ASBC information

[Herk Driver]

On-base billeting is $27/day DOD-wide (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

No. The Army is usually much more expensive than anywhere else I have ever stayed so it's not DoD-wide and not even USAF wide.

As an example, Ramstein TLFs were something along the lines of $45/day and the Patch Barracks TLFs were $87.50/day. Guess which one was nicer.

Also, currently Little Rock billeting is $39/day for a standard room.

BL: It depends.

[AEWingsMN]

Went out to eat like 3-7 times a week, and I'm one who usually tries to eat my own meals just out of health reasons. Lunch is whatever you want. You'll probably have a week with enlisted folks, during which you'll probably eat buffets or pizza every day. There will be a few working lunches where everyone pitches in for pizza or subs (like 5 bucks), you're gonna have to put like 50 bucks towards MREs, They will give you plenty of opportunities to spend 10-100 bucks on souvenoirs (flight photos, coins, etc.) throughout the program. During the first week after blue thunder, also expect to eat out as part of the "get to know your flight" routine.

If you have any questions about it, it's all fresh, i can give you help. There were a lot of times where it seemed like if they just gave us more info, we'd be able to do so much better and worry less. For example, day one you go to blue thunder, but not til the very end of the day (at least for us). There was plenty of time to get supplies before leaving, but they never gave us a schedule. There was no reason they didn't give us a schedule, other than they didn't think of it. Had we known that we had all day (and a long lunch break), we wouldn't have been making midnight runs to wal-mart (BTW, if your GPS has a "bad part of town avoidance" avoidance function on it, use it. Parts of Montgomery are really nice, others... not so much... mine brought me to a wal-mart that didn't exist in the middle of the sketchiest residential area. Way off the main road too). There was time to get uniform items you decided you needed and bugspray and other stuff you needed during day one. But they neglected to tell us the schedule, so we had to prepare as if we left first thing in the morning.

[ziploc158]

I just had a change in my orders, they moved my EAD, IFS, and UPT dates up two weeks but they took away my ASBC dates and I was told that I wont be going. Does anyone know if it will hurt my career in any way missing my first PME or should I find a way to get sent?

[Guest Flyin' AF Hawaiian]

I just had a change in my orders, they moved my EAD, IFS, and UPT dates up two weeks but they took away my ASBC dates and I was told that I wont be going. Does anyone know if it will hurt my career in any way missing my first PME or should I find a way to get sent?

I'll be the first to admit that you really don't "miss out" on anything if you don't attend ASBC- besides drinking, that is. However- and this is total rumor mill- when I went to ASBC the instructors were telling us that by the time we had to attend SOS, ASBC in residence was going to be a prerequisite. Now, whether they can hold it against you if you were never sent in the first place... who knows?

[Guest Rolds]

Thread revival: I'm getting married in a few months and want to make as much money as possible off of ASBC. Any suggestions on how to do that (drive instead of fly, etc)?

Also, several people have said they made $3,000 at ABSC. The entire per diem listed on the Maxwell website is $54 per day ($27 each for food and lodging) which when multiplied by 40 (number of days at Maxwell) only amounts to $2160. Where's the extra money come from??

Thanks.

[spectre56]

Thread revival: I'm getting married in a few months and want to make as much money as possible off of ASBC. Any suggestions on how to do that (drive instead of fly, etc)?

Also, several people have said they made $3,000 at ABSC. The entire per diem listed on the Maxwell website is $54 per day ($27 each for food and lodging) which when multiplied by 40 (number of days at Maxwell) only amounts to $2160. Where's the extra money come from??

Thanks.

You can get up to $250/month (I think that's the amount) for family separation allowance, then whatever travel expenses you incur. It's been a while since i've been so my info may be dated.

[StoleIt]

Also, several people have said they made $3,000 at ABSC. The entire per diem listed on the Maxwell website is $54 per day ($27 each for food and lodging) which when multiplied by 40 (number of days at Maxwell) only amounts to $2160. Where's the extra money come from??

Thanks.

They probably added the $2k ontop of their regular paycheck and thought of it as one giant bonus.

Thats what I did. So technically, it was only 2k...but it feels better to say 3.

[FlyingBull]

I'm going TDY enroute to Pcola with a RNLTD of 28 Jan, so this will also be my in-processing with the Air Force.

