Magellan

Time will tell. Possibly longer initial service commitments for one, healthcare benefits for military members with family medical issues, the desire to serve ones country, this list can go on forever. But what would happen if dudes were in a position to stand up for what is right vs what will get them promoted if they weren't gambling it on an all or nothing retirement? Yes, but you would see a lot more of it. No but it is much more flexible. If they need to cut costs immediately and going forward they can reduce the size of the force. Once people are on a pension they are always on that pension. Switching to a system like this would force military members to be financially savvy and make good decisions or suffer the consequences. My point was people will quit and go somewhere else if they don't feel adequately compensated.

Has anyone stopped to consider the potential positive effects a change might have on the military? 1. You won't have turds hanging around just for retirement. High year tenure rules will take care of the turds that are still hanging around because they are institutionalized. 2. Different career fields will be able to be paid differently in the form of bonuses to retain the career fields that are needed. 3. Pay will have to mirror or exceed that of the civilian sector in order to retain people. i.e. to keep a Lt. Col. type in a high demand career field around they will probably have to pay them around 200K+ a year if they strip the 20 year retirement, while senior enlisted will probably have to get paid around 100K+ a year. 4. You end a potential "entitlement" program that everyone likes to target, because they are argued as being unsustainable. The thing they fail to realize is if they make the pay comparable to civilian jobs you will have to make the jobs comparable. Last time I checked very few civilian jobs require regular 120-365 day foreign business trips, forced relocation every 2-4 years, and the potential of being put in harms way. When it comes to armed forces you get what you pay for.

So the F-15C will now be able to take the role of a Predator, Reaper, MC-12, etc?

Who the hell has time to watch stuff like that until the 22nd minute is a better question.

Really? The cost of an academy cadet to figure out is easy. Total cost to operate per year/number of graduates that year averaged over a period of time. The cost of OTS should be able to use the same formula. ROTC however is a hell of a lot more complicated. Some people do the program and aren't on scholarship the whole time in which case the Air Force pays them peanuts for getting their degree the upside is that it is the easiest way to get a commission. If you are on scholarship then the question becomes what type? When I went through the Air Force would pony up either 7,000 a year for state schools, 15,000 a year for private schools, 80% of actual tuition costs, or all of your Tuition costs. So even within the ROTC program the Air Force could make some cuts to really lower costs, but then you would be eliminating a lot of ROTC cadets that go to a lot of the "better" schools by looking merely at cost. It is really hard to make an apples to apples comparison when you are looking at apples, oranges, and grapefruit. Especially when at the end of the day we all still entered AD as clueless 2nd Lts. Not to mention every last F-22 would have to be auctioned off to China before the AF would seriously look at changing very much at the USAFA.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/06/israel-shoots-down-unpiloted-aircraft-reports-say/?test=latestnews

CH, Not to be a jerk, but how did the real estate equity hold up compared to the other investments since 06 if you don't mind me asking? How would being invested in the traditional be different?

I could only see it being viable in 2 scenarios. 1. Someone who has a spouse that makes quite a bit of money that doesn't plan on working if/when they have kids. Therefore it is possible your tax rate now is higher than it will be in retirement. (My current situation FWIW) However, in this case as soon as that spouse stops working, that person would want to switch their contributions to ROTH as soon as their spouse had no/considerably less taxable income for that tax year. 2. Single/Divorced senior Captains and Majors with flight pay that intend to get out before 20 and not pursue any kind of military retirement would probably benefit from sticking with the Traditional TSP over the Roth TSP. In both of these cases you are probably in a situation where you should consult a financial planner, or at least do the research/math on your situation to determine which is better. For all other cases Roth TSP is much better than Traditional TSP.

Has a book deal in the works and was invited to the white house to have a beer probably...but I don't have a subscription so that is just a wild ass uneducated guess like most of the comments on this forum.

Just be a good intra-mural athlete at your pilot training base and the FAIPs will draft you come assignment night.

Every C-5 Lt. needs to sample the standard fare in Thailand at least a few times while frivolously spending someone else's money right? I am pretty sure there was a CBT about that.

