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Attention to Orders: Penny Arcade's [Military Thread] is Open!!!

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Posts

  • Iceman.USAFIceman.USAF Major East CoastRegistered User regular
    Cantido wrote: »
    I graduated class and cancelled my leave due to the Pandemic. I need in-house training to actually go on missions, therefore my unit can't use me on jobs. But since we're all "teleworking" there's nothing for me to do but "teletrain" on my gaming PC....

    ...There is some training I can do. Training included SANS Network Forensics training, but not the test, so I'll be prepping for that test.

    You're red on dental and leave wasn't approved anyway because S1 lost your paperwork. Is any of that a thing for an AF officer?

    Thankfully our leave is web-based so it's exceptionally hard to "lose" leave paperwork.

  • mosssnackmosssnack Yeah right, man, Bishop should go! Good idea!Registered User regular
    Navy detailing venting/frustration:

    I just finished my second look and hadn’t applied for anything, but I walk into work this morning and see that ive been dropped into a set of orders for Norfolk, VA.

    Brooo, I’m not even needs of the navy until after my third look. I’ve already dropped my package to go to squadron up here in WA. The plan was to high five with the senior chief that is currently there and these intentions were made clear to everyone. Thankfully the CMC at squadron is gonna make some noise to get me down there.

    I’d rather go to Guam than Virginia, man. And these orders are for me to be in charge of some shit that hasn’t been on any of the platforms I’ve been on. And like, these preemptive orders are gonna lock me out from extending on board if the squadron thing didn’t work out after my third look for whatever reason. Leaving WA is something I’m just absolutely not interested in.

    Super whiny post, but I can’t exactly vent to my dudes about it

    XBL: mosssnack12
    bnet: moss*1454
  • furbatfurbat Registered User regular
    edited March 2020
    @Fuselage I think we are at the same post.

    We just got pulled from a 3 week course a week early. Well, all the flight students did at least. We were totally isolated from the outside world, no news or phones or even talking to people at the DFAC.

    Holy shit people!

    So now I'm on hold for who knows how long until we finish the final week. Everything non essential is shut down. Flight training is moving to online courses and most training is on hold. The travel ban is until May 11th, so some of my buddies are screwed on PCSing down here. I know the new classes are all pushed to the right anyway.

    You need an ID and to get temped to get onto the commissary or px. No formations, no morning pt, no study hall for hold students. All the gyms are closed. All exercise equipment in the area is sold out. They are cracking down on lifting speak easys that people are running in their garages.

    Kids are out of school indefinitely. We can leave a 50 mile radius and if anyone visits us we go into quarantine for 2 weeks.

    Kinda bummed about the no gym thing. I need to hit the gym to deal with shit.

    furbat on
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Gotta get that kettle bell

  • furbatfurbat Registered User regular
    That is exactly what I did. After looking online and finding nothing I spent all day driving around and scored the last 2 kettle bells in a 50 mile radius.

    I'm also stocked up on booze and just grabbed a fishing license and bought a couple of games to play with my son on the switch. We should be good. Little dude is only 4 but was able to beat the new Mario game.

    I'm ready for the apocalypse. Greatful that I'm here, protected and safe and getting paid. Hope everyone else out there is doing ok.



  • FuselageFuselage Oosik Jumpship LoungeRegistered User regular
    @furbat are you in a UPT or something? Here in IQT in the Land of Enchantment we're still flying this week. Bless you, 19AF/CC. I don't mind, there's only so much Mount & Blade: Bannerlord to play, right?

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  • furbatfurbat Registered User regular
    Nope just saw you mention flight training, students, and transferring to a reserve unit and assumed we were in the same branch.

  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    Working at home for a month has done wonders for my shave. Men, if you're stuck at home, now is the time to up your shaving game.

    I've used a safety razor for years. Learned all the tricks but I was still getting nicks and cuts almost every day because I absolutely had to go against the grain. But with time at home there was no longer that pressure to get that in-regs all day shave. Now I can get the shave I need going with the grain. Not only did this significantly reduce the cuts, it cut my shaving time in half.

    Cantido on
    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Not shaving is even faster tho

  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    Not shaving is even faster tho

    Also not an option when you look ten years younger than you really are and vain as shyiiiiiit! *airhorns*

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • EnigmedicEnigmedic Registered User regular
    at dli some dumb ground pounder sgt ended up transferring there like midway through our time there. and at our 4:45 am run decided to bitch me out for not shaving. The platoon sgt told him to drop and push and mind his own squads soldiers and that i look the same 10 minutes after shaving as i do 10 hours and i shave after pt. It was the funniest thing in the world to me since my facial hair grows stupid fast.

