egochecks

He was delivered in a civilian hospital and they asked us first if we wanted him to have the vaccination. Not sure what the military policy is. If you're trying to forgo all vaccinations I can't imagine anyone not respecting your wishes although I imagine they might advise you otherwise. I think that the other aspect of not having your child vaccinated while being a military family might cause some issues later if/when you move overseas. I think most countries are going to want to see that everyone has all of the necessary vaccinations. I haven't deployed yet and don't know what the policy is for families in terms of vaccinations though so maybe a parent who has can give you a better heads up on that particular mil/international policy. Or again, your Ped. could probably best answer that question for you.

Don't think there's anything special with vaccinations. Our son had Hep B at the hospital (off base) and will receive his other immunizations at two months by the base Ped. I think that's standard and if you wanted something different you'd have to ask your specific Ped.

Thought I'd ping this thread with an e-mail that was forwarded to me.

Awesome.

Sounds more like "Not while I'm making contact dipsh*t." to me. (Edit: Oh yeah, and it sounds like Norm McDonald.) Either way that's funny. The A-10 video is re-gosh-dang-diculous though.

Just got the Nuvi 200. It's a great little system. Mounts perfectly in the car but it's also small enough to carry and it has a pedestrian mode for when you're walking around. It also has a slot for a flash card so you can download POI's and update your maps. I love the thing. It's great to know you can go anywhere and never be lost. Plus it's great to know exactly when you'll be where you're going. A funny story about the pedestrian function. My wife and I are "downtown" Montgomery doing some shopping. When we got out of the car I took it with me to see what the pedestrian function was like. When we were done and heading home I dialed in the TLF on base as I got back onto the interstate and waited for it to calculate the route. The thing kept re-calculating my route every other second and I'm starting to think it's defective all of a sudden. We went back on the same interstate the day before and everything was fine. Eventually I decided to exit the interstate like it wants me to thinking maybe today it just picked another route and this one might be faster even though it said we'd arrive in 2 1/2 hours when I knew we were maybe 15 minutes away. Whatever, it's a new toy so I'll see what it's trying to do. Up until now it's been dead on. About 20 minutes later and after taking the craziest side streets and routes we get back to the base. I stopped it from navigating and start trying to find out what the hell was going on with it. I found out that I had left it in the pedestrian function and it was basically freaking out as it thought I was walking down the middle of the interstate. If it could say more I imagine it would have said some thing like, "Re-calculating, re-calculating, re-get the hell off the interstate!!! What's wrong with you!?! Are you serious!?! GET OFF OF THE INTERSTATE STUPID!!! Re-calculating." It was great. Anyway I love it and would recommend it to any one. Definitely one of my best all time purchases. If anyone knows more about adding additional POI's please post it. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how that all works. One website that had quite a few free POI's was poi-factory.

Just to add a little of my own 2Lt buffoonery in regards to customs and courtesies. For whatever reason I just can't get it right with Maxwell and ROTC folks. When I was here for field training I called the COC (O-4) a CTA during in-prossessing. It was a good first impression. Jump ahead now to ASBC at the exact same building. A couple of CTA's are standing around getting ready for a new field training class. About ten minutes later there are only two left and I walk up to ask them if there's a bathroom in the building. "Hey fellas what's up? There's a bathroom up in here right?" I get a bewildered look and a "Uh, yeah I think so." Remembering field training I look up at the "CTA's" hats just to make sure as I start to go in the building. Always great to treat to an O-6 and an O-3 like a couple of ROTC college juniors. I did the akward stutter step and "Aaahh, sorry, I mean thanks offic...." as I walked inside. SA = 0. Before seeing their rank it didn't even occur to me that they were 50 and 30 years old. A lame story but a little more on track with the original post.

Happen to be reading this with my wife beside me and have this advice... "In the end she'll be happy with whatever you get her." I'll assume (dangerous I know) that you've spoken to her about marriage in some context. You probably know what she'll like whether you think you know or not. Don't worry about the size, rather about getting something that will 'fit' her, aka something that fits who she is and what she likes. I was in the same position and I financed her engagement ring and her wrap. In my experience financing it sucked and I'm pretty sure I paid off the ring once over and still owed the same amount because of insane interest. Granted I just sucked in dealing with credit cards but the interest rate is going to suck no matter what. In addition if you've never negotiated with a jewler before try taking someone with you who has. Although I now know you can negotiate they sure as hell don't act like that's even a possibility. It's different with a car where you know that's how it goes. With a jewler they'll act like your out of your mind for suggesting such a thing. (Maybe only my experience.) Anyway in the end my wife's ring isn't the largest ring out there but she gets compliments on it all of the time and she's happy with it. It's what she wanted. If you do need to finance it it's not the end of the world just keep in mind some of the possible pitfalls and don't finance outside of your means. There's no hard and fast rule that says this is how you're supposed to do it. Do what's right for you and her. Oh...and congratulations.

