Chida

Find a hole!! (sts)

I could see them hiring a bunch of reservist IMAs. Is that a possibility to get support back without breaking the bank?

It wouldn't surprise me. I knew this one guy (at band camp) who landed at the wrong runway at Little Rock National Airport. It has two parallel runways that are 8200 ft and a 6200 ft one that is off-axis by about 45 degrees from the others. He was a WO having his student do a circling approach and they did a T&G on the 6200 ft runway. Priority one for him after this was to file an ASAP report and blame his error on the approach's construction. I realize this is not as serious as the C-17 incident, since the TOLD for the Herk was probably OK and the PCN was probably OK, but I don't see it as an appropriate use of ASAP. It's simply a thing where he made a mistake and I think he should have just taken his licks.

Yeah I just looked at visajourney.com's stats for China on CR-1 and K-1 visas and it looks to be about the same amount of time. I'd also go with the CR-1 visa in this case since it's a lot cheaper and easier. I only went with the K-1 because it was faster for Japan at the time. So I guess since you're doing the CR-1 you'll want to get married ASAP so that she can join you once you're halfway thru UPT or maybe done with UPT?

There are 4 things: security clearance, immigration, military, and SSA. -Security clearance: just report your marriage to your security manager and chain of command. They should know what needs to be done, if anything. When I got married I had recently re-done my security clearance in which I listed everything for my then-fiancee and reported her as such, so I didn't do anything after we were married. Since then I've had an additional periodic re-investigation and there were no problems. -Immigration: You should know that if she is not currently in the US on some type of visa, and then you get married and try to get a marriage visa, that it takes about a year from application to acquire the visa and that she cannot stay in the US with you during this time. I did the fiancee visa which is the quickest way to get your fiancee over here (but also most expensive) and then get married in the US and adjust status to permanent resident. During the adjustment of status she is to remain in the US. See visajourney.com and uscis.gov. -Military: Once you are married, go to the ID card office. Bring her passport and marriage certificate. She should have a visa in her passport which will be OK for the 2nd form of picture ID. She does not necessarily need a social security number at this time. Go by the tricare office if you want to sign up for Tricare Prime, otherwise you're on Tricare Standard by default. You can also sign up for Tricare Dental at this time if you want to. They will take ~$12 out of your monthly pay on your LES for dental premiums. Update your life insurance beneficiaries (SGLI) and your record of emergency data (VRED). -Social Security: If you do a marriage visa, SSA may give you an SSN as part of that process, but if they don't go to the social security office and sign up for a SSN for her. This took me 3 visits and a month and a half since they're basically unfamiliar with the fiancee visa and there were some issues with the name check. The issue was her visa was in her maiden name, then we were married so her name changed and everything from that point was in her new name except that her passport still showed her old name. I'm pretty sure that's about it. The immigration process was the height of bureaucratic foolishness, but they didn't give me any problems. The time from application for the visa to the actual visa issuance was 5-6 months. She came over, we were married within a few days and then we applied for adjustment of status so she could get her green card. I taught her how to drive and she got her license within a few months. It cost me more than $3000 for her entire process, the majority being USCIS application fees. Other associated costs are embassy fees, doctor's fees, immunization costs, document fees, etc. She's from Japan.

Last time I was in downtown Seattle (Mar 2012) the bums had taken over the city. Of course, you'll be able to see that once you start looking around. I'm not kidding either. I couldn't walk more than 2 steps without a crack head begging for change. They were pretty agressive, too. Reminded me of this ICP song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp65NrfPb6s

https://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123309969 Little Rock is doing a 6-month trial with tablets for FLIP. Will someone at LR answer these, please? -Who is going to maintain these, hardware and software? Comm squadron, PFPS contractor, SELO, SARMs, duty dog, or some poor copilot? -Are these issued by the duty dog to stepping crews or are they issued to individuals to keep? -Is paper FLIP still used for local-only flights? -Is there a provision for NVG use in place?

All right, all right. I apologize. I shouldn't have said something so inflammatory. In the future, I won't be insulting to such an ill-defined target.

This is the most f*ked up bs I've ever read. Keep jerkin each other off, fools. I'm so glad I'm done with active duty.

Right on Karl H. As an aside I've encountered many active duty "lifers" who have an attitude that if you "quit" or are "kicked out" of active duty your life is over. But that is so far from the truth it's laughable. Cue the guy who says, "What are you going to do?" To all DBs who have such sentiments, and this is directed to no one in particular, I'll remind you that one day or another and sooner or later we all leave active duty. "But what are you going to DO?!"

There was a certain infamous person about a decade ago (or more) who had washed out of UPT in active duty and then went to the guard and re-attempted and became a C-130 pilot. He ended up destroying a C-130 down in Central America somewhere (Tegucigalpa?) and then during the accident investigation all these background details came to light. I don't know if it were this incident that prompted the regulation to prohibit do-overs, but whatevs.** **Disclaimer: This was told to me by an old simulator instructor, so I take no responsibility as to its accuracy BL: Your only shot at military pilot training is Army, Navy, or Coast Guard. Seek that out. Inquire at airwarriors.com, maybe.

Yes but it's a 3-day option under ITDY's like that. While you won't automatically get a 365 from showing your cards, nothing prevents you from getting a 6-month non-flying deployment bad deal from showing your cards. Don't let that fear stop you from doing what you need to do, though.

