More cadet advice...

...work hard. Did you know that your order of merit from the zoo is used to calculate your line number for major?

AFPC Promotions page

Promotion rates for USAF officers

Another email I got recently. I'm not sure where the formatting comes from, but I have gotten messages in this format (all caps, spacing, date+time formats) my whole career. Perhaps it comes from the old teletype message days. I'm also not certain on all the vocabulary and acronyms used. There must be a massive dictionary of such things in the basement of the Pentagon, or somewhere.

~~~

252100Z SEP 08

FROM: HQ AFPC RANDOLPH AFB TX//DPS//

TO: AL 8106

AL ALPERSCOM

AL 10607

SUBJ: DAY 66 - CY08D COL (CHAP), CY08C LTC (CHAP/LAF-J) & MAJ (LAF/LAF-J) PRF ALLOCATION DATE

1. 26 SEP 08 IS DAY 66 FOR THE SUBJECT CENTRAL SELECTION BOARDS. THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE PROVIDES DP ALLOCATION RATES FOR ALL COMPETITIVE CATEGORIES. ALSO INCLUDED ARE THE NUMBER OF AGGREGATE AND CARRY-OVER DP RECOMMENDATIONS AVAILABLE FOR AWARD BY THE AF NON-LINE MLR, BEING HELD 21 OCT 08 AT HQ AFPC.

2. THE DP ALLOCATION RATES FOR THIS BOARD ARE AS FOLLOWS:

GRADE COMP PROM IPZ DP BPZ DP

CAT OPP RATE RATE

COL CHAP 40% 10% 10%

LT COL CHAP 75% 50% 10%

LT COL LAF-J 85% 45% 10%

MAJ LAF 95% 75% N/A

MAJ LAF-J 95% 75% N/A

NOTE: REMEMBER THAT PROMOTION OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MC/DC TO MAJOR AND LT COL I/APZ IS 100% AND PRFS ARE NOT REQUIRED. EXCEPTIONS: SENIOR RATERS WILL PREPARE PRFS ON ALL OFFICERS WHO RECEIVE A "DO NOT PROMOTE" (DNP) RECOMMENDATION AND ON ALL OFFICERS WHO RECEIVE A "PROMOTE" (P) RECOMMENDATION, BUT HAVE DEROGATORY INFORMATION (ARTICLE 15, COURT-MARTIAL, REFERRAL REPORT, LOR, ETC.) FILED IN THEIR OFFICER SELECTION RECORD (OSR).

3. AGGREGATE AND CARRY-OVER DP RECOMMENDATIONS AVAILABLE FOR THE AF NON-LINE MLR (21 OCT 08) ARE:

AGGREGATE CARRY-OVER

GRADE COMP CAT DPS AVAIL DPS AVAIL

COLONEL CHAP 1 N/A

LT COL CHAP 4 1

LT COL LAF-J 2 4

MAJ LAF-J 6 3

4. MANAGEMENT LEVELS (MLS) WHICH CAN AGGREGATE (I.E., DO NOT HAVE THE MINIMUM GROUP SIZE TO AWARD A DP RECOMMENDATION) OFFICERS TO THE AF NON-LINE MLR MAY SUBMIT A NUMBER OF OFFICERS EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF DPS AVAILABLE THROUGH AGGREGATION AND CARRY-OVER. EXAMPLE: THE MAJ LAF-J CATEGORY HAS 6 DPS IN AGGREGATION AND 3 DPS IN CARRY-OVER; THEREFORE, MLS THAT AGGREGATE CAN SUBMIT UP TO 9 I/APZ OFFICERS TO THE AF NON-LINE MLR.

5. MLS WHICH DO NOT AGGREGATE (THAT IS, THEY DO HAVE THE MINIMUM GROUP SIZE TO AWARD A DP RECOMMENDATION) MAY ONLY SUBMIT OFFICERS TO COMPETE FOR CARRY-OVER DPS AVAILABLE. USING THE ABOVE EXAMPLE AGAIN, SINCE THE MAJ LAF-J CATEGORY HAS 3 DPS AVAILABLE IN CARRY-OVER, THE MLS MAY SUBMIT UP TO 3 I/APZ OFFICERS TO COMPETE.

6. PLEASE REMIND SENIOR RATERS THAT AFI 36-2406, OFFICER AND ENLISTED EVALUATION SYSTEMS, PROHIBITS UNDERLINING, CAPITALIZING, ETC., TO MERELY EMPHASIZE COMMENTS (E.G., CAPITALIZING "DEFINITELY PROMOTE" ON SECTION IV). SENIOR RATERS ARE PROHIBITED FROM MENTIONING PREVIOUS PRF RATINGS, FAMILY ACTIVITIES, AND OTHER ITEMS INCLUDED IN PARA 3.7. ADDITIONALLY, COMMENTS ON SELECTION STATUS ON THE SCHOOLS LIST, SELECTION FOR, COMPLETION OF, OR ENROLLMENT IN DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION OR ADVANCE ACADEMIC EDUCATION ARE PROHIBITED (EXCEPTION: THOSE OFFICERS WHO HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED TO ATTEND SCHOOL ARE AUTHORIZED TO HAVE COMMENTS "ON THE WAY TO IDE/SDE" OR "FOLLOWING SDE MAKE HIM MSG/CC" ON THE PRF/OPR THAT CLOSES OUT JUST PRIOR TO DEPARTURE PER MPFM 07-45.) FURTHERMORE MPFM 07-45 STATES NO MENTION OF SPECIFC SCHOOLS ARE AUTHORIZED ON ANY EVALUATION, ONLY "BDE, IDE OR SDE" MAY BE USED FOR DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION. PRFS NOT IN COMPLIANCE SHOULD BE RETURNED TO SENIOR RATERS FOR CORRECTION. IT REMAINS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THE SENIOR RATERS YOU SUPPORT KNOW THE RULES.

7. MANAGEMENT LEVELS SHOULD GIVE SPECIFIC ATTENTION TO THE "GROUP SIZE" BLOCK ON ALL PRFS TO ENSURE ACCURACY. THE GUIDELINES IN DETERMINING GROUP SIZE CAN BE FOUND IN AFI 36-2406, TABLE 8.2.

8. SINCE AFPROMS (FORMALLY PRISM) WILL BE USED TO BUILD THE FILES ON CANDIDATES MEETING THE AF NON-LINE MLR, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT MLS UPDATE THE APPROPRIATE CODES INTO AFPROMS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEIR MLRS HAVE ADJOURNED. MLS MUST ENTER A PRF RATING OF "A" FOR AGGREGATE CANDIDATES AND "C" FOR CARRY-OVER CANDIDATES IN AFPROMS. AS A REMINDER, PRFS PREPARED ON OFFICERS WHO WILL BE SUBMITTED FOR AGGREGATION OR CARRY-OVER SHOULD NOT BE MARKED IN SECTION IX, OVERALL RECOMMENDATION. FORWARD ONLY AGG/C-O PRFS TO HQ AFPC/DPSIDEB, 550 C STREET WEST, SUITE 7, RANDOLPH AFB TX 78150-4709, TO ARRIVE NLT 28 OCT 08. ALL OTHER PRFS WILL BE FORWARDED TO AFPC/PBSE NLT 2 NOV 08.

9. POC FOR THIS MESSAGE IS AFPC/DPSIDEB, DSN 665-2697/2753 (COMM 210 565-2697/2753), FAX DSN 665-2326 (COMM 210 565-2326). E-MAIL ADDRESS IS: AFPC.MLR@RANDOLPH AF.MIL

//SIGNED//

DIRECTOR, PERSONNEL SERVICES