I'm looking to tow my motorcylce from Colorado Springs to TX for UPT. Was wondering how well a motorcyle trailer that has the front wheel parked right up on the hitch with the back wheel rolling would be for that length of a trip. Also if anyone might have a motorcyle trailer of any type to sell in the Springs area or any good suggestions for renting please send me a pm. Thanks. Ego

The above two points will decide your outcome. I'm a x-town student/cadet. I've commuted all four years of college and all three years of ROTC. It's do-able but it all depends on you and your Cadre. 1. You're going to have to make sacrifices no matter what but how bad do you want to fly? The benefit of an airforce career and pilot slot will outweigh the inconvenience if you want it bad enough. 2. You're Cadre SHOULD do everything in their power to help you out if they see and know that you're comitted. Keep your grades up and meet whatever suspenses they give you. This will help to communicate to them that you're committed, and in my opinion that will be one of the biggest issues in their eyes. They see alot cadets come in and out of the program. As far as PT, they may let you submit a memo stating that you're doing PT on your own if you're a certain distance (time) from the Det. Ask them about it. Also, see if there are any other options for attending class is you have work or especially if you have class conflicts. I'm pretty sure that they have to honor any class conflicts withs ROTC class but it will go a long way if you're putting in the effort to get to class. Once they know you're comitted to the program they may give you more leeway in the future. I don't think they'll care that you comunicate your situation to them and ask what other options there may be as long as your not just making excuses and once again as long as they know that you're comitted to the program. FTP semester will be one of those semesters that they use to "slim down" the program to see who really wants to be there and who they should work with, so make sure they know just how much you do want to be there. If all else fails see number 1 and just know that it's all do-able and well worth it in the end. What kind of x-town programs do they have in place now? PT? Class? LLAB (Alt LLAB)?

^^^^^^^^^ Where does Lt Uhura sit? Is that for real, ie is that a prototype idea or the actual cockpit? Edited for clarity. [ 15. January 2007, 16:40: Message edited by: egochecks ]

Rotorhead, Outstanding. Thank you.

A few random photos from the internet. Soldier with Kid Bloody Child Soldier with Kids Jessica Lynch Chem Gear in Trenches Chem Gear in Trenches 2 Chem Gear in Desert Chem Gear in Trenches 3 Shock and Awe Drinking Canteen through Gas Mask Bahdad on fire Explosion in City City on Fire Iraqi's dragging Saddam statue Iraqi Kid with Soldiers Oil Fires and Soldiers Oil Fires and Soldiers 2 Iraqi Man kissing picture of Pres Bush Iraqi Baby kissing U.S. Soldier U.S. Soldier holding Iraqi Baby & Crowd Cheering Saddam Palace on Fire with Picture of Saddam on it Body Falling from Trade Towers Coffins in back of Plane Wounded Soldiers Amputee Soldier Iraqi's carrying away dead body Badly wounded Iraqi boy Iraqi child in Infirmiry Soldier Double Amputee Bloody screaming Iraqi Girl Sorry for taking up all of the space but I thought these might help your cause. Thanks for making a difference. Ego

A little late to your answer, but yeah that's exactly what it says. They still have the same form.

I say switch colognes. Maybe try Sex Panther. "It's made with bits of real panther so you know it's good. They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time." "That doesn't make sense."

Cadre at our det has implied that UPT and Casual bases probably won't be given until after the new year. So more "hurry up and wait"ing on the horizon. More than likely around January to February.

In line with that did anyone else see the link in the original story to "Watch the painful memories for mother of missing soldier"? "Here's a link to more drama and the pain of a dead soldier's mother. Have at it." What the hell is that?

RIP & to the ***holes who did this. May they find worse deaths in a short period of time.

I don't think anyone will know if it's good or bad until it has time to show if there's any difference in the people it "picks" for pilot training. Whatever that means. The BAT felt like more a crap shoot to me anyway. The new one sounds like it might be a little more interesting to take to me.

And Herein lies a Now if you'll excuse me...

Yes, I've noticed the new trend. I've also noticed that almost everyone in the squadron I'm going to after the FTU has a little wifey. I guess gotta get me one of those just to fit in.

Soflguy, Just visited a WWII display with uniforms and I was thinking the same thing.

Thank you. It's good to hear the guys who have been around the block focusing and emphasizing these aspects of the job.

Flow, University Park- I can't seem to find anyone who's lived there but I think they're pretty nice. Champions at Norwood- Those are on Dublin I think. Those are nice. I've known two people who have lived there and have been there several times. Nice kitchens with a kind of island layout so it's open. Big bathrooms and closests. A nice pool as well I believe. If I hear more about any of these I'll let you know.

State tax for your paychecks or sales tax? If sales tax it's 7.4%. If state tax...no idea.