    I also shut up some dumb November ait sgt at goodfellow who stopped me in front of the dfac for my sunglasses being reflective in fucking summer in west texas. I pulled the reg out of my pocket that says absolutely nothing about reflective lenses. Then he read it and said they were “trendy” i told him to flip the paper over where my previous company commander signed it saying they were fine. He rolled his eyes and told me to carry on while a couple sgts from my class walked by chuckling.

    I was duty driver for 6 months after my dli class so me and another dude got to talk to the cpt and platoon sgts about lots of random stuff and sunglasses came up at one point. so i already had looked up the reg because the commander thought i looked like Magnum PI (which he liked) and he wanted me to look up and argue the reg so he could get some. Who would have thought wearing aviators in the arms would be so much work? But honestly i did look like some south american dictator with a beret, aviators and a 5 o clock shadow.

  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    holy shit

    So I've been in almost 10 years now, and in no small part to this thread, or the one before it. Ended up going into ops about 5 years ago which was nuts; ops is a totally different world compared to the 8-5 office work. Then I went reserves a few years ago due to life/wife, kinda straddling the ops and office world, and balancing reserve life with civilian life. Reserves are another totally different world, and sometimes I feel like I stumbled into something forbidden considering how good the benefits are for how much I work. Everyone is always little bit upset with me, so I'm in perfect balance as all things should be.

    I will say that my life is 100% different in a good way since. Joining pushed my boundaries a lot, and by the end I was willing to take on risks that others may not have agreed with. It did wonders for my emotional intelligence. I am able to take serious heat from managers and supervisors with complete calmness and professionalism, where others lose their mind. Got my hand slapped a bit but totally worth it in the long run. I can also identify poor leadership quickly, and know what to avoid now.

    Can't believe I see the same familiar names here still though.

    VeritasVR on
    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    edited April 2020
    USAF Oct 95-99 17th Comm and 17th TRSS at Goodfellow.

    Did alot of CBT, P-23 crash rescue course mostly. Some sysadmin stuff for intel school at Goodfellow.

    I got out and basically did the same job as a DoD contractor for over a decade, then got tired of the yearly contractor roller coaster. I'd be retired by now if I had stayed :(

    USAF comm people are so nerdy we set up a token ring network in our dorm rooms to play Duke Nukem 3D, Diablo, and TIE Fighter

    Bigity on
  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    Cantido wrote: »
    I graduated class and cancelled my leave due to the Pandemic. I need in-house training to actually go on missions, therefore my unit can't use me on jobs. But since we're all "teleworking" there's nothing for me to do but "teletrain" on my gaming PC....

    ...There is some training I can do. Training included SANS Network Forensics training, but not the test, so I'll be prepping for that test.

    You're red on dental and leave wasn't approved anyway because S1 lost your paperwork. Is any of that a thing for an AF officer?

    Thankfully our leave is web-based so it's exceptionally hard to "lose" leave paperwork.

    In my day it was paper and transitioning to the web-based. Which I got to hear alot of griping about it as a contractor. Apparently the site was down quite often. :D

  • Iceman.USAFIceman.USAF Major East CoastRegistered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Hey, how is everyone doing with the COVID stuff?

    I'm at a staff, so we've mostly just moved to telework. We're also thankfully in a relatively large area so I can get groceries and supplies delivered.

    Everyone staying sane/safe? Since the COVID stuff started I've:

    Played through FFVII REmake and XCOM Chimera Squad...but Red Dead 2 and MechWarrior 5 came to XBOX Game Pass today so I've got more work to do!
    Read a ton of books, working through Colin Powells It Worked for Me and The Calculating Stars just arrived from Amazon.
    Built a lot of LEGO sets I had stockpiled. Wife and I built the giant Hogwarts, lots of fun!

    I am now spoiled and a little broke, but still sane!

    Iceman.USAF on
  • DiplominatorDiplominator Hardcore Porg Registered User regular
    I'm also in an office job but we can't telework, so everyone's just massively staggered to keep fewer people in the building and workspaces are assigned instead of the usual hot-desking.

    Maintaining sanity with lots of books and talking to people on Discord. I've never really felt like I needed to be in the same room as people to be social.

  • ComahawkComahawk Registered User regular
    I'm critical staff at my unit, and can't really work from home and actually get my job done. Never thought in my previous postings that "critical admin work" was a thing... but here I am.