~~~

published 26 oct 08

How to do a records review

HQ AFPC/PBR4
550 C Street West, Suite 5
Randolph AFB, TX 78150-4707

Email: Records.Review@randolph.af.mil
FAX: DSN: 665-2693
Comm: (210) 565-2693

Read the full description here.

AF notes updated

A comment from someone in the know on my previous post, reposted here so it gets as much attention.

Dirndl said...

Sorry to say you have some incorrect information.

DTs meet at least twice a year, and they give guidance (i.e. vectors) to the assignment teams--or in the case of school, to the Developmental Education Designation Board (see http://ask.afpc.randolph.af.mil/docs/dpa/developed/6025_2008DRAFTIDESDECONOPS.doc). In each case, the DT makes a recommendation based on the officer's record, timing, and applicable endorsements; they do not get involved in the nitty-gritty of matching the officer's desires to the needs of the AF.

The 2008 summer DTs and later the 08 DEDB will send members to school in AY 09/10 from year groups 96-98 (who met boards in 04-06 and have DOR 1 Mar 06 to present) (see http://ask.afpc.randolph.af.mil/docs/dpa/developed/6025_Eligibility.xls).

Your promotion board (Maj LAF (P0408C)) meets in Dec 08 (see http://ask.afpc.randolph.af.mil/main_content.asp?prods1=1&prods2=2&prods3=10&prods4=475&prods5=480). Assuming you are selected for promotion, you will first be considered for IDE in 2010 for AY11/12.

But yes, always keep your ADP up to date, because the assignment teams may use those for out-of-cycle or oddball jobs that still have to be filled.

