Okay here's the situation. I will commission this week as an Aviation 2LT. My BOLC II date isn't until April 2010. Until then I wont be getting any pay or benefits whatsoever. If I was single then okay no big deal. However I'm married with a son and a mortgage to pay. Unless the Army pays me as the 2LT that I'll be then I will not be able to pay my mortgage and I'll lose my house.

So what do I do? I've already taken it up the chain of command and they can't do anything for me. They gave me a Gold Bar recruiter slot but that is not until December.

Is there a person I can call or email that can possibly change my BOLC dates? If so who are they. My next step if the Army wont help me is to write a congressional. I know that that is a very taboo thing to do but I'm at wits end here. Would it be easier to waive my commission and go WOFT? So please help me out please.

I realize that my last post may sound a bit on the winey side but remember this before you judge me. On the 15th of June and on the 1st of July you all will get a pay check and I wont. If you need dental work or get hurt you have free medical and dental where I have to pay out of pocket.

Also I'm not the only one in this situation. There are many other like me so if you help me out you'll be helping others out as well. Again thankyou for any help you can give. Respectfully CW.

I assume you are Guard or Reserve?

Sorry forgot to mention. I am active duty.

So you will be sworn in to active duty this week but you will not go to BOLC until April 2010? What will you be doing until then?

You can get an advance on your pay. I believe the most you can get is up to 3 months. And they will deduct it from your paychecks over the next 12 months. When I commissioned I took $2000 I think because even when you start working it'll take a while for your pay to kick in. So I got like $166 deducted from my paychecks for a year. This advance is available every time you PCS or when you commission.

Maybe I'm missing something here...

Why is it you won't be getting paid? Between commissioning and BOLC II you should be doing something. Do you only have orders to BOLC II?

Why would the Army commission you and then have you sit around for 11 months? Have you spoken to someone at Aviation Branch about possibly getting your BOLC II date moved up? Or at least getting attached to a unit somewhere so that you can get paid?

Is there a military post somewhere nearby where you can go see Finance (DFAS)?

Good Luck!

Matt
SPC, AV
US Army
OCS Selectee
Class 004-10

The easy answer to "why would the army..." is because that's just the way it is right now. BOLC II is backed up like crazy as are most OBCs. I know most of the newly commissioned guys are having long waits for BOLC II. And they won't start getting paid until they come on orders for either BOLC II or GBR.

I would advise that you have your PMS look into allowing extended GBR time if that would help you out because I know that the army is trying to help new 2LTs out that they are royally screwing.

Thankyou Snake for the advice. I'll talk to my PMS again. I know the reason why I don't GBR until November is because you can only GBR for 120 days. And my BOLC II date isnt until April.

Snake do you happen to know where to go so I can contact our branch manager so I can see if my BOLC dates can possibly move up? I tried finding our branch manager but failed. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks again for the advice. I'll see if I can get an extended GBR time.

quote:

Originally posted by submariner737:
So you will be sworn in to active duty this week but you will not go to BOLC until April 2010? What will you be doing until then?

I'll be looking for a job. Which sucks because right now our economy sucks and there's not a whole lot of jobs. So the way it's looking I'll be a comissioned LT with a degree working at Burger King. But I promise you this the burgers I'll make will be damn good

Aaron,

Not sure what your degree is in.

It's also out of my league as I have never done the Army Officer thing before but check CPO here:

http://acpol.army.mil/employment/

They have temporary jobs open for former GWOT Marines current Soldiers and you have pref of hire. Not steering you to the ones overseas either look in CONUS.

Check the AAFES website (they have uniformed Army & AF Officers working at HQ in Dallas), might be able to call there and get setup with something temporary.

Also, check USAREC HQ at Ft. Knox, same deal with Officers there but they tend to be perm hires so that might be a dead end.

Just some ideas. I don't know where you live or what your degree is in. Some of the above might be able to help you out.

cwubullrider,
If I may ask. Where are you located?

Semper Fi

John

Erich thanks for the info I'm going to check it out as soon as I leave here. Seriously thankyou so much. My degree is in Criminal Justice with a specialization in Law Enforcement.

Gunny I'm from Ellensburg, WA (The exact middle of the state).

