Traveling with DS for I-Day

E.Cadet.18 said:
Thanks for the quick responses. Didn't realize it's name (Tzo) but I have seen it a million times in photos/videos. Blackbird's picture here has to be the best look at the Tzo I've ever seen. Very awesome ! Can't wait to see it in person.
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Congrats on your appointment. Thank you for being willing to serve our country. And your are going to become intimately familiar with all aspects of the Tzo in a few months.
 
I am getting information for myself and DS. His mother and I are certainly proud of him. Thanks for the kind words. Your post will be the first thing he sees when he gets home from school tonight.
I often read your posts and glean so much from you and several others on this forum. I have to say the picture of box boy and the steam machine on the 2014 BCT Packing list thread is brilliant. Had me literally laughing out loud.
 
Also, this inspired the marching scene in Lion King. Watch the movie and you will see the animals marching past the King across an area that looks an awful lot like the Tzo.


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Kinda like the tzo.

Scar_With_Hyenas.png
 
fencersmother said:
There was no way, six years ago, that we were flying to Colorado with our sons for I-Day. We'd been there in April (most of the whole family), and knew we were going to PW in September, so the I-day events (minimal) were out of the question.



For parents in our situation, the USAFA flew the boys out (what a while ride that was from Dallas to COS! I think they were all basics except six ppl on the plane!) the day before, their sponsor family picked them up, they had a great dinner, and the sponsor dad took them over and stayed until they "crossed the bridge" on I-Day.



My recommendation: pay whatever fees are involved for WebGuy. You will never regret it and the glimpses of your basic (or squadron or element leader), are priceless. I still have pics on my frig of both my sons during BCT!
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Our DS is flying out on June 25th without us. We live too far for it to make sense to drive him there. We will be there for PW but not for anything prior. I'm working on convincing myself that I'm ok with not being there...he's totally fine with it. I just checked out WebGuy and if I'm interpreting it right the parent member plus plan is close to $500/yr. ($50 enrollment fee plus @ $40/mo.) Am I reading that right? Is it that good? There is also something called class club membership that is not an active link yet....is that a less expensive option? I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks.


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Wow. When DS when through BCT in 2012, WebGuy was $20.16 per month. From what I can tell it is now $39.12 per month. And just as in the past, you are only obligated to 12 months. We stopped after the 12 month minimum. We would still pay the $469.44 for the Doolie year. WebGuy does a great job of photographically documenting the entire BCT experience. There will be thousands and thousands of pictures covering all aspects, activities, and squadrons. My wife was addicted to WebGuy spending hours every day looking for her DS. Definitely worth the money for our family. . .
 
For us from PA it has become a Value v Cost discussion. There is so much going on from June to Sept, that will only happen once, we evolved from DS going alone to Mom taking him in June. I'll go out in August for a couple of days for 2 hours with him, and we'll both do PW. Webguy is 20.18/month, as best as I can tell. Its $20 + class year. For what it costs to send a child to civilian college, which DD is at, what we'll spend on flights/hotels/car's over 3 months is hardly more than her books for a year. For us, we're looking at it as priceless what will happen for him , so we've chosen to be a part of it as we can, and eat the cost as able.
 
Obviously I have to check on this Webguy thing again. Both of you have it at 40/month, and I didn't see that # months ago when I looked at Webguy. I figured it was a done deal at 20.18 so I stopped looking at it. Its all running together now, will be glad when they are there and hard at it! Thanks.
 
Until this year there was a Class Club membership that was the graduation date (i.e. $20.17/month). But now I only see a Parent Member Plus option at $39.72/month. Do you have link for the $20.18/month membership?
 
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pointguard said:
For us from PA it has become a Value v Cost discussion. There is so much going on from June to Sept, that will only happen once, we evolved from DS going alone to Mom taking him in June. I'll go out in August for a couple of days for 2 hours with him, and we'll both do PW. Webguy is 20.18/month, as best as I can tell. Its $20 + class year. For what it costs to send a child to civilian college, which DD is at, what we'll spend on flights/hotels/car's over 3 months is hardly more than her books for a year. For us, we're looking at it as priceless what will happen for him , so we've chosen to be a part of it as we can, and eat the cost as able.
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There is a note on the site that says something like "class club not available yet, check back". I'm hoping that's the $20.18 option :)
I would love to evolve to your plan pointguard....I think I could count on one hand the number of events I've missed in DS's 17 years.


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Ah man, that AOG website has totally changed in structure relative to Webguy, and to the cost and Program it has been 'upgraded' too. Seems it was so popular someone just had to ok a change so that it is now way more expensive, and in scope, to what we were looking for. Figures, to good to be true by the time our '18s got there. Even the other Classes have to 'upgrade' , read kick in more money, if they want to be a part of it. I am totally bummed! Now its back to the drawing board this weekend to see what he, Mom, and I think we can or should do. Drat...........
 
pointguard said:
Even the other Classes have to 'upgrade' , read kick in more money, if they want to be a part of it. I am totally bummed!
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Not sure how accurate this is. I haven't been informed of a price increase and am still paying the same amount each month.
 
I contacted Megan, and she says for 2018+ there is only Program going forward, for all 4 years, and its like they said above: 50 + 39+/month.
I don't know if anyone reads the below for the other Classes as I do, maybe you'll be grandfathered through, I hope so. Maybe at Renewal time there will be discussion...........Best to all.
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Purchase Parent Member Plus Membership


To gain exclusive access to many WebGuy functions you must purchase a membership to the Association of Graduates "Parent Member Plus".


There is a minimum 12 month enrollment unless the cadet departs the Academy before the end of the 12 months due to Graduation or Disenrollment.

I would like to purchase a Parent Member Plus Membership and agree to the terms and conditions.


