contraildash

Enjoy

HU&W nailed it..essentially it's a use it or lose it kind of thing. For me, I'm getting an OHA of €1196. But our rent is €1200. Hell I'll pay the extra €4 a month for a nice free standing house with a yard, in K-Town. Monthly utility allowance is where you make your money, don't waste energy and you'll make bank. Now, if you are thinking, "I'll just have the land lord include utilities in the rent and bank the €615/461!" be forewarned that housing is on top of this game (I was warned like ten times in my initial meeting). They'll cut off your utilities allowance apparently. Don' forget all the other allowances and such for being overseas, moving, ect, ect. If you are smart, you can come out pretty well. If you don't go through AHRN, expect housing to be an epic pain in the ass about it. Heaven forbid you make them do some work and go inspect another house. Expect the 20 questions game about why you didn't use AHRN. Expect to get shit about having to use a realty agency to find a place, never mind the fact that AHRN listing suck currently. There are no exceptions to the rule, no waivers, no helping a dude and his wife out. What is really retarded about the whole thing is the way the calculate how much a place is 'worth' and thus how much of your cap they will give you. It's 90% based off square meters of a place. For example, a 100 sq meter house is no more valuable than a 100 sq meter apartment. They do take into account garages, yards, ect, but it's only the difference of a few cent's per sq meter. It's absurd and a huge ass pain as I'm finding out. So my suggestion as far as looking for a place, in order of least ass pain: 1. Find someone who's moving out, since their place will already be inspected, ect. 2. Go through AHRN if you can, pickings can be slim, and it's very cutthroat come summertime, but less pain with housing. 3. Use a realty agency, aka immobilien, yes you have to pay a user fee, but they do find nice places quick. See my warning on housing's opinion of this route.

Are these guys legit? US Standard Issue

Spouting the company sales pitch... Not sure how "training and a limited operational capability" equates into proven COIN capability. Sensor package, avionics, armor, weight, weight, weight, more weight... The AT-6B is beginning to sound more like a F-16, albeit with a prop and without the ability to air-to-air refuel. edit for sarcasm

I was walking around the KMCC for the first time and noticed about 20 or so people wearing their RB's. It was around 1pm, indoors, ect. Even my wife pointed it out.

Once a steam engine gains speed the sucker ain't stoppin....I had 100+ invites sent out. Keeps it going!

Just bringing up the fact that Baseops was getting represented on FB since there are a lot of non-baseops folks joining that group. It's one thing to come and thank us here, it's another to thank us in front of people not part of the Baseops community. Group is pushing 2500, I especially enjoy the "great moments in reflective belt history" pics. Keep it goin folks!

Joined...word spreading. The guy posted a message on FB, our influence is strong:

I was saying that the 20mm rounds are too small for any shot glasses I've seen, so you'll have to coat the inside.

I think someone liked my Let me know how it works out, since I'll be doing this next summer.

So speaking of car insurance... I've had a few folks tell me that they dumped USAA over there and went with Geico (I'm pretty certain that's who hey said they had)saying that it was cheaper than USAA. I just got off the phone with USAA and my coverage went up about $350 per year. Not bad, but if there's a significantly better deal, I'm always down for it. edit for more stuff

Sounds like I have a fun arts and crafts project awaiting me! I dunno if any shot glasses will fit the 20mm though, the shells are about the same diameter as my wedding ring. Unless I cut the casing down to where it starts to taper in, that might work. Do you think getting them chromed would be worth it? I think they'd look pretty awesome, plus it's rather corrosion resistant.

Those are badass. I'm having my wedding ceremony next summer and my brother is going to be my best man. For his gift, I am using some spent 20mm shells from one of his B-course flights that he gave me. I'm going to have those chromed (if possible) or highly polished, and then engraved to be used as shot glasses.

I'd be happy with a decent air conditioner... ...and the T-1 replacing the C-21? I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Exactly. IFS wasn't hard flying wise for the folks I knew with prior experience. More so it was everything HiFlyer mentions above. We did have a few folks wash out due to their inability to fly, however if you busted your rear and rocked out all the other stuff, they went out of their way to get you through the program. That's just what I saw when I was there. I don't think I knew of anyone that washed out due to non-flying stuff there, however sucking at GK, EPs, ect in UPT will get you booted out the door quicker than swapping ends in the flare for a tail strike will!

Here's some good information on Enid. Hacker: How ya liking (or not liking) it here? I'm out processing next week...lord I can't wait.