    Honestly though, COVID-19 has slowed everything down enough that I've mostly caught up on my work. It's nice to not be under a constant mountain of work for once. Now it's just a really aggressive foothill...

  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    Do enlisted/officers also do TSP, or is that just the civvies?

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  • BloodycowBloodycow Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Thrift Savings Plan? I did for pretty much the whole time I was in (now retired enlisted Army). It's a great thing that no one uses until they get smart enough to know they are missing out on free money :) I still use it as a civilian now. As I got a government contract to give high school kids the ASVAB very irregularly. Like done it twice in a year. But it lets me keep getting them yummy government benefits while I go back to school for my Electrical Engineering degree.

    Edit * My wife also used it for over a decade as when I was stationed in the Netherlands my wife took a DOD job as a teachers aide for something to do besides be at home all day alone.

    Bloodycow on
    " I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”
    ― John Quincy Adams
  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    I'm asking because Trump is about to start f-ing with the I fund in it, so if you have money in that one you may want to move it.

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  • Iceman.USAFIceman.USAF Major East CoastRegistered User regular
    Smrtnik wrote: »
    I'm asking because Trump is about to start f-ing with the I fund in it, so if you have money in that one you may want to move it.

    Can you provide some links? I'd like to learn move about that. I have some money in the I fund!

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Smrtnik wrote: »
    I'm asking because Trump is about to start f-ing with the I fund in it, so if you have money in that one you may want to move it.

    Can you provide some links? I'd like to learn move about that. I have some money in the I fund!

    @Iceman.USAF he's cutting out the 11% China is involved in.

    Also why the hell do you have money in the I fund? It's routinely awful.

    Quid on
  • Iceman.USAFIceman.USAF Major East CoastRegistered User regular
    edited May 2020
    ]
    Quid wrote: »
    Smrtnik wrote: »
    I'm asking because Trump is about to start f-ing with the I fund in it, so if you have money in that one you may want to move it.

    Can you provide some links? I'd like to learn move about that. I have some money in the I fund!

    @Iceman.USAF he's cutting out the 11% China is involved in.

    Also why the hell do you have money in the I fund? It's routinely awful.

    You know I was all set to look some stuff up and say you’re wrong but holy crap yes. I’m cutting that shit out, pronto! Thank you!

    I take it back, I don't have anything in the I fund. C,S, L2050.

    Iceman.USAF on
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    You come at the command finance specialist you best not miss

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    What's your current allocation recommendation?

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I just go with C and leave it. Life cycle funds are fine but are a bit conservative for my liking. I don't plan to start shifting mine until probably some point in my 50's.

    But that's just me personally. I don't give investment advice and frankly I think my cert expired a couple years ago.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Dunno if we have anyone here that's up for Chief, but results came out today and it looks like a ton of people currently serving were listed as separated on their profile sheets. Despite, you know, still literally on active duty.

    2020 continues to give.

  • DiplominatorDiplominator Hardcore Porg Registered User regular
    Wait, results of the exam or of the board? I thought the exam results already came out, and I haven't even seen quotas about the board.

    Also that really sucks for the "separatees." I wonder what they'll do about it.

    Hell, I wonder what Chief Season will be like at all given the COVID restrictions.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Wait, results of the exam or of the board? I thought the exam results already came out, and I haven't even seen quotas about the board.

    Also that really sucks for the "separatees." I wonder what they'll do about it.

    Hell, I wonder what Chief Season will be like at all given the COVID restrictions.

    Profile sheets for the chief exam got updated and a bunch of people were notified. Supposedly Millington is on it.

    Literally no idea about season. There still hasn’t even been a mess meeting since quarantine started. I’d guess it’s out the window until there’s a vaccine.

    Exam results for PO will, presumably, never come out.

  • DiplominatorDiplominator Hardcore Porg Registered User regular
    I'm not even up for PO1 until next year, assuming there is a next year and we don't just do 2020 again. There are some people I'd like to see make PO2 though.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Oh! And in case anyone missed it, a FRAGORD (First time I've ever heard of it) went out mandating restrictions to the following places off base, doing so being punishable under UCMJ 92:
    • Recreational swimming pools,
    • gyms
    • fitness facilities
    • exercise classes
    • saunas
    • spas
    • salons: (Tattoo, body art, piercing parlors Barber shops, hair or nail salons, and massage parlors)
    • Cinemas/theaters
    • Participation in team/organized sports
    • Dine-in restaurants (take-out authorized)
    • Bars
    • night clubs
    • casinos
    • conferences
    • sporting events
    • concerts
    • public celebrations
    • parades
    • public beaches
    • amusement parks or other events designed to promote large gatherings, to include indoor religious services
    • Outdoor recreation where common use facilities are used and if a minimum of six feet physical distancing cannot be maintained
    • Non-essential commercial retail establishments and shopping malls.

