Promotion Day!

[70chevyC-10]

Most excellent Joe - thanks for your service !

[JOES66FURY]

its a surrela day. Been a Tech sgt since Dec of 05...I keep looking at my arms...weird. its funny how airmen and lower NCO's react to you now...even folks I've known for years...its just different. cant wait to see that pay raise!!

[TC]

Congrats again Joe!!!!!!!

One question though, with your skills and experience wouldn't you be able to get a better paying job in the private sector??

[Thumpin455]

I looked up the 2012 pay scale, E7 over 16 years isnt doing too bad. Figure in BAH, BAS, medical and sometimes COLA, and it isnt terrible. The stress and responsibility is quite a bit higher than most civilian jobs that pay the same, but most of us didnt do it for the pay anyway. Every NCO has huge responsibilities that dont translate to the civilian world, you arent responsible for your subordinates when they arent at work like you are in the military. As you go up, the responsibility goes up much faster, but you should have quality people under you that make things work smoothly by that point. If you dont, then you have to remedy that problem and get them to do it better. Those are the 'fun' parts of being an NCO.

Interesting thing I noticed looking around in the pay scales. When I enlisted in 1988 my base pay in basic was $630. A full bird Colonel O6 made a little less than Joe in base pay, and got quite a bit less for BAH. Also an E7 made less in 88 than a E4 with 10 years TIS does now. We have come a long way in the last 20 some years.

[pdub]

WOW! Congrats Joe! Way to GO! Cool beans!

And thanks for what you do. And you'll do just fine or better than that at it for sure. New jobs are scary at first, they're meant to be. You wouldn't have earned that if you weren't a match for it.

pdub

[LORENSWIFE]

Very good news and very cool stripes!

[SpiderGearsMan]

Congratulations Joe
now retire lol

[tedly]

You da man Joe!

[91CCFirebird]

Congrats Joe and Thank You for your service.

[JOES66FURY]

Congrats again Joe!!!!!!!

One question though, with your skills and experience wouldn't you be able to get a better paying job in the private sector??

this is a common question among those not in the know.

first and foremost I am not licenced to perform the same work on the outside which would put me at a huge loss in pay if someone were to hire me.

second. I pull in a little over 5200 dollars a month and I do not pay for untilities in my house, I do not pay for medical care that I get for me and my whole family at no cost. With 2 children with special needs the savings is astronomical.

Third. If I left now I would be stupid considering I have been in 18 years and will recieve 50% of my base pay as a pension at 20 and 2.5% more every year there after.

The job market sucks and if I were licensed I would have to move to find work. The cost of living in the places where I will find work is high. Then I would have to uproot the family and my wife would have to drop the potential at a 6 figure job within the next 3 years.

I do not have a bachelors degree to qualify me for anything else

there is a certain ammount of pride in what I do that I will never have working in the civillian sector, nor will I have the responsabilities, respect and challenges I currently have...sometimes it aint about the money.

A licensed A&P doesnt make all that much money.

I plan to contract to the UAE when I retire. Work 2 years, to make enough to pay cash for a house and be 100% retired by the age of 48.

[Page2171]

Congrats on the promotion!

I got promoted to E7 last summer. I too never thought when I first enlisted that I would ever make it this far (there are only 13 active duty E-7's in my MOS in the Marine Corps). The work responsibilities didn't change much for me because I had been filling E-7 billets for the last 4 years due to deployments. However, after being a Staff Sergeant for over 7 years the biggest change for me was getting used to being called "Gunny".

[Pumpkin]

Congrats on the promotion!

I got promoted to E7 last summer. I too never thought when I first enlisted that I would ever make it this far (there are only 13 active duty E-7's in my MOS in the Marine Corps). The work responsibilities didn't change much for me because I had been filling E-7 billets for the last 4 years due to deployments. However, after being a Staff Sergeant for over 7 years the biggest change for me was getting used to being called "Gunny".

Sorry to derail the thread Joe, but this is BS where thread derailing is a common occurence. Congratulations to you also Gunny, and thanks! What's your MOS, target?

[Monk]

E7.........that's Chief Petty Officer in the Navy and a huge step.

Back in the day........the Air Force had such a high retention rate it was hard to
make rate.

I tried going back to active duty in 1974....from Navy to Air Force.
I was an E5 and only way I could go was I had to take a hit all the way back to E3.
That sort of settled that.

Congrats!!

[JOES66FURY]

Congrats on the promotion!

I got promoted to E7 last summer. I too never thought when I first enlisted that I would ever make it this far (there are only 13 active duty E-7's in my MOS in the Marine Corps). The work responsibilities didn't change much for me because I had been filling E-7 billets for the last 4 years due to deployments. However, after being a Staff Sergeant for over 7 years the biggest change for me was getting used to being called "Gunny".

I would be proud as a peacock to be "gunny" hell of an accomplishment man congrats! I have been filling a E7 billet doing 7 work for 6pay but the uppers do not take you seriously untill you have the 7 on the sleeve no matter how hard you work and how often you prove youre the subject matter expert.


It can be super difficult to make rank in the USAF still, due to retention down sizing, budgets and manning in a particular AFSC (MOS).

[Thumpin455]

2 years in UAE wouldnt be so bad. If I could still work, I would consider going over there for a while to make some serious bank. If its still tax free when you get back, then paying for a house would be relatively easy, provided you find a place over there to live in that is cheap. Would you be in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Sharja? Ive been to all those, nearly had family in Dubai. I really liked the country, especially compared to Kuwait and SA.

There is no way I could make my USAF pay in the civilian world doing my job, and nobody would put me in that position outside the USAF. I would be stuck throwing bags and shit instead of running a load team. Back in 1990 I had a job lined up at the Frankfurt Flughafen servicing lavatories on planes, was supposed to be about $20/hr. Stupid Saddam screwed that up for me. I could have brought home a new Porsche or built one hell of a Trans Am with what I would have made.