Thankyou again. I'll keep you all informed of what happens.

bullrider,

it wouldn't be the branch manager that you would contact. I believe your PMS would have to contact someone at Cadet command to try and get your BOLC dates switched. I know that that's a royal pain in the ass. Your PMS or admin secretary for your ROTC unit should know your options. Unfortunately, getting a part time job may be your best one if you can't get an earlier date. Talk to your PMS about who to contact...trust me a call from an 05 tends to get wheels turning a lot faster than a call from an MSIV

quote:

Originally posted by snake226:
...trust me a call from an 05 tends to get wheels turning a lot faster than a call from an MSIV

LOL so true, so true indeed.

What? You mean cadet command wouldn't respect the power of the MSIV rank?

Criminal Justice....can't think of much there except law enforcement, Homeland Security, Border Patrol, Customs. Not sure if any of them would hire for a temp/intern position.

Found some good input on GBR:

++http://www.kiowapilots.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-8637.html

Remove two plus signs in front.

Also might want to try armyocs.com. I'm sure there are some there in a similar situation.

I think your best option is to do what snake says though and move up your dates....if possible.

Erich wow thankyou for that website. I didn't learn very much about the gold bar thing but damn is that a good website for future aviators. I'll be spending alot of time on that thing and looks like there is a TON of good info. Thanks you so much that made my day. Thankyou so much. Oh also BTW I applied for 3 jobs on that website you sent me. If I get one I'll only be making $16 bucks an hour compared to O-1E pay but it's still a hell of alot better than Taco Bell.

Snake I'll be talking to my PMS tomorrow. THankyou for that advise. I'll let you know how it went. Thanks again.

I think that Kiowa website is shut down I found it on a Google Search.

Anyhow, yeah don't take the unemployment rate to heart and think there are no jobs available. A LOT of people do that. It's a mistake. Found my current job in 7.6% unemployment after being laid off. Found my first job after college right on the Eve of the Gulf War when the news media was forecasting armageddon (that was great looking for a job then....I think the favorite tagline was 100K body bags ordered by the Pentagon....had to explain my IRR obligation as well...lol).

Anyhow, keep your wits about you and keep looking and applying, the more resumes you send out the more likely and faster you will find something. Even apply for jobs you only meet 60-70% of the requirements. Sometimes what they post is a wish list and they are willing to negotiate OR they have another job about to open. Don't focus too much on Monster type boards.

Thanks for the laugh on the O-1E pay. Your fresh out of college, probably with no work experience. Your not going to match O-1E with all the pay add ons with being married. I started at $32k a year in 1991. So in todays pay probably $40k a year? That was with a B.B.A. and some College work experience.

Comparitively between civilian and military officer pay, starting from college civilian pay starts lower but then surpasses beyond military pay....depends on your learning on the job and performance. Same when you ETS, your going to drop your pay from Officer while you obtain Civilian experience, then it will rise and surpass the Military pay. Everyone makes that ETS transition Enlisted and Officer for most branches.

Aviation might be a special case, a guy I knew flew the fixed wing King Aire for Army MI over Central America during the civil wars there and left the Army for American Airlines pilot program in the 1980's, so he did better. Aviation might be different in this respect.

Erich again thanks for that link. I went down to the Yakima Training Center to the range control (which is the job I applied for) and met with the guy that I'd be working for, so I could meet him face to face. Worked out great, turns out he was in the same Marine Regiment I was (5th Marines) so hopefully I got the job.

I also ran into the base commander at the PX and talked to him for a little bit. Turns out I've talked to him before during last years Ranger Challenge competition he was a competing schools PMS. Thanks again.

Excellent!

AAFES has rapid hire authority and a type of Salary Waiver for IT at least, I don't know about the other positions (might not have that for other positions).

So what they advertise for in regards to IT is usually negotiable....might not be that way for the GS position you applied for.

The neat thing with AAFES is it bridges your Army and Marine retirement....so take your past years of service and they add to it instead of starting over, so after ETS, you can go back to AAFES and they add more......all pretty cool.

So: 4 years in Marines + 1 Year at AAFES + 8 years Active Army = 13 years of service for retirement with AAFES....I believe, same deal with Army Civilian.

Here....put this in your 8-track:

++http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znjEVqSmUSE