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Godholio posted:Almost 20 years In 2004 the base pay for under 2 as an O1 was $2264.40 and E3 was $1407 Today it's $3637.20 vs $2259.90 Inflation has been about 62% which is roughly the raise over time for both! Of course, rent has doubled so everyone is hosed.
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Jun 15, 2023 01:23
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I'm doing OK as a GS7 with tech retirement and VA disability. I can't fathom making 150k a year. Arc Light posted:I'm either profoundly stupid or extremely committed to the Air Force. You think *you're* committed? I retired out of personnel, and came back as a GS and I'm doing a UPC job in a squadron with 11 military lmao.
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Jun 15, 2023 03:06
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Shalhavet posted:In 2004 the base pay for under 2 as an O1 was $2264.40 and E3 was $1407 <me, thinking "drat, that aint bad" before realizing that's monthly, not bimonthly pay periods>
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Jun 15, 2023 09:05
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Lowest I ever got paid was $930 a month before taxes for like my first… 6-8 months of service? It was E-1 pay, and it was a travesty.
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Jun 15, 2023 12:15
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:Lowest I ever got paid was $930 a month before taxes for like my first… 6-8 months of service? It was E-1 pay, and it was a travesty. 814 a month when I first enlisted. It was a damned good thing I didn't have to pay for room and board. (753 bucks for the first 4 months)
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Jun 15, 2023 13:26
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There are a few things I miss about being an E-1 with absolutely no responsibilities beyond "march to class and don't gently caress up," but I do not miss the feeling in my stomach when I used an ATM right after buying an Xbox 360 and a cheapo TV at Sears, and realized I had less than $50 dollars left to my name.
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Jun 15, 2023 13:52
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The whole having no bills outside maybe a phone and internet thing was nice. The pay wasn't great but you could save as much as you wanted.
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Jun 15, 2023 14:20
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Just don't get a 30% APR Mitsubishi Lancer outside of Keesler and youre doing better than 50% of your classmates
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Jun 15, 2023 14:40
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I don’t even know what the gently caress I spent my pay back then on. Like, I wasn’t a drinker, didn’t smoke, rarely left base, and I couldn’t tell you where one drat red cent of my E-1 money went. I didn’t have a cellphone as they weren’t cheap and ubiquitous yet, so I’m at a loving loss. Was dialup internet more expensive than I remember it being?
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Jun 15, 2023 18:15
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:I don’t even know what the gently caress I spent my pay back then on. Like, I wasn’t a drinker, didn’t smoke, rarely left base, and I couldn’t tell you where one drat red cent of my E-1 money went. I didn’t have a cellphone as they weren’t cheap and ubiquitous yet, so I’m at a loving loss. rings
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Jun 15, 2023 19:09
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:I don’t even know what the gently caress I spent my pay back then on. Like, I wasn’t a drinker, didn’t smoke, rarely left base, and I couldn’t tell you where one drat red cent of my E-1 money went. I didn’t have a cellphone as they weren’t cheap and ubiquitous yet, so I’m at a loving loss.
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Jun 16, 2023 01:38
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:I don’t even know what the gently caress I spent my pay back then on. The family crest and sword set they hawked at the BX using some random European family's heraldry from 200 years ago because that name sounded vaguely similar to yours. I never actually met anyone who fell for that, but there were always tech schoolers in line at that stall, so I guess P.T. Barnum was on to something.
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Jun 16, 2023 07:33
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Thinking back on it.. I was in Tech School for 8 months, starting in October. My money went to flying my girlfriend to Texas on Valentine’s Day, Holiday Time airfare, and a daily sandwich and bag of chips from the Commissary after PT. That’s kind of insane when I think about it. I know E-1’s get paid a gently caress load more than I did, but I bet they’re just as broke as we were what with inflation and all. I wonder if the gently caress gently caress Junior enlisted games still exist. Some things are older than time, ya know.
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Jun 16, 2023 12:25
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My first unit was with an ACS and for comm guys it definitely had a more maintenance feel. Plenty of pranks and what would be considered hazing now. But that was nearly 22 years ago, from what I see of the new generation coming in most of that poo poo wouldn't fly.
