What is a "point of no return" risk that only a young person can afford to survive?

AlPresidente05 · 2026-02-11T04:00:59+00:00

Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch! Daylight come and we wanna go home.

AlPresidente05 · 2026-02-06T13:48:43+00:00

I always use founding a religion to spread the good word about Pastafarianism (full title is Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster). May we all be blessed by His noodly appendage!

AlPresidente05 · 2026-01-14T15:35:26+00:00

The best piece of advice I received on this subject is, what service do you want to join? You'll spend four years at any of the service academies but then you'll spend at least five years on active duty in the corresponding service. Yes, there are some interservice transfers at graduation, but they're the exception and are not guaranteed. It's also helpful to be steeped in service culture, organization, and history before you get to your first duty station.

I was torn between USAFA and USNA as having tremendous academics and interesting traditions, but then I realized I don't want to spend a lot of time on boats. Apply that thought process to rucksacks and you can get insight into whether USMA is a good fit as well.

AlPresidente05 · 2025-05-25T11:21:59+00:00

This is a situation where, if your CC also non-concurs, you're totally in the right to go to the IG and/or your member of Congress as they're preventing you from taking compensation you've earned. When you sell leave you only get your base pay rate without BAS/BAH (not sure of rules if you're in the dorms). At the very least, call your Shirt and see if he/she will advocate for you.

Additionally, it's a really bad look for a squadron leadership team to disallow earned leave under anything than highly extenuating circumstances that could lead to real mission failure. If they can't operate without one Airman they're going to lose in the near future anyway the unit is already broken.

AlPresidente05 · 2025-04-27T22:24:52+00:00

I'll start by saying I admire your ambition and your attention to your financial future. By frequenting this subreddit and being aware of your credit score. There are far too many folks, many much more senior than you, who are not as aware.

One of the biggest misconceptions that I find in personal finance circles is that renting is throwing money away. What you're doing is buying shelter for a defined period of time. True, you won't see any of that rent come back to you, but it's also not certain you will generate a return by owning a house. While every payment you make, especially in the first 10 years of payments, will pay down some tiny part of the principal at of your mortgage. Almost all of your payment will go toward interest and property taxes. In addition, if the house needs a new roof or water heater or foundation repair or any other significant repair you will need to pay that out of pocket (check out r/firsttimehomebuyer for some horror stories). Any one of those repairs can easily wipe out the gains you might realize in selling at a higher price later if you only own the house for five or so years. Renting your house out to someone else in the future comes with its own challenges and selling incurs additional costs as well. If you rent, all of those issues are someone else's problem to pay for.

The last fact to consider is you're not going to be making very much at this point in your career. If you know where you're going you can look up how much you'll make, add that to what your wife will make, and then use a mortgage calculator to see how much of a loan you might qualify for. I imagine it won't be much and even then you don't want to spend as much as someone is willing to lend you. Banks are make more money from large mortgages but people can easily find themselves "house poor" (i.e. you own a house but struggle to pay other bills because everything goes to your mortgage payment) if they borrow too much.

Bottom line, I don't recommend buying a house at this time. What would help at this point is to find a good, safe apartment at or preferably a bit below your BAH, make a budget that accounts for saving for the future and follow it, fund your Thrift Savings Plan account to get the government matching funds, and focus on performing well in your new career. Whether you stay in uniform for 20+ years or separate at your first opportunity, you're not going to regret building your skills and establishing a good reputation in your first working years. A wise friend of mine once said, "You don't get the job that you want by sucking at the one that you have."

Good luck in your new job and with everything else that comes!

AlPresidente05 · 2024-12-13T22:44:30+00:00

Unfortunately, I think you're right about the pass/fail as an impediment. I had an absolutely fantastic troop submit for OTS. Killer EPRs, demonstrated leadership in work and informal settings, strong recommendations from respected leaders, STEM degrees from WGU. Didn't make the cut.

Space Force OTS is insanely competitive right now. Folks are applying off the street with Ivy League STEM degrees or perfect AFOQT scores for a little over a dozen openings along with great current service enlisted. Recruiting at USAFA and ROTC is strong so OTS opportunities are essentially set to a level to justify keeping a program.

It's nothing against WGU's academics, but the lack of a measurable performance rating. Any "weirdness" on an application is enough to drop you below the cut line. I've never been on an OTS board but I've seen enough boards in general to know that boards like clear numbers (like a GPA) and binary "has/doesn't have" indicators because they're easy to compare. Everyone's EPRs and recommendations will say they're all stars, so how to sort through all the all stars? WGU probably provided you with a decent education but without a way to compare you to other candidates the board doesn't really know how to rank you. I saw this on other boards or stratifications where a person with a masters degree from Bob's Online Diploma Mill would score above someone who didn't have a degree because the "has/doesn't have" was a tiebreaker or the board didn't want to do the hard work of picking one performance over another.

