I had all my documents squared away and signed by my unit commander. The only thing I was waiting for was my LOR. As you read in my LOR post it was a crazy 2.5 month ordeal. This is because my deputy commander sat on it and did not route it up to the group for a month and a half. What is my lesson learned? Follow up, Follow up, Follow up! I seriously assumed my unit was taking care of it, but unfortunately they were not!
One thing I forgot to mention about my LOR: The group commander routed it up to the wing commander for signature, but also recommended I give him a copy of my application. That way the wing commander can see my personal statement, applicant profile, and EPRs. I don't know if he reviewed it or not, but its good to be ready for this. So I highly recommend you take care of everything else before pursuing a high level LOR.
Anyway, with the holidays and all my LOR was not signed until sometime after the new year. This was a huge stressor because the application was due 15 Jan; however, I later found it was extended to 8 February. So apparently I spent the holidays and the new year stressing over nothing. I finally had everything I needed to apply for TFIT/TFOT!
***Check, re-check, and check your entire package before scanning it and AFTER scanning your documents into SharePoint***
I don't know about your experience in basic military training, but my MTI always found laundry tags in my service uniforms! I swear I took those things out (house mouse?)!! Anyway I bring that up because I seemed to have found an error whenever I reviewed my documents. Especially the AF FM 56. Ensure you check your documents because the board will not accept incomplete or incorrect applications. I believe this is due to the abundance of applicants in the recent past. The AFRS peeps used to inform you if something is missing or incorrect and have you submit it prior to a deadline they give you. Now they won't even do that! If your package has errors or if it is incomplete they won't notify you and will not make your package board ready.
Here are somethings that I found incorrect with my package after I checked...
My AF FM 56 had missing data even after I saved it. I also had a sentence missing on my personal statement. I don't know why this kept happening, but I believe its because I downloaded the version from Pubs and Forms. I highly recommend you use the 56 on the SharePoint. All I did was keep the original copy of my commanders signature and redid the rest on a new 56 and combined them for scanning.
My AAC 05 was missing when I reprinted my career data brief and my RRU! Here is what happened...my AAC 05 was uploaded the same day the memo was submitted, but...the individual either did not put an expiration date or dated it for the date the memo was submitted. Anyway, I did not think anything of it because I printed both my CDB and RRU the same day my code was available. However, when I reprinted these documents the code was missing because it was expired! I had to resubmit the memo and fortunately it was correctly done and I was able to print the cdb and rru with the AAC 05 showing for one year after the board release date.
I am not that great with technology so I found it easier for me to just scan my documents single sided. This meant that I had to print everything (EPR) single sided. I scanned and rescanned to eliminate pages with smudges or if it was crooked. I just wanted to present a professional image to the board and I did not like when my pages turned out angled.
****There truly isn't any advantage to submitting your package early****
Here is my thought process: My package had a waiver. I thought it was smart to submit my application around 3 weeks ahead of time so that the board can submit my waiver to its approving authority in time for the board application deadline. Here is what happened....my package was listed as received for about 4 weeks! Here is what I think happens. The AFRS people do not start downloading the applications until after the deadline. They then submit all applications with waivers to the approving authority. They will only QC the applications without waivers because they're the approving authority for those applications. As you recall, my application had an assignment waiver and AFPC is the approving authority for those. Therefore, it makes no sense for the AFRS to QC my application until its is approved by AFPC. It would be a waste of time if they found out AFPC denied the waiver after they QC'd it. Anyway, a lot of applicants were made board ready within a few days. My application was received status for about a week after the deadline. I assumed it took AFPC a week to approve my waiver.
It was a great feeling to see that my package was made board ready! The application process is truly agonizing and I personally feel putting together an application is part of the board process. It was very stressful for me; especially, when I found I had an assignment.
My next step after receiving the board ready status was to continue my day-to-day duties as if I was PCSing. As far as the Air Force was concerned I was on my way out to my next duty station. I pretty much out processed everything except Housing, TMO, and Finance. I had to ensure I was ready to go if I wasn't selected!
The next three months included out processing, working, and continuous checks on CDB, RRU, SharePoint, and the OTS Forums.
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