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Jun 16, 2023 12:51
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:I don’t even know what the gently caress I spent my pay back then on. Like, I wasn’t a drinker, didn’t smoke, rarely left base, and I couldn’t tell you where one drat red cent of my E-1 money went. I didn’t have a cellphone as they weren’t cheap and ubiquitous yet, so I’m at a loving loss. Jewelry, knives, watches, and Official U.S. Air Force™ clothing at the BX
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Jun 16, 2023 14:16
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The BAH of WA State couple with me being a 14 year O-3 made leaving my Civilian job (making 130k) to go on AGR tour alot more tolerable. With roughly 32k of my income now untaxed I think i bring home more money in uniform even.
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Jul 13, 2023 19:29
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They let 14 year olds get commissions these days?
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Jul 14, 2023 04:08
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Wrr posted:They let 14 year olds get commissions these days? When you can't hit hiring goals, and there's no money to PCS or give retention bonuses, you've got to get creative. https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3453178/air-force-delays-some-pcss-bonuses/ quote:Headquarters Air Force is directing actions to be taken now to avoid exhausting funds. AFPC is currently approving PCS orders for Airmen with projected departure dates in July. quote:The Air Force is also temporarily pausing the Aviation Bonus program that opened on June 6, 2023, to restructure the program to continue offering bonuses to aviators. Within the next 14 days, the Air Force expects to reopen a restructured AvB, at which time officers who did not already elect to sign the AvB contract will be able to do so as long as funds remain. It's probably fine.
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Jul 14, 2023 06:47
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It’s something else every few years. Was it 2014 they almost couldn’t pay everyone and furloughed the government side? Surely they’ll be better prepared in the future
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Jul 15, 2023 02:41
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Hotel Kpro posted:It’s something else every few years. Was it 2014 they almost couldn’t pay everyone and furloughed the government side? Surely they’ll be better prepared in the future Yes, the famous "sequestration." It hit a lot of contractors hard too since the money wasn't flowing. The contract I was on at the time was funded so we kept working but I had a lot of coworkers who did "training" for a month while stuff got unscrewed. When I was in, late 2000's we had PCS extensions because they were trying to save money by having people move less. What's old is new again I guess.
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Jul 15, 2023 04:01
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Meanwhile I'm F5ing vmpf waiting on AFPC to approve my DEROS extension. Im saving you assholes money! Push the button before I get sent to Scott or some poo poo.
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Jul 15, 2023 04:27
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Arc Light posted:When you can't hit hiring goals, and there's no money to PCS or give retention bonuses, you've got to get creative. Lol so glad I got out.
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Jul 15, 2023 15:41
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USAF 2023: Push the button before I get sent to Scott or some poo poo
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Jul 15, 2023 16:00
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BadOptics posted:Lol so glad I got out. Same; “retired” life while watching from outside the asylum is amazing. 🤌🏾
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Jul 15, 2023 18:00
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Ugh, between this and my toxic flight leadership, I'm straight up  until I hit 20 in 2 years....which might end up being 21 due to voluntary PCS due to said poo poo leadership.
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Jul 15, 2023 20:02
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This better not gently caress up my palace front.
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Jul 15, 2023 20:29
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Jimmy Smuts posted:Ugh, between this and my toxic flight leadership, I'm straight up The last 2 years go by so quick, especially once you press the button and get your 2 TAPS courses in and start prepping to eject etc. Don’t stay a day past 20 if you can, you’re losing pension $$. Go to the doctor to document every single thing that is bothering you, and then file VA claims as soon as you’re able when you walk out the door.
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Jul 16, 2023 01:09
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If I have a boring sales job that affords me a modest and happy life, should I try to shake my urge to join the af or space force to get government benefits and a bit more adventure in my life? I have a bs and experience in cyber security, so I think I could make it as an officer?
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Jul 28, 2023 08:30
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Some of the absolutely dumbest people I've ever known are Air Force and now Space Force cyber officers, so if you have two brain cells to rub together, I'm confident you're up to the task. That said, some of the cleverest and kindest people I've had the privilege to work with are also cyber officers, so that's what keeps me in, instead of bailing for contract work. I gripe about the Air Force quite a bit, but it's taken me all around the world to do cool things for America. I've seen the sun rise over the Philippine Sea and I've seen it set on the Italian Alps, and I did it on the government's dime. And once or twice, I did something that actually helped defend the US and our allies in a genuinely meaningful way. The only person who knows if you should join the military is you. As for Air Force vs Space Force? I was assigned to an Air Force base in Colorado when the Space Force stood up, and the base converted. In the cyber career fields, we were given a choice to swap to USSF and stay where we were, or remain in the Air Force and get reassigned to other Air Force units. I chose to stick with the USAF. My buddies who swapped to the USSF largely hate it, owing to a major lack of meaningful assignments. All the cool space work is done by the NRO or NGA, and the USSF mostly just monitors satellite telemetry. If you're going to join up, the USSF is an answer in search of a question. It doesn't even deal with the terrible secret of space.