    The following can still be done but must be done so with the upmost caution:
    • Use of mass transit (bus, rail, or ferry)
    • Auto repair maintenance and annual inspection
    • Curb-side and drive through services
    • In-home domestic services (home maintenance/repair and lawn services).
    • Drive-in spiritual services
    • Banking services
    • Pet care and veterinary services
    • Post office
    • Laundry services
    • dry cleaning
    • In-residence social gatherings that include more than ten (10) guests that do not reside in the residence. In-residence social gatherings are strongly discouraged if anyone residing in the home is covid-19 positive or influenza like illness symptomatic.

    I want early retirement back so very badly.

  • DiplominatorDiplominator Hardcore Porg Registered User regular
    I read that but it was unclear (or I'm bad at reading frag-os) who it actually applied to. Just you lot or the whole Navy? Or just you for now, NAVADMIN to follow?

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I read that but it was unclear (or I'm bad at reading frag-os) who it actually applied to. Just you lot or the whole Navy? Or just you for now, NAVADMIN to follow?

    Yeah that's coming back to us now. If it's not everyone it's weird tho.

  • mosssnackmosssnack Yeah right, man, Bishop should go! Good idea!Registered User regular
    Not sure what’s going on with the profile sheets, but it got put out that results of the board will be out in early December.

    There will be a pause in the season from like 22 dec to 4 Jan.

    And thankfully with navadmin 169, I was able to squeeze out of my Norfolk orders and extend onboard for an extra year. I’ll probably get some sdip as well.

    For now though, I’m in isolation with my crew. Just uh, waiting to get underway. Good times

    XBL: mosssnack12
    bnet: moss*1454
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    Looks like I'm stuck in San Antonio for two more years instead of one. It will be good for my career though. And the urban America I want to be in is straight up gone right now because of the pandemic.

    Dating here absolutely sucks but I did make three non-government friends who like me and want to help me meet people.

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    mosssnack wrote: »
    I was able to squeeze out of my Norfolk orders

    Dunno if you've ever actually been. I spent a day. Fucking never again. Fuck that fucking train.

  • mosssnackmosssnack Yeah right, man, Bishop should go! Good idea!Registered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    mosssnack wrote: »
    I was able to squeeze out of my Norfolk orders

    Dunno if you've ever actually been. I spent a day. Fucking never again. Fuck that fucking train.

    I was there for 2 months for school once. I’ll extend for a second year if I fucking have to

    XBL: mosssnack12
    bnet: moss*1454
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    mosssnack wrote: »
    Quid wrote: »
    mosssnack wrote: »
    I was able to squeeze out of my Norfolk orders

    Dunno if you've ever actually been. I spent a day. Fucking never again. Fuck that fucking train.

    I was there for 2 months for school once. I’ll extend for a second year if I fucking have to

    My current worst locations:

    4. Iraq
    3. Gulfport
    2. Any submarine
    1. Norfolk

    Didn’t think anything would beat subs but fuck if that wasn’t one of the single most miserable days of my life.

  • furbatfurbat Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    If anyone was wondering...

    Flying is awesome. Showing up to the flight line each day in a pair of aviators is about as close to living a childhood fantasy as it gets. Even if it's just to spend the day sucking at basic traffic patterns. Living the dream right now. Just enjoying the experience until I have to go back to real life.

    All the covid lockdown shit sucks though. At least my wife and I were both getting paid through all that.

    furbat on
  • TurksonTurkson Near the mountains of ColoradoRegistered User regular
    Quid wrote: »
    mosssnack wrote: »
    Quid wrote: »
    mosssnack wrote: »
    I was able to squeeze out of my Norfolk orders

    Dunno if you've ever actually been. I spent a day. Fucking never again. Fuck that fucking train.

    I was there for 2 months for school once. I’ll extend for a second year if I fucking have to

    My current worst locations:

    4. Iraq
    3. Gulfport
    2. Any submarine
    1. Norfolk

    Didn’t think anything would beat subs but fuck if that wasn’t one of the single most miserable days of my life.

    I quite liked Dam Neck when I was there for a school. Oklahoma was my worst duty station, beating out Iraq.

    oh h*ck
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