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I'll agree I was an ignorant SNA but then again my owning there was a CNATRA O-6 who became CNAFR actual later on, and he was the chillest possible dude and I learned a lot from him.

1) Most brokerage accounts offer some kind of advisory services once you meet a certain balance. That might check your box 2) Consider a fee based financial planner. Planners make money via fees, selling you products, or a percentage cut of Assets Under Management. I prefer paying them for...

I was a Corpus SNA and Whiting IP. LRU course rules were stupid easy, just flow around a mountain, up into some working areas, rejoin the circle, overhead entry, land. FWIW I hated the complexity of KNSE course rules and barely knew them as an IP until I taught the Course Rules class and later...

I think this thread is funny in the sense of the ingrained gouge of 1315/1325s is "Hardware unit", "Shitty NRC SELRES drill weekends and Djibouti MOBs", or VTU. The more I've learned about the reserves, it's really a choose your own adventure once you know the rules.

Conversely, the amount of clout chasing she does is also ludicrously high. I don't think the vitriol is deserved, but maybe a little bit of the mocking is. Also shoot most, not all, pilot influencers into the sun.

I've been where you are and I've been a VT IP. You're overthinking it. Just be prepared with standard stuff (FTI, NATOPs, etc). You'll get the download on course rules when you get there (they might not even be written yet).

I don't have any gouge on Havasu, but my Primary det in 2011 to La Cruces, NM was one of those times I wouldn't trade for the world. Chill vibes, per diem, living in a hotel with everyone, great weather, great morale. Glad CNATRA is keeping them going when WX back home is soul crushing.

My training partner in sims was an LSO during that timeframe and Navy leadership didn't cover themselves in glory pushing folks past their ability to make headlines. I think we've long since moved to honest evaluation of flying talent, even if some groups are wildly under-represented.

a) What did your paper look like before moving to the VTU? Mob? Competitive EPs? 2N1? If you were otherwise upwardly mobile before dropping to the VTU, it might carry through. b) I assume you're trying to avoid a forced MOB? If so, there are non-flying flex drill units for 1315s that are...

My *ahem* research showed me it's pretty mild stuff, but yeah I can't imagine how pissed people would've been at her at the time.

Unfortunately I'm in a cold climate so keeping the heat going is a priority. The two times we lost power in the last 3 years were winter storms that brought heavy wet snow. I'm debating moving to an all heat pump setup + better insulation that would drastically drop my energy bills, but any...

Good to know. We have a remodel coming up at some point and I want to have ourselves wired up for a generator but leave it as future growth. Generac has a solar integration too that's intriguing.

Was your house already wired for a generator or did that include the electrical piece (disconnect panel)? And since you said it runs your whole house I'm assuming you didn't do a critical load panel?

There's videos of the PKK trucking out SA-17/SA-27 systems...

Have you dealt with the VA? I’ve actually found them reasonably good. The issue is people hiding stuff from nami then claiming it out the door.

You missed @Hotdogs railing against CARs for entire ships a few months (years?) back. This is an internal AW's callback.

NFW they let the Russians stay after all that. If anything there might be a deal to be struck for Syrian air defense munitions with interested third parties. 🤔 I too remain skeptical this will not turn into another Lybia (morass of infighting) or Egypt (another strongman), but maybe there's a...

God I fucking hate NAMI.

I volunteer with my Fraternity's almuni organization since I moved back to my hometown/college town. I recently became the President which is frustrating considering I'm on MOB in C7F for the next few months, but we've been able to make it work. It's purely volunteer, but I was a giant fuck-up...

CIVMAR manning for MSC is at really horrible levels. So this isn't shocking.

Very capable helicopters and in flight refueled MPRA get you a lot of this capability that didn't exist in WWII.

Did this once with my wife, thought it would be cool, plus cheaper flights into MIA. Yeah, once and only once is correct. LOTS of being stuck in traffic, no passing allowed. Never again.

I'm not saying those guys didn't have gigantic brass balls. They did. I'd buy any a beer, and I have tons of respect for the hard flying the scout crews did in OIF/OEF. They saved a shitload of grunts lives. The Army also learned a lot and we obviously saw the loss rate go down from Vietnam...

My friend's husband is in a wheelchair after getting shot down in one in AFG. I guess he's the lucky one, his copilot died. The 58 didn't have the survivability design features of the -60/64/Cobra/Twin Huey. The -60 and -64 were literally designed around the failures of the original Huey, and...

Still can't believe the US Army put fucking Bell 407s into a hot war during the OEF/OIF. What a dumb move in retrospect.

Honestly surprised these don't get tasked more for LOG runs as INAV training events.

