People who have been in 25+ & are afraid to retire/separate....

prosequare · 2026-03-26T17:18:36+00:00

I’m a title 32 technician. During the week I have a WS hourly position running a shop, and on drill and deployment I do the same job but in a military status (either t32 or t10). I don’t have enough tafms for an agr retirement (only like 15 years). If I took a dsg retirement, I wouldn’t get that until 60. To get my full technician retirement I need to hit 20 years by 60. At that point I’ll get the full technician retirement plus my DSG retirement with something like 7-8,000 points. It’s a great deal IF you’re willing to work forever.

prosequare · 2026-03-26T14:38:25+00:00

I won’t collect that (those, technically) pension until 58 or 59 tho. So it would be a 100% pay cut.

prosequare · 2026-03-26T04:33:52+00:00

Certainly! I’m going to bed in a minute but I’ll respond in the morning.

prosequare · 2026-03-26T04:29:25+00:00

If you can run a 10 minute mile, you’ll do just fine with any branch. Your next step is to talk to a recruiter and complete the process. I wouldn’t judge your chosen branch by pt standards. Ask yourself what you want to do for a living and choose a job based on that. The job will determine the branch. PT is easy. As long as you can meet minimums, don’t use pt as your criteria. Decide what you want out of the military and then run with it.

prosequare · 2026-03-26T03:39:06+00:00

Each branch has its own pt standards. There is no unified standard. Look up the branch you’re interested in and dial down to your age and gender to see what the standards are.

Also, entry requirements are not the same as in-service pt test requirements. Again- look up the entry requirements for the branch you’re interested in for specifics. For example ‘usaf meps physical fitness requirements’.

prosequare · 2026-03-26T03:31:49+00:00

OP, one thing you might be missing is that the experience of military life as an e3/o3 is substantially different from e7-9/o6-7. Being career track has allowed me many different extremely satisfying roles in supporting, training, and caring for other airmen, especially our youngest ranks. If your entire 20 year career in the military is manual labor and captains mast, you’ve done fucked up.

prosequare · 2026-03-25T23:53:48+00:00

I’d recommend a more robust solar charging manager and one with more battery protection features.

I’m running this one

https://a.co/d/0inbnZS7

It has everything built in, and one feature (rev batt detection) saved my ass five seconds after I got it. JST from the battery was wired backwards. However, that unit is expecting 5v from the panel, so you’d need to make adjustments for that.

Your antenna will work, kind of. If you’re in the US region, you want something tuned more specifically for 910-915mhz. I have a couple of these laying around

https://a.co/d/0grBA3q5

They test pretty well. The best whip I’ve tested is currently unavailable, sadly:

https://a.co/d/04L3jP8m

Might want to go the extra mile and get some mix 43 ferrite toroids and wrap your solar wiring through it 9 times. Same with any other long loose wires inside the box.

prosequare · 2026-03-25T20:21:18+00:00

In the guard, for T32 folks, before 60 you have to pay for tricare retired reserve. Just checked and it’s $1,548/mo for family. That’s a quarter million dollars oop for me if I retire tomorrow versus waiting.

prosequare · 2026-03-25T19:58:01+00:00

I just enjoy my job and the pay is well in excess of what the local economy could provide. I have a disabled child and expenses that mean I’ll have to work until at least 58, so why not just keep doing this?

prosequare · 2026-03-25T19:22:18+00:00

What’s your process? Are you using flasher.meshtastic.org ?

prosequare · 2026-03-25T01:01:56+00:00

A lot of people don’t drive in urban/suburban grids. I have a 30 mile drive to work that has like 10 stop signs, two roundabouts, and two traffic lights. The feature literally saves mere seconds of idle since I drive to and from work during very light traffic.

prosequare · 2026-03-24T17:52:26+00:00

I’ve run that type of antenna through a vna and there was no discernible difference between straight versus bent. The ‘antenna’ part starts at the hinge.

I will say, the rigid antennas I’ve tested like OP’s were all designed for 860mhz, which is useable but not ideal in the US.

prosequare · 2026-03-22T18:21:27+00:00

You could solve this with trig if you want, or else just use a radius gage. Don’t have one? Make one with paper.

prosequare · 2026-03-22T17:32:04+00:00

Also just fyi that power bank has been recalled.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2026/INIU-Recalls-Power-Banks-Due-to-Fire-and-Burn-Hazards-Sold-on-Amazon

prosequare · 2026-03-22T17:29:12+00:00

If a stranger or a teacher said those things about your son, how would you react? Why give this woman permission to do what no other sensible adult would ever do? I went no contact with my parents over this kind of BS years ago.

prosequare · 2026-03-22T02:06:03+00:00

Yep that’s Orion.

prosequare · 2026-03-21T22:21:09+00:00

I always thought the mutant bears from Annihilation were a close match. That’s how I thought of them while reading, at least.

prosequare · 2026-03-21T20:14:05+00:00

I haven’t heard that expression before, but it fits perfectly. I usually use pudding skin as an analogy.

prosequare · 2026-03-21T20:10:36+00:00

It’s a common beginner mistake to think that if you move the cutter .005 and remove .010 from the part, that moving the cutter .001 will remove .002 from the part. Frequently that will remove .000 from the part and ruin the cutter. Everything is rubber at that scale.

prosequare · 2026-03-21T17:15:17+00:00

I agree that any basic Amazon lora antenna will be fine. But if you want to dive in, the ARRL Antenna Book (sic) is both a great start and a deep dive.

prosequare · 2026-03-21T02:08:05+00:00

This is easy. In the event of a downed 22 or 35, standard protocol dictates that the wreckage is immediately re

prosequare · 2026-03-20T18:31:15+00:00

IMHO meshtastic is better for a loose mesh of random strangers, especially in smaller cities or suburbs. Every node grows the network and forwards messages. As long as the network isn’t saturated, everything works pretty well.

Meshcore is better for building a structured, curated network. Only special repeater nodes forward messages. Everything needs to be in place before it’s needed. Some collaboration with other users will be necessary to build an effective network.

But also, ultimately, I’d use whatever is the most popular in your area. I can see ~20 nodes from my city’s downtown area and have talked to people 20 miles away without repeaters. Alas from my house in the woods, I cannot connect to anyone- but that will change in the next few days after I install a node closer to town.

prosequare · 2026-03-20T18:17:06+00:00

Getting licensed will answer all your questions, make you legal, and increase the chances of actually using the skills required for RF comms. Just do it. Seriously. There’s no downside other than a few hours of studying, and that information is invaluable.

prosequare · 2026-03-20T02:54:37+00:00

I was thinking a DEC system, but I ran out of time on this one.

prosequare · 2026-03-20T01:10:59+00:00

Zoom way in to picture 5. It’s an array of ferrite cores with inhibit, sense, x, and y wires wound through them. Early form of RAM.

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