Yes, I did for most of my MS. The 9/11 GI Bill had not yet come out for my first two classes so I used TA and my own money (since TA covered only part of the expense). After that, though, I was planning to get out of AD and didn't want to pay my TA back (due to unfulfilled ADSC), so I used just the 9/11 GI Bill thereafter and that covered the entire cost (except for books). Since I was planning to get out of AD the transfer of benefits to children was not something I wanted because of the extra ADSC. And I still have 22 months of benefits remaining on the GI Bill.

Yes, it's actually mandatory, but you should do SOS in correspondence at the very least. If you want to put it off until the last possible second it will achieve the same result on AD as not having done it at all. There is a time limit on it, I'm pretty sure, before you're ineligible to do SOS. Also I don't know if you have any interest in free education, but if you do want to get your master's degree on the USAF dime, you don't have to report that you actually got it. So you could have the degree, but it won't be on your records thus achieving the same result as not having one. Then when the timing suits you, you can put it on your record (Reserve Major and/or Lt Col promotion boards). Also for your timeline: let's say your second board meets Nov 16. The board results will probably be released in Feb 17. Your mandatory DOS will be Aug 17, but you can ask for an earlier DOS. So in this scenario you could possibly get out Feb-Aug 17. Just do the TAP (Transition Assistance Program) class at the Airman and Family Readiness Center well prior to the board release date since they won't let you go until you get that done. That class is the only potential roadblock to getting out on a short timeline. One more thing. If you're 2x passed over on AD you'll need a waiver. To get the waiver you'll need your losing and gaining wing commanders to write you letters of confidence/recommendation which go to a General somewhere in the Reserve bureaucracy. Then the General says yea/nay based on your record and these letters.

If you're 2x passed over ADSC does not matter, so don't worry about getting PCS'd. I knew a guy who got PCS'd inbetween his first pass-over and his 2nd and it was to Yokota. He was only at Yokota for about 4 months since he decided to take so much terminal leave. If you get 2x passed over and they offer continuation just refuse it and you'll have a mandatory separation 6 months from when the board results are released. If they don't offer continuation just take that money to the bank! It should be around $70000 for involuntary separation pay, plus you can sell your leave back (60 days=~$10000). If you really want out bad, once you have a DOS set, you can move that to sooner, although I wouldn't recommend giving yourself less than 2 months to get your stuff together to outprocess.

Depends. Do you have 2/3 of your initial ADSC done? Initial ADSC means the one you got from your commissioning source. So for USAFA that's 2/3*5=3 years and 4 months. For ROTC it's 2/3*4=2 years, 8 months. Go ahead and apply. It will probably get denied, but on the bright side you'll self-indentify that you don't want to be around which can lead to getting passed over for major which can lead to your separation before your ADSC is done. On the other hand 6 years is a long time and there will probably be multiple opportunities in the coming years for early outs in the form of force shaping, RIFs, VSP, etc.

Yeah, no sh:t. As if you're going to rescue the reputation of this fine institution.

I'm really surprised that the AF is still paying TA at all, since the 9/11 GI Bill covers everyone, pretty much, these days. Once the bean counters figure that out, then TA will probably stop. Why pay for something that's already covered under a separate program?

Would it be possible to just get rid of the authorization(s) for trips on air force aircraft/flight orders? I remember when it was paper vouchers, we would just fly the mission using orders from the squadron aviation resource managers and then file the paper voucher once the mission is done. When I was RA for my squadron, I would not accept anything except group authorizations for TDYs using air force aircraft. This saved me tons on time and it saved everyone else in the squadron tons of time, but the next best thing would be no authorization required. If this were to happen, a group travel voucher would be a good idea. The lead traveler would make the "shell" and then it would spawn to the individuals involved. The individuals would then only upload receipts and add additional nickel and dime items such as laundry, taxi, etc, if need be.

My outlook is this: I have basically one chance to continue flying for a living b/c if I give that up now and go do something else (chairbound), I can't really go back and pick up the flying gig because I'll have lost currency, proficiency, etc. However, if I do the flying gig until it plays out or until I'm tired of it, those non-flying jobs will still be there, or I'll have my own business (more likely). Hell, I would start my own flying business if I thought I would make money (odds are against that, though, so I'll be a flying employee for a while longer).

I love this comeback. I am separating soon and I get this question from the robots all the time, as if I am DOOMED!! I am sure it's just curiosity (morbid curiosity). But for the guys who will separate, they will figure something out. There are loads of opportunities.

Anything, but depends on how much time they are willing to give up. For example: 365 can be completed in toto, so that's a no brainer. PCS to US carries a 1 year ADSC, so that's cool. PCS to a different aircraft carries a 3 year ADSC, which they can still order you to do, but probably won't since they'd only get about 6 months out of you. Once you 7-day opt (or 3 day, depending), it's up to them for the next chess-piece move.

I knew a girl (nav) who was at Ramstein and she was told to go to MCs which I think would add a 3 year ADSC after her formal training (which can take a half year or a year depending on the backlog, this was around 2008). Anyway she was committed to getting out as soon as her nav ADSC was done which was going to be 2010. She refused the ADSC, so AFPC said OK, fine we're sending you to Little Rock with a 365 enroute. A couple weeks after they told her this she played her P card. So no 365 and then she separated out of Little Rock at the end of her nav contract.

I, personally, was sold a bill of goods. I signed up for 16 years as an 18 year old, and was told I would fly for a living. I had no idea that after the academy and after flying training that flying would be only 1% of what I did. It's a raw deal. Don't do active duty, go guard!

My bet's on Schwartz. He came up in there at LR May 2011 (I think). During the Q/A someone asked why all these cats were denied VSP and why the RIF was then going to be held. He said, and I quote, "Not enough people volunteered for the VSP." And onto another quote by T. Jefferson, "He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second or third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions."