Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: eagl on November 15, 2009, 05:31:17 PM
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A stupid thing about the military that I learned last week - the Defense Travel System (or DTS) every USAF member uses to create travel orders has an error where if you enter "TX" for your state, it defaults your location to Tadzjikistan and then overrides the country of origin.
This error affects tens of thousands of military members who are either stationed in TX or who travel to/from locations within TX, yet the problem has not been fixed. Apparently it's supposed to be that way... Enter in a legit Texas address, and if you don't catch and override this default it changes your location to Tadzjikistan by overriding everything else you've typed in for your address, including country, city, zip code, etc.
Your govt dollars at work folks... Brilliant.
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Man that is awesome lol.
I don't like DTS much, but it beats the hell out of the old system we were using.
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If you're in the Marine Corps, you don't have to worry about it. Our choices are limited to HHE, HHW, or HHO...
Classic DoD stuff there though...
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So does that mean there are lots of bemused US military personnel walking the streets of Tadzjikistan wondering what they did to end up there or does the local US Commander wonder why there are a disproportionate number of Texans on his base? :headscratch:
Isn't that the defintion of Kafkaesque? There isn't even an X in Tadzjikistan.
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But think of the travel expense your getting. :rolleyes:
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If you're in the Marine Corps, you don't have to worry about it. Our choices are limited to HHE, HHW, or HHO...
Classic DoD stuff there though...
What dose HHE, HHW AND HHO mean?
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What dose HHE, HHW AND HHO mean?
I'm guessing just from my short time in the gun club that it stands for Higher Headquarters East, West, and Overseas respectfully but I may be wrong. O could possibly stand for Okinawa but I'm thinking Overseas. I'll let Stoney answer that one for you.
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What dose HHE, HHW AND HHO mean?
Hell Hole East (Lejeune), Hell Hole West (29 Palms), Hell Hole Okinawa (take your pick)...
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Your govt dollars at work folks... Brilliant.
There's multiple "TX" options in there. Go to your profile & make sure you're selecting Texas as the default TX.
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There's multiple "TX" options in there. Go to your profile & make sure you're selecting Texas as the default TX.
Well, that's the thing. First, my "profile" doesn't let me set anything except for some checkbox that doesn't mean anything. Anytime I want to change anything, I have to go to MPF or CSS and have them do it. Second, you have to notice that after typing in the address, the idiotic thing has changed everything you typed in because the default for TX is not texas, in the first place.
There are other things that are so much fun too... Like when I create my orders, I know in advance that I"m staying on base so I select "actual lodging", and enter in the correct lodging price. But that automatically changes me from meals available to full per-diem. I didn't tell the damn thing to change the M&IE rate, but it's so buttering smart it assumes that if I change from default rate to actual rate, I must not be on base. Oh yea, it gets worse. When I file my travel voucher from the approved travel orders/authorization, it at first shows me the previously approved actual rate, but then after I enter in my actual expenses it changes the numbers back to default lodging and meals available, even though actual lodging and full per-diem was approved. Once again, DTS knows so much more than me, it has to change things that shouldn't be changed, without notifying me.
Oh yea, it'll complain and whine if I try to change the amount of split disbursement to something that isn't equal to or greater than the lodging cost, but it doesn't notice when it changes my travel authorization even though the lodging claim was exactly the same amount as I originally entered into the approved authorization/orders?
Whoever set DTS up to revert to defaults and override entered data is a complete tool who owes me 5 hours of my life, owes my DTS manager 7 5-minute chunks of time, and owes the sheppard AFB patient travel approving official another 2 hours of life back. And that's just for my voucher and orders... The patient travel official said that she has to fix the TX problem and the lodging expense reset on about half of the vouchers she sees, even when the orders are filled out correctly and the military member fills out the travel voucher "correctly" except for just the items that DTS improperly changed.
As before, your tax dollars at work. And I'll add it's an example of govt incompetence that makes me cringe at the thought of govt run ANYTHING.