Aug 23, 2008 5:41:00 AM

My original post
On Intelink

AF career notes

Some notes regarding the AF vectoring process.

~~~
Developmental teams meet at random times at Randolph. They meet for different reasons (e.g. school, promotion, et cetera). And I don't think they make decisions. They merely give a recommended "vector" that real boards will use later.

For example, my IDE DT board is 4-8 August. But my promotion and school board (the people that make the decision) is 8-12 September. So the 4-8 August people are going to make a recommendation to the 8-12 September people.

Another personal example: When I was a 2 year captain a DT board met when I was nowhere near a promotion or school board. There they gave me a "vector." I assume they used that vector when my major's board met a year later. The vector used to be visible on the T-ODP. I can't find it on the ADP. Look at an old T-ODP or ask me and I'll bring in one of my old ones to show you.

Bottom line is that you need to make sure your ADP is correct. If you haven't updated your assignment preferences since the T-ODP became the ADP, I bet you they are jacked up (mine were...F-15E at Randolph?).

X's said something about him being a chaplain! And it takes awhile.
I updated my ADP last summer. I didn't get finalized with the wing cc's comments until January 08.

If the developmental team looks at your ADP and it says you're a chaplain who wants an F-15E at Randolph...your vector/recommendation might suffer.

~~~
The Vector can be found by going through the AF Portal under Top Viewed:
Career and selecting Assignment Management System (AMS). Once you open that link scroll over to the left where it says Personnel Information and select My Career Brief from the pop-up menu. Once you get into that, go to choose view and a menu appears with DT Vectors and Comments at the bottom. Now you're getting close! Choose that and click GO to see what your future holds. Mine is attached below for your viewing pleasure, not that I know what the hell it means.

Vector(s) Rec. Skill Pairing (If Appropriate) Rec. Specialized Studies (ACSC Only)

Air Staff
MAJCOM Staff
Chaplain - Wing

Development Team
***** 9/11/2007 12:00:00 AM *****
Notes: Wg Ch; assign at large base ( 8 or more Ch assign), Needs of the Air Force; Potential future senior leader

my intelink blog

SOS and masters credit

Another post of information useful to young Air Force officers.

If you don't have it on paper, it didn't happen, as they say. Here are websites and addresses to use in getting records of SOS (training reports and diplomas) and in submitting records of academic completion to get them on your military records.

AU/SOS/Maxwell Registrar; Another SOS link

AFIT link

Address to have your academic transcript sent to:
AFIT Academic Coding Branch
2950 Hobson Way
Wright-Patterson AFB, Oh 45433-7765

American Military University, where I'm doing classes right now

Morons

Okay. Here's one reason why I hate watching TV news.

Just saw a story on a prominent 24 hour cable news station about how U.S. soldiers traveling to the middle east have to pay the airlines the extra bag fee for their bags. The VFW is angry about this, saying that a young soldier heading off to war shouldn't have to pay such a fee, and I would be too. In fact, I think I have more right, since I have been deploying for 5 years, and I've been paying overweight and extra bag fees the whole time. Except for one thing: The military reimburses us for all legitimate travels costs, including those fees. Everyone, when they travel on the government dime, has to file a travel voucher. So whether you get charged a fee (on your legally required government credit card) or not, you're still filing paperwork.

Clearly no one involved in publishing this story bothered to have even a 5 minute conversation about it with any military member. If you really want to find out about what you should be angry about, study up on the DTS system for filing travel vouchers and what a waste of time it is for all of us.


Baggage fee story

Awards and Decorations

1 Aug 08
With apologies to my regular readers, I will be posting some items out here that I will use as references for information on Air Force type stuff, things that are useful to Air Force members. The following links are relevant to anyone working on awards and decorations in the USAF. I will be update this page later.

AFCENT Awards shop

AFPC awards info

cadet advice

Some advice I would give USAFA cadets if/when I go back to visit.

The most useful major I can think of based on what I saw then and what I've been through now, would be operations research/industrial engineering. It doesn't directly apply to flying (as some parts of mech engineering did for me), but it does apply in a huge way to things like the logistics of moving a squadron to the desert or scheduling training sorties efficiently. Barring majoring in that, a really strong grasp of statistics is good, as well as a good knowledge of Excel (or other spreadsheet program, but Excel is what the AF uses). Also, for those who end up using weapons, a strong grasp of geometry and trigonometry.

Start an IRA and the TSP immediately.

Take the DLAB in whatever language you studied, even if you think you won't pass.

Start your masters degree immediately, get TA for it. I recommend 100% online.

Build an "I love me" book right now, containing all official paperwork, and financial info.

Practice writing OPRs once a semester and write them for your subordinates. Ask your AOC for advice/feedback.