys that were in our very own indoc class. However, the union does so much more than just the bullshit politics you see. If you want change, start a grass roots effort. You're airline is about to go through a massive transformation in age demographics over the next decade with LOTS of young blood. Reach out to IPA for some lessons...while their contract isn't perfect, those dudes have a good idea of what it means to run a union. Again, we're cut off at the knees by the Railway Labor Act. It's a relic that needs some serious updating to allow some basic forms of self-help, short of a full blown strike. As it's written now, we're hamstrung by this employer friendly law. Our effort should be more focused on changing the law, not getting rid of the union. UPDATE: Just learned about another employer friendly section of the RLA. We must file a grievance within 120 days of the issue, but the company has no requirement on their response time...Awesome!

Why do you think they're not so great? Do you believe that we would continue to have many of the contractual items that make our QOL so nice? Tomorrow I get to rest in an actual bunk, rather than the 1st class seat right in front of the mid galley (banging carts/dishes) that the company fought hard for us to use. On my next trip I'll get to enjoy using KCM to go to work. I'm certain we'd lose many of our contractual flight duty period limitations. Hell management applied for an exemption so they could block us up to 9+45 hours (2 pilot), until the union found the filling on the web. It caught the company with their pants down and they quickly retracted it. I'm also guessing that section 1 would be completely dismantled ASAP. I'm all for helping the company run an efficient operation, but we're running pretty damn good and giving back Billions to shareholders. IMHO this gig wouldn't be anywhere near as nice if our unions go away. I have friends who have worked for non-union operators in this industry and it isn't pretty. I'm guessing the UPS guys are extremely happy they have IPA. Having done union work as well, I'm damn glad we have a union. Glad to hear you're doing what you can to help as well.

Leaves non-union gig for cushy, higher paying/less working union gig...is anti-union. 🤣 Mostly messing with you Ratner, but I'm quite surprised by the amount of anti-union guys I've ran into, almost all of which seem to be former mil. This was my heart burn with LOT. There would be a few good lines, a few more REALLY shitty lines, then the vast majority of the lines were just OK and often spread the crap evenly. I'm 91% in my seat and I finish a trip tomorrow and don't go back to work until after the new year (though a 42 hour 3-day will be tough to pass as long as I can still make the family shindig). This is all based on my regularly awarded lines for each month. I do like the idea of how quickly the schedules were released with LOT. If your union negotiates that, you can still have this with PBS. But ya, I wouldn't switch to PBS unless you kept trips touching or the sweet ass deal UPS has wrt 2 weeks vacation in one month. No matter what side you like better, these are some good discussions for all the dudes looking to make to jump to the airlines.

It indicates the speed at which you'll get your best lift to drag ratio. Technique only, but I usually throw flaps 1 as I hit green dot and decelerating.

LOL that remind me of our last TDY to DM. I'm leading the first 4-ship out the gate, and since we're TDY and we get last pick of airspace, it was ballz early (first t/o for the day). Controller says, bring on the the noise complaints, you're cleared takeoff... Holy crap did they ever pour in! Apparently, those north of the 10 don't like us. I think some of the complaints made it to the the base before I hit the airspace. Sadly many are retired military who, "know how them jets should be flying..." Reminds me how fortune we are that our city loves us...I'm often approached when in uniform by people who are mad that we don't fly low enough or loud enough over their houses. 🤣 Back on topic, we can carry onto base, but still have to keep it locked in the car. Argued for days with the SF shirt (buddy from my enlisted days) on this. His argument is that his guys who know who is who... I've seen your reaction time, I'm not worried about being confused by our cops as the perp...I'm more worried about the minutes before they show up.

Wow, one of the first years in a while that w/o dependents didn't get fucked...even got a bigger increase than w/dependents. Up 7% and 6% respectively. I know you're referencing AD, but to clarify for the ARC bros out there. Unless something has changed in the last 4 years, you're only grandfathered until the end of you're current order. Fairly certain if don't break your orders you're ok, but if you have a single day off orders, your lucky day...lower BAH rate!

This right here...also what Hoss said. If you want to see a commander pucker up fast, bring up an IG complaint, you just have to be willing to follow through with it. The AF sending you somewhere, then being unwilling to just reimburse you for legitimate costs is perfect grounds for an IG complaint. If you want to go the nuclear option, call a congressman...nothing gets shit moving like a politician calling a wing king. Not always recommended but sometimes you're left with no other options. Best of luck, finance battles get my blood boiling. These fuckers should have to actually go TDY with us and deal with all the shit we do while out on the road. Then they might start to understand why some things are not always black and white.

Mostly agree with JeremiahWeed with an exception or two. PBS is only as good or bad as your contract language and you can still have some of the niceties like trips touching, etc... the pilot group just has to be willing to expend negotiating capital to get them. There are plenty of other efficiencies gained by PBS even if we still had trips touching. When I say all this, I talking about carriers who currently have PBS. If your carrier is currently LOT, I can't see any reason to give it up. That said, even at 92% in my seat, PBS works great for me as a reserve bidder a majority of the year. Based on my experience with LOT bidding, I highly doubt I would be able to execute my current bidding strategy without PBS. Even the months I bid a line, my strategy is largely based on how our reserve rules work wrt trip length. Even at my low seniority I was able to get 20-31DEC off this year, while getting my preferred trips.