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I agree with you on the wasting of tax dollars. Sorry to hear that it's a hassle. :)
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A stupid thing about the military that I learned last week - the Defense Travel System (or DTS) every USAF member uses to create travel orders has an error where if you enter "TX" for your state, it defaults your location to Tadzjikistan and then overrides the country of origin.
This error affects tens of thousands of military members who are either stationed in TX or who travel to/from locations within TX, yet the problem has not been fixed. Apparently it's supposed to be that way... Enter in a legit Texas address, and if you don't catch and override this default it changes your location to Tadzjikistan by overriding everything else you've typed in for your address, including country, city, zip code, etc.
Your govt dollars at work folks... Brilliant.
Its not an error. Its the best way of deploying personel to unpopular destinations. :aok
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Hell Hole East (Lejeune), Hell Hole West (29 Palms), Hell Hole Okinawa (take your pick)...
:rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl
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Its not an error. Its the best way of deploying personel to unpopular destinations. :aok
Tajikistan (you guys are making the spelling way too difficult :) ) is one of the countries I work with, and I'd be more than happy to visit. :aok Still, yea that is quite ridiculous Eagl. I work under a USAID contract (branch of the State Department) and it is downright depressing sometimes to see the bureaucracy at work. A bunch of my friends are in DOD and its even worse over there. Ah well, such is life in the district. :lol
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This just in: The United States has inadvertently invaded Tajikistan...
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Its not just the military branches of the Government. If you are from anywhere in the UK other than England and have to go through the US Livescan fingerprinting process (for visa's, immigration, background security checks, clearance to undertake flying lessons etc etc). be prepared to have some variation of the following conversation:
INS Muppit: What is your nationality Mr Robinson
ME: British
INS Muppit: OK, let me see if I can find the country code for England
ME: I'm not English.
INS Muppit: I'm sorry?
ME: I'm not English
INS Muppit: But you said you're British?
ME: That's correct. I'm from Scotland
INS Muppit: So you're Scottish?
ME: Yes
INS Muppit: So why did you tell me you're English?
ME: I didn't, I said I was British
INS Muppit: Mr Robinson, you realize this conversation is being recorded.
ME: Oh I hope so.
INS Muppit: I'm getting my supervisor
ME: I think that would be a good idea.
20 Minute Geography Lesson Later
INS Muppit Supervisor: OK, so you come from the United Kingdom
ME: ...of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - yes.
INS Muppit Supervisor: OK, I think I understand.
INS Muppit Supervisor: Yep - got it found the 'UK' country code.
Muppit supervisor at this point prints out a form informing me I am now a citizen of the Ukraine.
I have a variation of this conversation roughly once every six weeks.
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Its not just the military branches of the Government. If you are from anywhere in the UK other than England and have to go through the US Livescan fingerprinting process (for visa's, immigration, background security checks, clearance to undertake flying lessons etc etc). be prepared to have some variation of the following conversation:
INS Muppit: What is your nationality Mr Robinson
ME: British
INS Muppit: OK, let me see if I can find the country code for England
ME: I'm not English.
INS Muppit: I'm sorry?
ME: I'm not English
INS Muppit: But you said you're British?
ME: That's correct. I'm from Scotland
INS Muppit: So you're Scottish?
ME: Yes
INS Muppit: So why did you tell me you're English?
ME: I didn't, I said I was British
INS Muppit: Mr Robinson, you realize this conversation is being recorded.
ME: Oh I hope so.
INS Muppit: I'm getting my supervisor
ME: I think that would be a good idea.
20 Minute Geography Lesson Later
INS Muppit Supervisor: OK, so you come from the United Kingdom
ME: ...of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - yes.
INS Muppit Supervisor: OK, I think I understand.
INS Muppit Supervisor: Yep - got it found the 'UK' country code.
Muppit supervisor at this point prints out a form informing me I am now a citizen of the Ukraine.
I have a variation of this conversation roughly once every six weeks.
ROFL, I swear I once heard a polish joke that went something like this... It's sad to see this stuff really happens!