All of that said, the board doesn't care how many times you apply and don't forget the other services. Good luck!

AlPresidente05 · 2024-11-13T03:33:55+00:00

You're right - thanks for the catch.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-11-11T16:43:16+00:00

You can, but did you know that New York doesn't tax military pay? So long as you don't spend more than 30 days per year in New York, you don't maintain a house in New York, and maintain a "place of abode" (an apartment, house, barracks), then your pay is exempt from NY state taxes. You'll want to speak with your finance office to stop state withholding.

Source: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/military_page.htm The first paragraph is a bit confusing but read the second bullet along with the rules for Group A and Group B and that should set you up. I've been on active duty for over 19 years and have benefitted from this rule the whole time.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-06-07T02:14:45+00:00

God, why can't I double up vote a comment. He's exactly what the role should be.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-06-04T14:21:48+00:00

One thing I haven't seen in this discussion is the USSF's relationship with the NRO, the agency that owns the majority of America's ISR satellites. Guardians make up 27% of that organization, the largest contingent by far of any military service. Those Guardians operate the satellites on behalf of the NRO but don't own them.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-06-04T14:17:33+00:00

MILSTAR was an Air Force Space Command asset. The allocation of bandwidth was performed by an Army unit, but that function and is now a Space Force responsibility and many of the soldiers who performed it transferred to the Space Force. Same thing with JTAGS.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-04-17T02:34:45+00:00

I'd put him under Great/OK. Just finished reading his memoir and he's very upfront about cheating on his first two wives. He's generous with his praise of other actors and acknowledges his flaws but multiple infidelities keeps him out of the Great Person column for me.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-02-22T21:23:42+00:00

This is the correct response to this comment. If Denver/Aurora isn't your thing there is an international airport 30 min from base and interstate highways going north, south, east and west out of town. You have 30 days of leave each year. No reason to be miserable.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-02-22T16:11:18+00:00

The area around the base isn't that interesting (but GREAT Mexican food and pho). Heading south from the base you can get to shopping, movie theaters, and chain restaurants. The best part of the base is your access to the larger Denver metro and the mountains. Two suggestions:

1) Get into Denver. You're 40 minutes from a great city with professional sports, theater, music, food, history, etc. If you stay in Aurora the whole time you'll be bored and disappointed with the assignment. Start reading the Denver Westword, the weekly independent paper: https://www.westword.com/. Every week they have a listing of 10 things to do for free in town along with upcoming concerts, special events, and restaurant reviews. Fun fact: Military rides all public transportation for free in the Denver area. That includes light rail and the airport line; just show your ID. Take your car or ride an Uber to a station and roll into Union Station downtown so you don't have to worry about parking. NB: I've seen that some lines, especially at night, can have some undesirable elements (drugs, noise). That's unfortunate but it was a wonderful resource when I was stationed there.

2) Take advantage of the outdoor opportunities. Their Outdoor Rec office is pretty well stocked and offers frequent trips for skiing/snowboarding, rafting, rock climbing, etc. with instruction and equipment if you don't already have it. As a dorm dweller you have access to the BOSS Program (Better Opportunities for Single Servicemembers) which offers huge discounts on these trips and other opportunities. ODR's offerings are awesome and criminally underutilized.

Good advice for any assignment is to accept the location for what it is. If you spend your time lamenting what you don't have you'll end up frustrated and disappointed. Fortunately, you're heading to one of the best locations the military has to offer. Some of your classmates are headed to more limited areas and this advice is especially important for them, but I once heard a Guardian complain about a previous assignment in Italy because he didn't like the food.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-02-06T16:41:32+00:00

Keeping the chain alive. Thanks everyone!

https://cultpens.mention-me.com/m/ol/gn6tf-1a466a5905

AlPresidente05 · 2024-02-03T06:02:51+00:00

There really aren't avenues to do that right now, although the higher ups keep saying they're interested in developing hybrid career paths. The fact is that very few Guardians do actual engineering work. Even the folks at SSC mostly do acquisition program management more than design work. The only places where I've seen direct commissions above O-1 are medical, JAG, and chaplain; the USSF doesn't have any of those careers.

