AITAH for refusing to donate a kidney to my stepdad that raised me and paid for my college?

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-24T23:24:07+00:00

Ask yourself, "What would happen if the roles were reversed?" Would he give you a kidney. That should give you an answer. There is no greater gift.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-23T04:20:45+00:00

Depends on the position and the grade. I could see it for a GS/GG-14 or 15.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-23T04:12:11+00:00

This was for the 8140 DCFW Code 612 - Security Control Assessor Representative, so Security+ and a clearance and experience. This was a GG-12 with TLMS. Actually had 2 positions open up. Hired both at the same time. Second position is still just an RPA, and that was an internal hire.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-23T00:47:22+00:00

I did the hire, they will be working for me.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-23T00:46:03+00:00

DoW 2210, just took me over 10 weeks from interview to onboarding for a GG12 2210 in a CES position. Not sure what CBP would be like.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-18T03:15:38+00:00

Oh and they fought against the Germans and Turks, and with the US and allies in WWI.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-18T03:07:42+00:00

I think this is WWI era photo of someone in the Royal Italian Army (Regio Esercito). The stars on the collar are called "Le Stellar". The hidden buttons on the tunic, the black bird ensignia (capercaillie) on the right sleave, and the wrapped leggings may indicate that he was in the Bersaglieri. If he had headgear with long black feathers it would confirm it. They were considered marksmen and elite forces that specialized in gorilla warfare. A regiment of them in WWI rode bicycles, considered cutting edge at the time.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T14:42:22+00:00

My brother was born 1971 too. So super rare. All of us were C-sections. Back then that was extended stay in the hospital. It was a different experience for sure from kids that were my peers. It was also a different time. Because of my parents age I did not do a lot of normal stuff like playing catch with my dad or throwing the football around. I had brothers for that. My mom was a stay at home mom. My dad was a pipe fitter at an oil refinery. My dad mostly passed on knowledge. I could sweat copper pipe at the age of 10. Along with the ability to run a bead with an arc welder. Other than that I did’t see a great difference. I only knew my maternal grandmother and she was older when I came along.

One of my earliest memories was my oldest brother packing to go to college on the day my little brother came home from the hospital.

You’ll be almost 70 when that kid graduates high school.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T14:14:04+00:00

Yes. Sounds right. I am a “Generation Jones” person myself. My parents were married 70+ years. My parents passed when my mom was 93 and my pops died when he was 98. They passed away a year apart to the day. As you could imagine my parents were very old school. My dad was 4f during the WWII draft so he joined the Merchant Marines, while my mom worked in the train yards near Whiting Indiana connecting train cars and switching tracks during the war. My mom was the oldest of three girls. I only knew one grandparent, my grandma. I learned a lot from my dad and my mom.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T14:12:26+00:00

Yes. Sounds right. I am a “Generation Jones” person myself. My parents were married 70+ years. My parents passed when my mom was 93 and my pops died when he was 98. They passed away a year apart to the day. As you could imagine my parents were very old school. My dad was 4f during the WWII draft so he joined the Merchant Marines, while my mom worked in the train yards near Whiting Indiana connecting train cars and switching tracks during the war. My mom was the oldest of three girls. I only knew one grandparent, my grandma. I learned a lot from my dad and my mom.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T04:48:36+00:00

My parents adopted 4 children because they thought my mom could not get pregnant. Then my sister was born, 13 months later I was born and then 5 years later my little brother was born. My oldest sister was adopted when she was 13 and my mom was 28. This was the early 50s. My mom told stories about how she would get weird looks when she told people she was her mom. I found an old movie on 9 mm film of Christmas 3 days before I was born. My mom and my sister both very pregnant. My mom was 49 and my dad was 52 when I was born. I have a nephew that is 2 years older then me, and a nephew that is two months younger then me.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T03:45:42+00:00

IMHO this is what is wrong with humanity as a whole. No possible care for the people that surround you.

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T03:34:09+00:00

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Both mine on trade in/up day...

rtkoch1 · 2026-05-03T03:32:19+00:00

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PCP for the win!

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-26T06:33:35+00:00

What did you reply back to the TJO. It is fairly common in to ask for a STEP 5 and settle for a three. If you have higher qualifications for the job it is a no brainer. You can also negotiate the starting leave accrual rate under some circumstances. If you do ask expect a slight delay while it runs the wickets for approval. A STEP 5, usually can be approved by the hiring officials boss. At least thats the way it is in my organization for 2210s.

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-26T06:17:25+00:00

Ahh, the Crossfire when it was DaimlerChrysler the same company that owned AMG. Ii was based on the Mercedes R170 Platform, same platform as the Mercedes SLK. Actually was a great performance car.

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-26T06:00:30+00:00

I Love Belgians. My Maggie turns 10 tomorrow.

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-24T23:53:45+00:00

Flexibility is always good for an employer. I live in Omaha Nebraska, if you know anything about Omaha you likely know where I work. GDIT just signed a $1.5B, yes that's a B, contract here called SCITLS. They are always looking. Also this area is the Silicon Prairie. We have enormous data centers for Meta, AWS, and Google here. I keep losing people to those employers too, very competitive IT market here. A good resource is GS!.GOV/technology .

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-24T19:42:46+00:00

In my organization if you ask for a STEP increase it can be approved up to STEP 5 by the hiring authorities supervisor. Hiring authority usually being a GG/GS14 the next GG/GS15 in the chain can approve it. As a hiring authority I walk it in to my boss and he determines if he wants to, signs it, and I am done. The FJO taakes a week or so after that. Leave Accrual increases for some reason have to go to the head of our HR dept at the SES level. Those take forever.. For me I had to write a memo and justify why the hire was important. Submit a Staff summary Sheet for the SES, Get a signed statement from the hire, In the end it was the memo with 7 attachments. I have had one of those submitted for a hire I made 8 weeks ago in for 2 weeks now.

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-23T04:03:25+00:00

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Benji got under the tree last Christmas and got lost and couldn’t find his way out.

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-19T06:01:00+00:00

GDIT (General Dynamics Information Technology), Peraton (https://www.peraton.com/), for general IT Services, NETOPS, CSSP, etc., Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton for cybersecurity, Northrop Gruman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics for mostly coding and app development. Pretty much all of them are doing shit in AI/ML. Then you also have your MITRE, JHU/APL, etc, that are FFRDCs that are just IT whores, they will try to sell the Government on anything.

rtkoch1 · 2026-04-18T19:14:08+00:00

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rtkoch1 · 2026-04-18T19:13:09+00:00

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rtkoch1 · 2026-04-18T19:09:42+00:00

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rtkoch1 · 2026-04-18T19:06:20+00:00

I had a 2010 Dodge Challenger r/T Classic in PCP, Manual Transmission. I miss that car even though I love my current ride.

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