Originally Posted by blastoff

You're kind of making my point for me. If you can't break 3K as a trougher (bum) anymore, then the regional thing is probably more of a necessity now. When the Air Force is paying LT's less than regionals, we can't be shocked that regionals start to become a normal option. I do realize that as reservists these LT's aren't "entitled" to full-time employment, but this is probably the first time in 2-3 decades that our LT's really have no where else to go without stacking boxes at Home Depot part-time while living in mom's basement. In reality, the regional would be more flexible with their Mil schedule than Home Depot.

Year 1 and 2 at most regionals now is about 25K and 31K respectively (YMMV), then you add anywhere from $12K to $20K for guard/reserve participation to total a "workable" income.

I should preface that when I was making those numbers "troughing" in the Reserves, there were a fair amount of RPA/MPA trips that paid quite handsomely with high per-diem locales. Those trips have dried up lately so I know the LT's in my Sq are really hurting. Bumming/troughing used to imply you probably go TDY at least once a month on RPA/MPA in addition to a couple of AT days and your TP's/UTA's