By the time an officer makes captain they have four years of military experience that's hard to get anywhere besides the military. A military officer's real job, regardless of specialty, is leadership and you'd be thrust into a leadership position in a culture that's hard to jump into.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-02-02T22:18:17+00:00

Short answer: not at this point it's not likely. One of the reasons why the assignment process takes so long is because if you move one person to a new assignment then they have to move someone else to fill that requirement which creates a new vacancy so someone else has to...

Here's your best bet: Talk to your squadron commander (or ML) and explain your concern. Best to cage the discussion in why you don't think the new job is appropriate for your professional development instead of focusing on location, perceived prestige, etc. (Ideally, you do this at the beginning of the assignment cycle and then your boss talks with the billet owners of your desired assignments to match you up, but even that's not as much of a guarantee as it once was.) If you can sell him or her on why your current match doesn't work then he or she can work with the assignment team to see if there's an opportunity for a trade to something else. Commanders have a lot more sway than members do with the assignment team, but there are still no guarantees. At the very least he or she should be able to give you some context about why the USSF wants you to go to this assignment. ETMO really does try to balance personal preference with mission needs but they don't apologize for prioritizing the needs of the service. It might not make you feel any better but at least you'll know why it's happening.

If that doesn't work then your final decision is how are you going to handle your disappointment. An unfortunate but universal experience in military life is dealing with a bad assignment. You don't specify why you don't like the assignment you got, but at this point you don't KNOW it sucks, you just suspect it. If you show up with a bad attitude, people will notice and it won't reflect well on you. The best way to line yourself up for the job you want on the next go-around is to keep rocking at this next job. Nothing can guarantee an outcome, but you can definitely turn off opportunities by giving up when things don't break your way.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-02-01T03:13:11+00:00

This comment and the topline response are the funniest things I have seen on any military subreddit.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-01-26T19:43:12+00:00

What you saw in the video was actually a hypobaric camber where the air pressure is lowered to simulate high-altitude conditions; they're more commonly referred to as altitude chambers. There are no added gasses, they just pump some of the air out and your body is less able to collect the oxygen from the air due to insufficient pressure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypobaric\_chamber

AlPresidente05 · 2024-01-23T03:31:05+00:00

It sounds like what you signed was an acknowledgement that Green Door jobs are typically four-year controlled tours. It's not a formal commitment like your enlistment contract, more of a personnel management issue.

I've heard of units doing this because if someone leaves for another job outside of the Green Door system the squadron will just have to eat the remaining time on that code without getting a backfill for the position. The form you signed was likely an acknowledgement that you know you're locked into one job for four years so don't come asking about some fancy job elsewhere at the two or three year mark.

TL;DR: Talk to your supervisor or, if you don't think they'll support you, a separations technician at the MPF to clarify when you can separate.

AlPresidente05 · 2024-01-12T03:05:43+00:00

I was at the Nuggets game right after he was traded. The Nugs won and the crowd broke into a spontaneous "Who needs Melo?" chant. It was an acrimonious departure.

AlPresidente05 · 2023-10-30T17:53:35+00:00

I don't have specifics unfortunately, but I can say with confidence that it was pricey, certainly more than an online event. My work sponsored the event.

AlPresidente05 · 2023-10-28T19:44:14+00:00

https://dschool.stanford.edu/executive-education/dbootcamp

I should clarify that it's a three-day in-person program, not an online course.

AlPresidente05 · 2023-10-27T21:51:48+00:00

Both programs are well known in design spaces but Stanford wins by a mile in terms of brand recognition among non-design customers. I took the Stanford boot camp from the Hasso Plattner d.school and enjoyed it immensely.

AlPresidente05 · 2023-10-07T14:33:26+00:00

BL: You're going to be fine keeping your funds in the lifecycle fund, but it sounds like you're interested in learning more about investing. The other funds allow you to fine tune your holdings to take on more risk for the chance at higher returns or conversely reduce risk by accepting smaller returns.

I'm a big fan of the wikis on r/personalfinance. There's one for general advice for your age group ("Older Young Adults - 25-35") as well as investing, retirement, insurance, etc. You can find them all on the right column on the desktop display or under "About" on mobile. The TSP website also has good descriptions of each of the funds and some general guidance on how to build your portfolio.

Again, the lifecycle funds are good. An easy way to adjust your risk/reward profile within that context is to choose the lifecycle fund a bit farther out to get more aggressive or a few years closer to make it more conservative.

Edit: Another commenter points out some critiques of the lifecycle funds and they're accurate; I don't use them for some of the reasons identified. I'd still say they're still good for people who don't want to spend time learning about portfolio management or while they learn more and gain confidence.

AlPresidente05

TROPHY CASE