I seem to have everything in order with one exception, the immunization worksheet. I can get my immunization records from all the shots you had to have to get into college. But I was also given a shot at Field Training. I know I got a meningitis shot, but I can't remember if I got more than just that one. Additionally I don't know the date and I have no record of it. I talked to the NCO at my Det and he told me that they don't keep a record of our immunizations.

So....do I just not list it?

As an aside, I'm also told they take blood to test for your immunizations anyway so whats the point of the worksheet?

Edited January 20, 2010 by FlyingBull

[magnetfreezer]

I'm going TDY enroute to Pcola with a RNLTD of 28 Jan, so this will also be my in-processing with the Air Force.

I seem to have everything in order with one exception, the immunization worksheet. I can get my immunization records from all the shots you had to have to get into college. But I was also given a shot at Field Training. I know I got a meningitis shot, but I can't remember if I got more than just that one. Additionally I don't know the date and I have no record of it. I talked to the NCO at my Det and he told me that they don't keep a record of our immunizations.

So....do I just not list it?

As an aside, I'm also told they take blood to test for your immunizations anyway so whats the point of the worksheet?

I'd put down the month and a shot. If they took your name/social when you had it it *should* end up in some master AF computer system, especially with the Maxwell MDG doing FT and ASBC - a flu shot I had when TDY showed up in my med records months later after inprocessing to a new base. Worst case they tell you they can't find a record and you have to get another shot.

[letsgofast]

Anyone here ever heard of LTs not going to ASBC at all and just going to IFS and UPT? Checked my SURF on AMS and my ASBC date was cancelled and my IFS and UPT dates moved way up. Same situation with a few other LTs.

[magnetfreezer]

Anyone here ever heard of LTs not going to ASBC at all and just going to IFS and UPT? Checked my SURF on AMS and my ASBC date was cancelled and my IFS and UPT dates moved way up. Same situation with a few other LTs.

Yep. Also happened with some intel people - not unheard of for career fields with no initial training. You'll probably go after UPT. Or you could end up like 69% of WSOs who went through the old Navy pipeline at Pcola who never went at all.

[brabus]

Also, several people have said they made $3,000 at ABSC. The entire per diem listed on the Maxwell website is $54 per day ($27 each for food and lodging) which when multiplied by 40 (number of days at Maxwell) only amounts to $2160. Where's the extra money come from??

Thanks.

Are you planning on not eating and sitting in your room for the entirety of your time there? Making money off TDY is cool and all, but I don't understand why people try to do it at the expense of food and having a good time. No you don't have to blow a ton of money at clubs, bars, etc, but even having no life you're only making $1215 on top of your paycheck for the whole trip, and that's with not spending a single cent. So in reality, even severe "penny pinching" is only going to make you around $800.

I seem to have everything in order with one exception, the immunization worksheet.

My experience on multiple occasions has been if you don't have the AF immunizations record form, you're getting the shot. They don't give a shit how many times you say you've had it or your school gave you ____ . Just show up, get the 4-6 shots and don't lose the record they give you (like I did) or else you'll be getting the same ones a year later at your next base.

[letsgofast]

Yep. Also happened with some intel people - not unheard of for career fields with no initial training. You'll probably go after UPT. Or you could end up like 69% of WSOs who went through the old Navy pipeline at Pcola who never went at all.

The ASBC website says you must go within 12 months of commissioning date so it's not even possible.

[Guest Flyin' AF Hawaiian]

The ASBC website says you must go within 12 months of commissioning date so it's not even possible.

They can waive that requirement. I had a 1LT and a 2Lt who had been in for longer than 12 months in my flight. I've also known a couple guys that have gone after Pilot/Nav/ABM training.

[That Guy]

It's not a terrible program. They're trying to get everyone on the LTs on the same page and give us more tools to take into active duty, even for us pilot wannabes. The kickball thing you saw was probably Icarus, dodgeball on steroids. I thought the game would be gay but it ends up being a huge strategic game with a bunch of ROEs. It does feel a little bit like FT or ROTC though, lot of hand-holding.

[theSituation]

Really, ASBC wasnt all that bad. It was good meeting new people and hanging out with the flight. Of course there was some BS stuff that we had to do, but I really felt that it was a good bridge into active duty, especially after coming off of 6 months waiting to EAD.

Apparently the curriculum is changing again for the new classes starting up in a couple weeks. For all those guys going, just go with an open mind, dont worry about the test, get drunk often with your flightmates and try and have a good time.

Also, bring LOTS OF STUFF TO DO with you to Blue Thunder. We had our laptops to watch movies, ipods, books, card, etc. You'll have plenty of downtime while youre out there.