This is not a FACT at any base that had T-38s. Those dudes rolled the dice on a chance to fly a fighter/bomber and missed, so they got an RPA. All the T-38 RPA guys I have met, worked with, etc. are all sharp top notch professionals. Some with a few quirks here or there. It could very well have been a fact at Corpus Christi while it was running, and if you were at Corpus I will take your word for it. Coupled with the fact that I haven't met a Corpus UPT direct guy YET that didn't have a serious flaw as either an officer, pilot, or person in general. T-1 guys you have a spread. There were a very small handful that volunteered for RPAs and they are across the spectrum, and there are also some people who should have never finished pilot training but got pushed through just to take RPA slots. Then you have a handful of late bloomers as well. This has generally been my experience, but I am sure there are outliers for all of the above categories. Valid, but every community has their D Bags. Which leads me to this question how are you in a position to judge the quality of the students currently going through Holloman? I think you would be greatly surprised by the officership, airmanship, and overall potential of some of the UPT direct RPA folks. Yet you lump them all into the category of NOT the best and brightest. Continually disparaging the community is no way for it to attract the best and brightest to its mission and future. I think a fair statement would be we have SOME of the best and brightest, but we need a lot more. My point in all this isn't to change your mind. It is to bring a balance that young dudes who might be reading this forum weighing their options need to consider. RPAs aren't the be all end all. However, they are a growth industry for the Air Force, and that isn't going to go away any time soon.

No. I am saying it doesn't matter. Everyone has their job to do. The assignment they get doesn't matter. What does matter is what they do once they get there. Debating what assignments the "best and brightest" get has no bearing, and to assume that everyone that got an RPA assignment is a dirt bag is just like saying anyone flying a herc clearly wasn't good enough to make the cut for T-38s. I know a dude at ENJPTT that got sent to T-44s at corpus instead of finishing T-38s at sheppard, and he is now flying AC-130s, while other dudes in his class went to T-38s and got RPAs. So is he a better or worse pilot based solely on how he did in tweets? The waters get muddy really fast when you make broad generalizations. Tagging the RPA community, which you are clearly clueless about, as a bunch of leppers isn't helping anyone.

The first round of dudes have already started going through the FTUs and will they will be in their ops squadrons by the end of the year.

Dude you are an idiot. Bringing those guys in was probably one of the smartest things the Air Force ever did. Their contributions to the Air Force as part of the RPA community are countless, and the Air Force is better off for it. What remains to be seen is what the community will be like as 75-80% of them flow back into manned aircraft creating a void for more non-vols to Creech and Cannon. Oh and the 18A's that are straight from the RPA pipeline still have a lot of growing up to do, and I think it is debatable that they will ever be able to "replace" guys who have actually had flying time.

An interesting article in theory, but I think implementing it would be a little more difficult than the author realizes. For example how do you fill the assignments that no body wants? The free market is driven by consumer demand...how many guys with wives and kids want to demand a 365 unaccompanied?

It would be the drone equivalent of the DFC based on what I read. Kind of like how Aerial Achievement Medals are what drone guys get instead of Air Medals.

Sounds like typical Bang-Bang guidance politics to me.

So you are telling me I can now put 22,000 away a year and never have to pay taxes on it ever again? That sounds too good to be true.

I do not believe this is the case. You can only contribute $5,000 total into Roth type retirement plans, unless you are eligible for catch up contributions. They are basically targeting the people who are skipping TSP to make Roth IRA contributions instead.

Another thought. What does it say about the community when one of the golden children who had Gen Schwartz come out to pin wings on their chest is running for the exit?

Tell him to suck it up and deal with it. He volunteered to be a beta guy with a 6 year commitment. He doesn't have a leg to stand on compared to his 10 year commitment bros that were non-vol'd.

Latest I heard was RUMINT confirming this anyone got anything more solid on it? Plus it has always been reviewed each year. I say they just cap it at $300 a month and make it only for enlisted guys that way it reduces the cost significantly but doesn't hit the airmen with a huge cut in take home pay as a christmas present.

The latest word(about 12 months ago) was that it got renewed for CALENDAR year 2011, but wasn't going to be funded for 2012. Haven't heard anything official to counter that yet.