KWings06j

I think this one has been discussed pretty well. Don't kiss up or start spouting off regulations like some idiots do in ROTC. There going to expect you to not know how to do a lot of stuff but to still find ways of getting it done. Best thing I can say is ask questions and if you can't find an answer make a decision and press. I can't really help here beyond saying look up some info on your base and try to get in touch with someone from your det from last year or two if they went there. You'll be assigned a mentor though you will need to make first contact with your unit. They just get your name, social, and AFSC basically, no info on where your coming from or how to contact you. Just call the base operator and get the phone number from them. You also might as well call lodging and book a room. Just be sure to tell them your on orders so you'll get priority on a room (occasionally can be important). You can report in any day between your EAD and your RNLTD. Most people will use there RNLTD unless it falls on a weekend, then show the last workday prior. Your sponsor will coordinate this with you so they'll know when to be there. If you are going direct to a UPT base your sponsor will be (or was for the last few classes) from the OSS. They may or may not be rated. Most bases will have some sort of intramural or squadron sports. Just remember Exit 6 and Exit 9. If it's not at one of those you probably don't want to go there. Enjoy the drinking and good luck staying awake in the big blue bedroom. I'm livin the bachelor life so i'll pass on this one. You don't actually "report in" like ROTC does. You just kinda walk in, say hi, and go around shaking hands. Show up in the UOD (BDU's usually). See my answer to Q4 above for the last part. Relax. Everyone gets stressed out about it but it's not really a big deal. Just remember that you don't know as much as you may think but you'll still be expected to make decisions and take lead on some projects. Most of that first day will be spent sitting at MPF waiting to get your CAC. The rest of the time will be filling out paperwork to get your email set up, meeting the people in your office, possibly a short base tour, and if you're really lucky, CBT's.

Thanks for the quick replys. Do you know what form or waiver it is (so I can look it up)? I'm just really curious as to how the pay works out. Though like I said I have a good amount of time between now and then if I choose to follow that path so don't kill yourself trying to find info. I'm just trying to figure out all my options. Thanks for your help.

There are 3 different values for a used car... The lowest value is the Trade-in, what you could expect a dealer to buy your car from you for. The highest value is the resale, what you could expect to pay the dealer to buy the car from them. The middle value is the private party value, what you could expect to get or pay to sell/buy your car from a non-dealer. Make sure your quote and USAA's quote are using the same value. Realize though that if there is a discrepancy and they do agree to total the car they will most likely give you the lesser amount.

This is a long ways out for me so I know the answer will probably change a dozen times but I'm still curious... Right now i'm planning on doing 20 years AD (at least) and then when i'm ready to get out maybe going reserves. I'm curious though how that would work with retirement pay. I know after 20 years AD I can retire and get 50% base pay but if I go reserves do I keep accruing time to raise that percentage? I know about the points system so the time will accrue a lot slower. Can I collect the retirement pay while serving in the reserves, after leaving the reserves, or not until I turn 60 in this case? Does that extra time only boost my retirement pay once I hit 60? Am I confusing anyone else trying to explain this?

I try to donate blood as regularly as I can (usually 2-3 times annually). Right now i'm not on flying status so it hasn't been an issue. Once I actually start flying I know theres going to be some sort of restriction but I would like to keep donating if possible. Is there a specific reg outlining how long from donating to flying or saying that I can't at all? Would I have to go to a flight doc before I went to donate each time? Usually I donate kinda spur-of-the-moment. I'll hear about a blood drive going on and that day or the next i'm usually there. I scanned through the first 6 or 7 pages of posts and didn't see anything on this. I get an error trying to use the search feature from this computer.

There are many cases where engineers need TS. A friend of mine lost his pilot slot (medical) and was able to get an awesome engineering assignment because it required a TS clearance and he already had his. As for the drug tests... my det never did them so I don't know if there allowed or not. However, the navy det at my school did them regularly (especially if you screwed up / pissed off one of the Cadre). They usually had a half-dozen people or so get tested every week or two.