I passed on a group order. Not my bag since it didn't have GMT or a Skipping hour hand. Also, FWIW, I don't love the look.

Quals are essentially how the Front Office rewards their picks before FITREPs. You'll notice people who are on the "fast track" getting more quals earlier and later on advanced quals (IP, FCP, Level 300, etc). Sometimes deployment timelines play a part since you need X qualified people in to...

We live in the midwest and they've been solid for homeowners/auto. Back in 16-19 when we were in Florida it felt like it was 20% hikes every 6 months on two basic cars and we briefly left for *Geico from 2019-2021. Definitely feels like they're squeezing the people on the coasts which I both...

That just screams contractor money grab to me. Scaling up pilot training takes money. IPs, Fuel, Planes, Parts. There's no cheap way to do it.

I give it 5 years before they reboot it as a Biz Jet or similar. Just keep it away from the VP stupidity.

Without an onboard helo they’ve carved out a specific niche. Combined with the utter failure of LCS and delayed Connie-class FFG, it makes sense to fill a gap.

Just curious, what are the VFA PEP options these days? I only saw Brits coming our way and that was in their "bad time" of no actual carriers.

Not a pointy nose bubba but had plenty of friends who were. With the production backlog, seems like every TACAIR single anchor is going to a flying shore tour, with rare exceptions (a friend had to get a CNAF actual waiver to CoLo with his non-mil spouse in Hawaii at a PACOM watch floor job)...

I think the J Model has a great record for power, reliability, etc amongst the NAVAIR folks. What blows my mind is VR hasn't bought them to replace their H Models.

I think the building codes implemented since Andrew have really paid dividends. Doesn’t defeat storm surge but anything built in the last 30 years is better. Andrew was so devastating because of the older houses, see also Key West and Ian. I know my 2015 built home in FL was pretty good both...

Once you've got your number at your destination, it's a choose your own adventure. Barring the unforeseen, you should only have to be junior once by choice. WB, NB, CA, FO, etc. I'm happy United had to raise the bar on QoL for reserve to entice CA bidders and that spreads across the industry.

We had plenty of HMH pilots in the VTs crush hours and go on to bigger and better things on the outside. Unless you love helos, get to the VTs if you can.

I'll say for the international phone service, Verizon's "Unlimited Ultimate" is great for international. Unlimited calls/texts in US/Japan and 10GB of high speed data a month. I use it traveling extensively in Asia and it's great. T-Mobile used to be the only one with this type of plan but...

I'll defer to the current peeps, but when I winged in 2012 you knew if you were going to Guam/Japan ahead of time and the FRS was just an I-Stop. They "tended" to keep people on the coast they went to for FRS. We bought in Norfolk in 2012 and sold in 2019, after renting it from 2016-2019 and...

Paging @DanMa1156 😇

Get in comms with your sponsor ASAP. As soon as you have verbals they should get you one. They usually have the latest on the ground info. I'll second what @HSMPBR said. Medical, Pets, Housing (TLA, on base vs off, OHA/COLA) are probably your top concerns. I went unaccompanied to Bahrain...

I also don't think some of you appreciate the level of spend people have to have to get the top tier status levels. My coworkers who get United Global Service are buying 6-12k a month in biz class seats and keeping the miles. And they can steer fares towards their preferred airline if...

FAs don't get paid enough IMO, but the reality is (for now) it's a career for younger folks who value the travel benefits and don't mind living in a Crashpad while they work up a seniority list. There's also no mandatory retirement age (insert joke here), so the quality/efficient routes rarely...

It’s not an APPLY billet so no. More like “senior officer” but we shorthand OIC and the UMUIC CO knows who I am. The way mustering/NSIPS works I also have drill approval for the TRUIC, but everything has to be allowed by the UMUIC since they pay the bills (learned that one the hard way). My unit...

I had a sit down with my reserve CO and he understands my goals (20 good years as an O-4), and my string of P FITREPs reflect it. I’m a local unit OIC and get the flexibility and pros/cons that come with that, but I think I do a good job with my 12 person pirate ship unit. I’m eating 180 days in...

You get forced to APPLY orders, which may not be in you home location. And honestly the math on reserve retirement, it’s not that much more. You’d be better off getting more points making up the difference.

As someone trying to get passed over for Reserve O-5, 👊🏻

You gotta really try to not get picked up as a 1310 these days. BZ

I used "Blackbird xxx" on the radio's and and BBXXX for filing IFR in forelight for 3 years. No one cared, outside the occasionally check-in of "Single Navy T-6" for VFR arrivals into controlled airspace.