Various Questions about Appointee Forms

I am working on filling out all of the many appointee forms and I had a few questions that are more advice-based than concrete answer based.

1. Bank or credit union account information: I currently have a UBS checking account that also has a debit card. At some point, I think I would like to switch to a military based bank. Is this something that I should do now or should I wait until I am at USAFA? I see they recommend the Armed Forces Bank or the Air Academy Federal Credit Union, but I have heard good things about USAA. Any opinions or thoughts about any of these three options or remaining with my current bank?

2. Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance: My parents and I are torn about this. On the one hand, a $400,000 policy for $28 a month is a great deal. On the other hand, my parents are not dependent on me for income and don't feel that the money would offset their sorrow if I died. However, we recognize that it is a great deal. Is there a way to get this same deal once I graduate, or is this a one time opportunity (aka will the premium increase)?

3. Travel options: Coming from out of state, my parents want to be able to experience as much as possible of my time at USAFA. We are trying to decide if they should come to I-Day with me or if I should head out to USAFA on my own and say goodbye at the airport. In my opinion, if I say goodbye at home, it will give me some alone time to really lock-in mentally and prepare myself for what's to come. However, I don't want to deprive my parents of the ability to have this one-time experience. They are definitely coming to Parent's Weekend and were planning on coming to A-Day but now it seems that you only get to see your parents for less than 2 hours, so we are curious about that as well.

4. Lastly, I have heard that coming out a few days early allows you to acclimate to altitude a bit. Any thoughts on this?

Please give any feedback relating to any aspect of my questions. All info is appreciated!

1. USAA is wayyy better than Armed Forces Bank. Do whatever you want, but I would recommend getting a USAA account as soon as you're able to.
2. If you don't want SGLI, don't pay for the policy. It's not a one time deal. You can scale all the way down to a 40k policy or no policy at all, and you can opt to change your policy at any time, even after graduation. Your rationale that your parents don't need the money is totally valid, and if you decide to change your mind, it takes less than five minutes to change at Cadet Personnel (or at any base you go to.) I've made a couple changes to my policy over the years and it's super easy.
3. Do whatever you think is best for I-Day. That's 100% a personal choice. If they can come out for Acceptance Day, I think it's worth it, even with the short amount of time. Otherwise, just plan for Parent's Weekend.
4.Yeah, it'll help to some extent. Some people suffer a lot worse than others with the altitude.

Agree with @BlahuKahuna .
Would add that your parents would enjoy seeing you off at the Academy. The AOG Alumni Association does a great job at Doolittle Hall with plenty of picture-taking opportunities. After they drop you off, they should attend the Colorado Parent's Club Bar-B-Que located about 1/4 mi. or so away. They could then return the next day and watch you marching from the wall of the Chapel. If you go alone you will need to make travel arrangements to get to hotel, restaurants, USAFA, etc. It can be done, but parents renting a car is much easier esp. if you're in town a few days earlier. Parents who visit on A-Day usually live relatively close by as it's only about a 2 hour visit. BTW: be sure you know how to iron as I gave that lesson to DD the night before I Day! Good Luck!

Congratulations on your appointment! This is what worked for my son and me:

1. He kept his checking account at our home bank, but also opened a USAA account. Keeping the home checking account allows me to put money in for him or pay any expenses that might come up. He can also transfer money between that account and his USAA account. USAA offers many benefits, plus they reimburse ATM fees. If you decide to go with them, I’d recommend doing it ASAP because you’re going to be very busy in the upcoming months. If I remember correctly, my son had to call USAA and tell them he was an upcoming cadet. He wasn’t able to set up his checking account online.

2. I can’t exactly remember why, but my son took out the entire $400k life insurance policy. It wasn’t because I would need the money if something should happen, but I’m thinking it was because he would have to undergo a medical exam if he had selected a lower amount and then decided to increase it later. You might want to do some research on this to see if I’m correct. Since he was in excellent health at the time, we figured it would be wise to just get the full amount and avoid possibly not qualifying for the full amount later.

4. I did not travel to USAFA with my son for I-Day because of the reason you mentioned. I wanted to give my son time to mentally prepare for BCT, and I knew it would add to his stress if he had to deal with my emotions in addition to his own. He used the AOG Bed and Breakfast program, and everything worked our really well. I did fly out for A-Day, and even though I only got to spend about 2 hours with my son, it was absolutely worth it, and I’d recommend it to anyone if it’s in their budget.

4. As far as the altitude goes, I don’t have any insight other than what I’ve googled. It seems like I’ve read that it takes your body a week or two to acclimate to the altitude.

Good luck with everything! If your parents haven’t done so yet, they might want to join the USAFA Parent Resource Facebook group. There’s a lot of good info on there.

1meanteacher said:

1. He kept his checking account at our home bank, but also opened a USAA account. Keeping the home checking account allows me to put money in for him or pay any expenses that might come up. He can also transfer money between that account and his USAA account. USAA offers many benefits, plus they reimburse ATM fees. If you decide to go with them, I’d recommend doing it ASAP because you’re going to be very busy in the upcoming months. If I remember correctly, my son had to call USAA and tell them he was an upcoming cadet. He wasn’t able to set up his checking account online.

Click to expand...

DS also signed up for his USAA account a couple of months prior to I-Day so he would not need to change it later. He added me as a co-signer on his USAA account so it would be easy for me to transfer money to him if needed - this eliminated the need to maintain two checking accounts.

He was also able to get a USAA credit card to help establish his credit rating (SOP: don't use more than 25% of his credit line and pay it off, in full, as soon as he gets his monthly statement).

I won't address 1-3 however for #4: "Acclimating to the altitude..."

What we were told in biology class and I've had other physicians tell me this is that it'll take between 21-24 days for your body to adjust to the elevation of USAFA. There are a number of things that must occur; one of the biggest is that your body must produce more red blood cells to carry the oxygen that is able to pass over the semipermeable membrane in the lungs due to the lower air pressure. There's other things as well; you can google search them, but bottom line: when I was BCT cadre, all those eon's ago, we were told that's why first BCT was less strenuous than second BCT: it allowed for the new basic cadets to acclimate.

Going a couple of days early...don't really think you'll notice a difference.

Just my opinion; which with $0.97 here in AZ will get you a Polar Pop.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83

Completely agree with 1meanteacher! We did things the same way last year.

1. DS had to call USAA to set up his account before BCT. We've been very pleased with their service and he was able to set up a USAA Roth IRA online once the school year started and has his monthly contribution pulled automatically from his USAA checking account.

2. DS did the full life insurance policy. We felt that the price was good and have always told him that he needs life insurance so this was an easy way to get it done. I don't have info on if the premium increases down the road.

3. I know other USAFA parents that went out for I-Day and were very happy they went. Our DS wanted to go on his own for the reasons you listed. He used the Bed and Breakfast program and had great hosts. We connected with other parents on the USAFA Parent Facebook page before I-Day and had dear friends by the time I-Day rolled around. One of the sets that went to I-Day even let us Facetime on their phone with our DS before he checked-in (it was a total surprise and so cool to see him one last time before BCT).

We had not planned on going to A-Day but decided at the last minute to go. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event and I'm so glad we went. Yes, not everyone can afford to go but if they can, I highly recommend it!

Good luck!