***PLEASE NOTE*** IF YOU ARE A 2017, 2016, OR 2015 PARENT: Please contact Megan Mulligan at 719-247-8708 or megan.mulligan@aogusafa.org to upgrade or enroll. To avoid unnecessary charges, do not enroll online.
2017 Parents: To upgrade your Class Club Membership - $50 Enrollment, monthly payments of $39.72 will be debited on the 10th of every month until Graduation
2016 Parents: To upgrade your Class Club Membership - $150 Enrollment, monthly payments of $39.72 will be debited on the 10th of every month until Graduation
2015 Parents: To upgrade your Class Club Membership - $300 Enrollment, monthly payments of $39.72 will be debited on the 10th of every month until Graduation
 
The new Parent Plus program provides 2 lifetime AOG memberships – one for the parent and one for the cadet. We have been buying a lifetime membership for our soon to be C2C at $25 a month since I Day 2 years ago but that is almost paid for and we are still enrolled in the Class Club program at $20.16 per month. I spoke to the AOG POC about the new program and if we converted it would cost about another $300 in addition to what we are paying now. Not sure I need my own lifetime membership so we will stick with what we have.
 
This is from an email from Megan helping me understand the new Program.
I am happy USAFretired 1996 that it appears grandfathering is doable.
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You’re exactly right, Class Club is a very successful program with parents especially appreciating one of the benefits that comes with Class Club – Webguy. As a Membership Department, we were considering a concern of monthly allotments taken from a Cadet’s paycheck and thinking about how we could create a bundled membership package that would appeal to the cadet and their parents. Conversations took place in the Membership Department and we thought about the value of a Cadet staying connected to their Academy. So decided to include LMAG (Life Membership At Graduation) for the cadet into the Class Club Program. Conversations continued to grow and we thought about the parents. How can we create a more robust Webguy program? What are the resources required to cover more than the 5 milestones of the cadet experience? What else would the parents like to see? Then we started considering the expiration date of the Class Club membership. Why cut the parents off after 4 years? They’ve seen their cadet grow and they’ve also developed a strong connection to their cadet’s squadron, dorm (Vandenberg vs. Sijan), their son or daughter’s friends, and they’ve grown attached to the people - connected with the Academy and now at graduation we are cutting them off. Then we decided to add a lifetime membership for the parents as well. This created the idea of the Parent Member Plus plan.

The cost of a lifetime membership is $850. We didn’t feel right about charging the parents for a $850 life membership for their cadet ($750 if purchased during the cadet’s first year at the Academy) and then another $850 for a life membership for them. So we cut the cost drastically and offered an electronic life membership plan for the parent. Instead of sending all of our mailings via USPS for the parent, we would keep them connected via email, our website, and social media. All the other benefits of membership would stay intact and the parents would not be cut off from their membership benefits at graduation. (The favorites seems to be the shopping discount and Doolittle Hall Rental.)

Before implementation, we discussed the new plan with a group of parents. They couldn’t wait for the membership to go live so they could upgrade their account from Class Club to Parent Member Plus. We saw that we had received their blessing and continued to move forward. We also made the decision to eliminate the Class Club program and only offer Parent Member Plus since the benefits of the new program were so much better – a dramatically more robust Webguy program, life membership for the cadet, and life membership for you.

I hope I have answered your concerns and explained our process of making this decision. With each decision we make, we do our best to keep the interest of the cadet, our graduates, and parents in mind before making any changes.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I’m more than happy to help!

Very Respectfully,

Megan

Megan Mulligan | Director of Constituent Relations

Association of Graduates | U.S. Air Force Academy
 
Talked to "Don" in membership.
This change does not apply to the parents of 2015.
According to Don what is different with this new Parent Plus plan is that you are paying for TWO lifetime memberships (one for the cadet and one for the parent) to the AOG. Under the old plan we were/are paying for only one (my son's).....in addition to subscribing to WebGuy. Since my son's lifetime membership is already completely paid we will continue to pay only the $20.15 a month.....for WebGuy.

Anyone not interested in TWO lifetime AOG memberships might want to call Megan Mulligan at 719-247-8708 or someone else in membership. According to Don this is a really "good" deal for the parents in the more recent class years but I didn't bother to listen to WHY.

Good luck!:thumb:
 
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USAFretired1996 said:
I spoke to the AOG POC about the new program and if we converted it would cost about another $300 in addition to what we are paying now. Not sure I need my own lifetime membership so we will stick with what we have.
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X2
One for my son is enough for us.
 
aglages said:
X2
One for my son is enough for us.
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And that was basically my point to Megan, says
who in what focus group gets to change an entire program
to mandate access to the upcoming parents? The Academy
is for my son, the friends and all the experiences will
be his and his alone. We as parents don't need or
want access to all that, and when the AFA is done, it is
there for him, like our Colleges are for us as Alumni. I feel they
should have put it in as an Option, not as a Mandate.
Feels like a money-grab to me when its the only option.
Oh well, guess we'll have to cough up, what can you do
when a captive audience. Not seeing the photo's while
they are going through it is not an option, just the Lifetime
mandate is what bugs me. Ok, I'm over it now, thanks for
all your input.
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Yes, those already enrolled in Class Club are grandfathered in to Class Club.

Kindest Regards,

Megan
 
I'm not thrilled with the new program either. While the Parents Plus option may be attractive to some, I would prefer the Class Year option. I don't like that there is not a choice between the two. I'm going to have to think about whether or not to join Parents Plus now. Before, Webguy was a no brainer.
 
Yep, left Dad at home, crying in the driveway and went out with my DS. Totally kid and parent specific, in my opinion. I choked up a bit but not too bad at the goodbye, bought season football tickets when emotionally compromised, and had myself a nice cry on the way back to the Denver airport.
 
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