SBuzzkill

That’s a nice bag. Those compartments are pretty sweet, much better than the stuff everything in with the helmet routine I used to do. Exactly what they say not to do, LoL Shame you had to buy a new one over some broken buckles, since they are easy and quick to replace. Next time talk to your ALSE guy about sewing some new ones on.

I never saw anyone using anything other than the one issued to us.

https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/ARN4774_R637_2_FINAL.pdf There's the applicable regulation for Separation Pay. Table 2-1 (page 7) shows the entitlement and computation, and limitations can be found in Table 2-2 (page 8). It should be noted that by accepting the ISP, you agree to 3 years in the ready reserve.

Definitely, you’ll need the lav especially if you’re eating food you brought with you into the wilderness. You may also want to consider a TV or some other sort of entertainment center, since the bigfoot hunt could end up being rather unproductive. You don’t need surround sound either you can just pump it to your Bluetooth helmet. Speaking of Bigfoot, I happen to know a few facts about them if you’re interested.

I used to dream like this all the time! Sounds like you want an aerial RV. Some sort of extended range tanks will be important to get enough range to effectively tour the country. Stopping for fuel every couple hours severely limits how far you can get in a day. I wouldn’t worry TOO much about the seat locks. Helicopters don’t experience nearly the same horizontal thrust that an airplane does. By nature most of your thrust will be on the vertical plane. External baggage pods will certainly increase your interior space for passenger comfort. Tents, sleeping bags, etc can all

They will certainly come up with something to make sure they get their time out of you. But to go back to your original question which I failed to answer... Without a change to the promotion structure, your second pass over for W3 would come right around 6 years into your 10 year ADSO. Add 7 months to get out and you're sitting just shy of 7 of 10 years completed. Assuming flight school takes 1.5 years, that's not even 9 years TIS for a street to seater. I have no idea how they will make up that difference. I assume we're going to see some changes to the regulations to capture th

I don't know the regulations as they apply to the blended retirement or the increased ADSO. If you google "Involuntary Separation Pay" you can go down the rabbit hole. However, making an assumption based on the intent of that pay, I see no reason you wouldn't receive it. Edit: Weren't they supposed to change the rules on promotion to W2 in order to stretch the timeline and avoid the scenario you described? Did that not happen? I'm out of the loop on this stuff, there's enough knowledge to keep up with in my new job that I don't want to knock any penguins off the iceberg.

Like I said earlier I enjoy posting these. I’ll try to keep them coming somewhat regularly. Maybe I’ll do a flight school one next...

I meant to post this story close to Halloween, because it's kind of in that spirit. But I got busy and forgot. The short version is that I saw a mystery blinking light in the desert. Here's the long version: My very last mission in the Army was during an NTC rotation, with some of my best friends training in the Apaches we were OCing for. That alone was exciting for me as I hadn't shared a mission with these guys since we left the OH-58D world a couple years prior. It was day into night, covering a big operation in a neighboring military training area. We normally used Army land for

Here’s a tip for the road ahead: Stop overthinking it. You’re going to have to do it, so is everyone else. Stressing about it will just make you miserable. Just take things one step at a time and don’t try to get ahead. Instead just focus on doing the best you can in the phase you’re in. Sometimes you can be thinking too far ahead of the airplane, and when you realize it you will be behind.

11 years ago it was run run run, often times with flak vests on. I assume not much has changed. Sounds like you have a good plan.

If you have the money. I didn’t, so I joined the Army. I regularly fly with guys in their 20s who went the college aviation route and if you can swing it that sure is a good way to go. Not nearly the experience level you’d see from a more “seasoned” pilot though.

In the context of an airline career those are better choices, but I wouldn’t pick where to spend over a decade of service based on an advantage for a follow on career. Unless that’s your only motivation for serving, which in that case I wouldn’t recommend any branch of service.

LoL, you’ll get a packing list. And dude... harden yourself up a bit.

My recruiter had a timeline like that too, and he kept to it and got me selected. Be thankful your recruiters are motivated to get it done. The choice is yours, you either want it or you don’t. If you have some specific questions we can answer those, but we don’t know anything about you so we can’t answer “what should I do?”