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Jul 28, 2023 09:01
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Definitely go the officer route if you already have a degree. I work with the cyber folks in Space Force (Delta 6), they certainly have a lot of challenges. I would have liked it when I was in, because I like Colorado, Vandenberg, etc. and I like the space mission. But there’s a lot more variety of work in the regular Air Force cyber world.
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Jul 28, 2023 12:02
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Adventure isn't a given, you could be stuck at some crappy base for a few years before you go anywhere cool. You may never go anywhere cool but that's probably more of an enlisted thing than an officer thing. As far as benefits go what exactly are you looking for? Unless you do a full 20 or get disability there's no payout at the end and I don't think you'd qualify for the GI bill either. Or do you just want the free military funeral?
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Jul 29, 2023 03:51
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Hotel Kpro posted:Adventure isn't a given, you could be stuck at some crappy base for a few years before you go anywhere cool. You may never go anywhere cool but that's probably more of an enlisted thing than an officer thing. I got the GI Bill after 4 years. Have they changed it?
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Jul 29, 2023 04:00
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No you're right, I didn't read into a quick description deep enough. So yeah, full GI bill after 3 years of service
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Jul 29, 2023 04:14
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I don't think I'd recommend the Space Force over the Air Force. After dealing with the Space Force directly and indirectly in the two units I've been in since it was created (in my prior unit as Senior Enlisted Leader), that service has proven to be very chaotic, probably because it's an answer in need of a question. One trend I've seen is that they'll make a decision about staffing, then switch their mind a few months later, without giving a drat about how it'll affect the USAF and the other services. I'm kind of glad that my current org no longer has USSF folks, as dealing with their leadership in general is like dealing with a bipolar person.
Jimmy Smuts fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Aug 1, 2023 |
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Aug 1, 2023 02:52
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I can’t imagine having to pick between Soace Force bases. You are really pigeon-holed into high cost of living areas for most assignments right?
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Aug 2, 2023 01:21
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And although the Space Force inherited slots at great locations, it also inherited some of the more infamously lovely isolated places too. One of them wasn't open to my job field until the Space Force got a hold of it; that made me nope out of crossing over after being in a similar assignment.
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Aug 2, 2023 01:29
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Are Thule assignments still 365 days?
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Aug 2, 2023 04:40
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just a kazoo posted:If I have a boring sales job that affords me a modest and happy life, should I try to shake my urge to join the af or space force to get government benefits and a bit more adventure in my life? I have a bs and experience in cyber security, so I think I could make it as an officer? I tell anyone unless youre literally on your last dime, dont join the military for just one or two reasons. Join because you see the entire lifestyle as a net positive. Ive seen many people join with the hope of "getting college paid for" or "seeing the world" and wind up miserable because those goals dont manifest and theyre left with the bullshit that comes with signing your life away. Now with that said, going cyber isnt the most adventurous career field. Most "cyber" officers in the Air Force are project managers/department heads. Knowledge and interest in Cyber Security best translates to either DCO or DODIN Ops which mission sets further breakdown into various operational units in the Air Force . Keep in mind that wanting to do either of these jobs and getting to do either of these jobs depends heavily on whether you want to go Active Duty, Guard, or Reserve. https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/Article/577499/the-joint-force-commanders-guide-to-cyberspace-operations/ ^^^Explains it better than I can. If youre really interested in it, shoot me a PM.
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Aug 2, 2023 05:25
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You’ll all just get transferred to the new Cyber Force anyway.
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Aug 2, 2023 07:16
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hannibal posted:You’ll all just get transferred to the new Cyber Force anyway. will they wear tron guy suits as uniforms also wtf is this  what does this have to do with configuring firewalls and trawling through SIEM logs to try and figure out if you've been popped by the PLA or not
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Aug 2, 2023 07:56
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