GearMonkey

It did back in 2013 when I started. For some reason it changed to % only in the last year or so. I'll give the "overage" method a try next year.

Why the f--k does DFAS make us contribute to Roth TSP in a % of base pay? I know my desired (or maximum) annual contribution and I know how many months there are in a year, let me do the math and give the website a dollar value to contribute every month. Dollar values stay constant unlike base pay which changes every year (part way through the year of course!).

Anyone have experience declining promotion or writing to a board to request non-selection? I'm approaching the end of my active duty career and am trying to set myself up to get hired by ANG or AFRC. Unfortunately, I am late-to-rate and stationed overseas so my O-5 IPZ board meets before either my UPT ADSC or DEROS expire. I've heard that it is tough to get hired by ANG or AFRC as an O-5 so I'm looking at mitigation options. I just read (CTRL+F'd) AFI36-2501 and declining seems to be fairly simple and doesn't appear to have any direct negative repercussions. If this is true it seems to be a decent option for me but the tiny bit of Blue Kool-Aid left in my blood is making me feel like this could cheat someone who wants to stick around out of selection. Experience, thoughts, ideas, spears?

Wow, what an accomplishment. Two more buildings almost exactly the same as the ten that are already there. I can totally see why they need an opening ceremony. Are the pig farm dorms open yet? I like how those were conveniently located equidistant between the two chow halls.

Word on the street is ACP will be released tomorrow. $25K/yr to 20 (9 years max) for all pilots.

Twice as good as the original! Promote that man.

It's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. The squadrons have been getting smaller but the office bill hasn't. This'll leave the three remaining squadrons with more bodies to fly while keeping the offices "manned". Having said that I don't expect the requirements to drop so even as the war winds down I think ops tempo will stay pretty high for the folks how haven't VSPed or been sent to white jets.

Are TERA and Guard/Reserve work mutually exclusive? I know you can't collect a TERA retirement check while serving in the Guard/Reserve but can you take TERA now, do 10-15 years of Guard/Reserve time and get promoted to O-5 while not collecting TERA retirement, then quit the Guard/Reserve gig prior to age 60 and resume TERA payments (plus extra for all the Guard/Reserve time)? I'm looking for the best way to game the system and this is an intriguing, but probably unlikely, possibility.

Success! The VPC accepted my Certificate of Origin and Odometer Disclosure / Release of Interest as proof of ownership without batting an eye.

New state doesn't do any paperwork by mail, I have to be there first. I've got a transit permit to get out of the current state thanks to my orders. Thanks for the tips. Guess I'll just give it a shot, worst case they don't accept the vehicle for shipment and I do a quickie title here.

Anyone know if I can use a Manufacturers Certificate/Statement of Origin as proof of ownership rather than Title or Registration when shipping a POV OCONUS? The TRANSCOM pamphlet says "Proof of Ownership (Title or Registration)" is required but I don't know if that is supposed to be an all inclusive list or just the dumbed down 90% solution. I'm trying to do my best Apple/GE/Romney impersonation and there are clear tax benefits to not doing the Title and Registration for a new vehicle in my current state.

Thanks Ginger. Seems like the IRS/Executive might want to clean up the CZTE areas/requirements a bit. Why give a tax free for unrelated operations in mostly long-cold combat zones? The Red Sea, parts of the Med, Kosovo, etc.

Nope. Nobody. Just trying to understand the system.

Anyone know the correlation between transiting an IRS approved CZTE area and logging AFTO 781 combat or combat support time? I recently overflew the Red Sea but didn't land in any of the usual AOR locales. Do I get to log this? I asked the SARM folks but they fed me a line about having to takeoff or land at an airfield in the combat zone. They also said there was a list of approved ICAOs but couldn't produce the list when I asked for it (big surprise!). I know their takeoff/landing line is bullshit since I've logged tons of combat time while overflying Iraq on the way from ETAR to OTBH or vice versa.

Sweet, hopefully they're all working on the webmail issue.

Anyone have experience with the 50K+ TSP contribution in CZTE locations? Lump sum or monthly contribution? Limited by actual time in theater (i.e. can't go 50 if you aren't there long enough to earn it)? Can I go all Roth or do I have to go Traditional above $17.5? Does Finance have a clue?

I've been having the same issue on both Explorer and Chrome for the last three days. I figured it was because I'm overseas so I'm glad (sort of) to see it isn't just me.

Talisman Sabre (Alaska direct to Australia with a 6-on-6 KC-10/C-17 gangbang along the way) is a pretty clear outlier in the air refueling world. Sure it was nice to be able to do it with just six tankers but 10-12 KC-135s would have worked fine as well. I also suspect that in most realistic scenarios this mission would have been forward staged and probably could have been performed without any tanker support at all.

I love how some people try and make it sound like pilots are all constantly drunk at work. In my, clearly biased, opinion informal Hanger Talks over a beer at the end of a long and productive duty day have a far greater positive mission impact than any Closed for Training Wednesday ever has.

I got a "Top 5% of 15 CGOs" one time. Mathematically that's better than #1!

The engineers know more about their particular part of the design but history has shown that the checklists they produce are far from perfect. They do the best they can imagining and resoloving theoretical problems but pilots have a nasty habit of discovering design weaknesses or unexpected system interactions. After this incident there were extensive changes to both the FOUR ENGINE FLAMEOUT and AIRSTART checklists. This doesn't absolve the crew of their mistakes but it shows that there were systematic influences (training, checklist procedures, WX radar only giving accurate info at 40NM, etc.) that don't fit nicely into your and Ray-J's black and white view of the world.

USAFA does their own intro flight program with SR-20s. They must be special or something.

Nice. From 5 weeks to 8 and back to 5 in the span of 3 years. If only there had been an online group of current and former USAF officers who could have predicted that the 8 week course would be an almost total waste of time and resources. The best part is that the same three year groups got screwed with the excessively long versions of both ASBC and SOS. Great job Air Force.

Easy killer, I'm not insulting airdrop. I've also done 5+ years of it and enjoyed the vast majority of that time. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, I know that airdrop isn't for everyone and my point was that if someone's sole reason for doing it was to get a 2nd C-17 tour they would most likely not enjoy the overall experience (extra Altus, more currency, Fayettenam, etc.). You and I lived at the peak, for now, of C-17 aidrop. These days, with the decrease in airdrop manning (thanks AMC!) and the near elimination of combat drops, it is becoming more of a chore than it has been. A 3-ship low level or some test work at Yuma makes me glad I'm an airdropper. Single-ship cha-ching JAATTs with crappy weather and worthless radios at Pope or Lewis don't.

The last year or so has been pretty brutal. Everyone hopes the non-vol train will derail soon but trying to guess what things will be like in three years is a moo point. If you want to increase your chances of sticking around go airdrop (but don't do it just for that or you'll be miserable).