[Guest cody6766]

I'm at ASBC right now and it's not too bad. There's some gayness, but if you have some cool LTs in your flight you'll spend more time ######ing off than really doing work. There's some reading and stuff for class, but you'll find yourself drinking in the dorms while you do it. I'm putting beer back with my door open and flight mates popping in and out right now.

Blue Thunder could be worse. It rehashes a lot that you've seen, but they put a better light on it. The NCOs are also pretty entertaining.

ASBC sucks a lot less than I expected, but I also have a damned fun flight.

[Kelvin]

I'm also at ASBC right now. Our flight commander put the whole program a good way. It depends entirely on who your flight commander is. There are some who volunteer to be ASBC instructors and want to be here. You want them as your instructors. Then there are the non-vols who got forced out of their career field and had no interest in going to Maxwell. They try to pass on their misery to all of their students and basically make ASBC a shtty experience. Unfortunately the ratio is about 1/1 of vols and non-vols.

I got lucky. Our flt/CC was prior enlisted, is now cruising towards retirement AND volunteered for instructor duty. He's open about which lessons he hates and feels free to teach them how he wants. He expects basically nothing from us (as far as preparation) and let's us out early on a regular basis. This gives us a good opportunity to get drunk on weeknights, take classes as seriously (or not) as we want and makes it a lot easier to put up with the BS.

Overall, I'd say it beats sitting around on casual doing squat, especially with the nice TDY bonus in per diem and travel expenses coming my way. On the other hand, if I was already operational in my career field (especially flying,) I'd be pissed I was here. Sure makes me look forward to SOS...

[stract]

ASBC attendence was on my PRF for the O-4 board.

[SPiF]

ASBC attendence was on my PRF for the O-4 board.

2, as a former group exec I saw it (as the old ABC and ASBC) on surfs.

The outlook I got from a former AFPC assignments guy is that it may be a determining factor in case of another RIF (i.e. two similar records, but one guy went and another didn't), but other than that OPRs, SOS, and master's degrees tend to do the sorting. It shouldn't make a difference overall, but your mileage may vary.

[Whitty]

Has anyone had experience with having to bump back one class? Right now they've got me in class 10E1 which just so happens to be during our already booked honeymoon. I'm hoping they can bump me in to class 10E2 but I haven't found any info on what the chances are of making that happen.

[Gravedigger]

Has anyone had experience with having to bump back one class? Right now they've got me in class 10E1 which just so happens to be during our already booked honeymoon. I'm hoping they can bump me in to class 10E2 but I haven't found any info on what the chances are of making that happen.

My wife got orders to ASBC 4 months before our already planned, booked, paid for wedding and honeymoon....they would not change her dates. We ended up having to move everything a month earlier. We had to change the location of the rehearsal dinner, and change our honeymoon, but everything worked out.

EDIT: Just remembered about a guy at my base that got his dates changed because his wife was due to give birth during ASBC, and she was going to accompany him. So it is possible in some situations, I have just seen a whole lot more no than yes.

Edited April 12, 2010 by Gravedigger

[GearMonkey]

Has anyone had experience with having to bump back one class? Right now they've got me in class 10E1 which just so happens to be during our already booked honeymoon. I'm hoping they can bump me in to class 10E2 but I haven't found any info on what the chances are of making that happen.

If it is anything like SOS (and I think it is) the class allocations trickle down to the MAJCOMs and then the bases. Because of this, as long at the base can assign a body against an allocation they are pretty much free to do what they want. Try and find someone on base (either do it yourself or work with you CC to get the word out to other squadrons) who is willing to swap with you and it should be pretty easy. I just did it with SOS and aside from pointing out that I couldn't be in two formal training prgrams simultaneously it was totally hands-off.

If that doesn't work and you have family who can take care of all the prep-work you could just fly off for the weekend to get hitched. This is AETC so weekends are pretty much a free for all. I wonder if you have to get a high-risk activity briefing when you turn in an "I'm getting married" Form 26B?

Good luck.

[Odium]

Does anyone have any advice on whether three sets of ABUs are really necessary? I'm reluctant to drop the coin on three complete sets I assume I'll wear very little once I hit UPT.

Any current advice on stuff to bring not on the packing list. Definitely bringing the Golf clubs, any other suggestions or gouge?

[runnerdm6]

You won't need 3 sets of ABUs. I brought 2 and that was fine.