I get to post a double story, and the Navy gets a role in this one. I'm TDY down at Keesler, lots of young enlisted folks here due to the tech schools. Now it's my own observation that the more young enlisted folks at a base due to tech schools, the more the SFS pull ridiculous shit. (SFS wouldn't let me on base at Sheppard because I didn't have stickers on my car...even though every other base pretty much had done away with stickers. Even got lectured about it from their NOIC at the visitors center) Anyways, my wife and I go out for dinner and realize that she forgot her purse back in the lodge. No big deal, it was a weekday and they are only checking all ID's on the weekends. We get back to the gate and the gate guard won't let me on base because she doesn't have an ID. I propose a few solutions to include leaving her at the gate and me getting her ID. No big deal in my mind. The guy just stands there..you can tell the gears are turning but nothing is working. Finally he drops this line on me: "You are a lieutenant, why the hell would you think bringing someone on base without an ID was a good idea???" First off, she's not a hooker, she's my wife, secondly let me just go get the damn ID. The next story, just last night, we were over at NAS Pensacola to hit the beach for a few days. As I found out, the Navy is VERY big on having DoD stickers on your car. I got to play 20 questions with the guard before he let me back on base. Meanwhile, about 10 cars went through full of non military folks going to check out the museum. This brings up a few things that have bothered me. Whats more important...the person or a damn sticker? (also see my previous post on registration stickers) But the biggest issue I have is that in my dealings with SF I feel more like they are here to police us rather than protect us. Joe blow civilian can get on a base to check out the museum yet hell freezes over if I, as an active duty officer, try to drive a car without stickers on base....or a wife without an ID.

Expect a ETAR update in a month. :) I am being told that ETAR isn't 'deploying' pilots as the CONUS units are, although you can volunteer to go play in the sand.

I went to a few interviews back in the day with F-16 units. The biggest things all those guys hit on have already been posted here, but I cannot stress how much of an impression being a local buy and going to the unit to get to know the folks there is. I went to some heritage nights, ect, and it bode very well in the interview. Sometimes you just can't beat out a guy from the squadron that's applying though. "We've known him 5 years, and only just met you a few months ago" is to be expected in the interview. On that note, in my interview they asked me "Would you enlist in this unit in order to have a guaranteed interview 2-3 years from now after you finish boot camp, tech school, and deploy with us?" That was a tough one. If you aren't a local guy, make damn sure you know something about the area, what you would do outside of the ANG, ect. There's a lot more research to do than just on the a/c that they fly. In other interviews I was asked: 1. About my involvement in sports and how that applied to flying fighters 2. Why am I single? 3. Do I snowboard or ski? 4. Ever been in a fight? Did I win or loose? 5. Am I applying for active duty? 6. Why aren't you currently in the military? 7. Do you like whiskey? 8. Can you name these planes? And they went through about 20 very random military a/c pictures. One board was 10 guys and somewhat in-your-face hostile at times, very much a questioning under fire. One was just two captains and the DO, and was really laid back. Overall it was a very interesting experience. I met a lot of other applicants, some really stand up dudes, and also a large proportion of douch-nozzles. How some of the latter got interviews (and in a few cases: hired) I have no idea.

Update on my DITY move... Had my HHG pickup back on Aug 28th then promptly went TDY. As far as I know, I didn't even come close to my authorized weights so I should be getting paid for the DITY. Eventually the weights were reported to TMO and they in turn sent my paperwork to finance. I called both TMO and finance to track down the status of the paperwork and was told I should be getting a direct deposit either at the end of this week or beginning of next week. Today a direct deposit of $345 showed as pending in my account. Now this is interesting as my DD FORM 2278 shows my 'estimated gross incentive" as $668. This is 95% of the 'estimated constructive costs' which were $703. I caught this $300+ discrepancy after my home station finance closed today, so I can't get any answers till Monday at the earliest. I understand that it's only an 'estimated gross incentive' but a discrepancy of roughly 50% is kinda nuts. The only thing I can think of is that they are splitting the payment into two...but even that's strange to me. Any ideas?

I have pets, so I don't get to stay in the KMCC...kinda looked forward to lading on the rotator and walking across the street to the KMCC.

Have a laugh: Stavatti "A/C" vs real A/C and more on the "CEO" Christopher Beskar A creative visionary, Mr. Beskar is also focused upon the production of next generation, civilian aerospace vehicles, propulsion systems and insuring the advancement of interplanetary manned spaceflight. Mr. Beskar received a B.S. in Physics from University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1997. Mr. Beskar has over 2,000 flight hours in various tactical and general aviation aircraft. Mr. Beskar is a member of the AIAA, AFA, EAA and plays the bagpipes. I agree with some things I've seen written about this guy, he seems so wrapped up in a fantasy that he's spun up all on his own. Some more for ya: source

I was trying to stay awake in my cartography class when one of the teaching assistants ran in and said a plane flew into a building in new york. No one paid attention, then when class broke we noticed everyone was standing around the one TV on that floor. They were showing the building smoking, then the second plane hit. I couldn't believe it. I went to my next class and they promptly canceled classes for the day. I tried calling my old man at his base in NC, he picked up and gave a quick "i love you and you might not hear from me for a bit." He ended up staying at work for the next week. I remember how quiet it was, as everyone was at home glued to a TV. One could usually look up and see the regular airline traffic on arrival going into IAH all day...then nothing.

SICK FIST PUMP!

Back in 07 my brother had to take his Passat all the way to Birmingham to have it worked on...