Stuck in the middle with you
It’s crossover time again! That’s right, to get the full story you’ll need to head on over to www.thecrewdogs.com. This is a story Beetle and I have been cooking since we went to Sea World in 2008, but it works the same as our first crossover. There is minimal conversation between us as far as planning the story out. Think of it as “dueling cartoonists.” Beetle’s already started the story, so if you go through his archives you can get caught up on it. It more or less starts here.
Of course, it’s a bit of an indulgence for me, and totally non-canon, at least in my strip, so just sit back and have a little fun. This is also giving me time to work on the Christmas fundraiser series, which I think y’all will love.
I have a curiosity question for y’all that has come up in recent conversations with my peers. Would you rather deploy more often for shorter periods, or less often but for longer. Like, if you were in a 1-1 dwell, would you rather go for six months, come home for six and go again, deploying only once a year, or go for three-month tours twice a year with three months at home? And whatever your choice, why?
-Farva
November 9th, 2009 at 12:01 am
First, Whoot!!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:02 am
0000000… Penny! First!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:02 am
RATS!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:08 am
man, Farva, you are opening a can of worms on your question of the day.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:10 am
For the record, farva, I’m already in the 1-1 dwell. I would prefer a year long deployment over 6 month on/off any day. By the time you add in all the training and misc other crap that you are required to do before a deployment you end up being gone from home 8 months and home for 4. Meanwhile a year tour you’d be gone for 14 months of every 24 with 2 weeks of free break in between and whatever R&R’s you are given.
Plus folks deployed for year longs typically have some extra perks wherever they are deployed to (at least in the air force).
Just by the stats for a 24 month period:
6 on 6 off: you’re gone 66% of the time (16 months total)
12 on, 12 off: gone 56% of the time
Sure it would suck being gone for a year, but I would prefer to at least have time to reintegrate with my family before getting the next tasking to deploy.
Thats purely on a personal basis. There are pluses for the air force too, including less bagage fees (air fare would be the same with the r&r), more continuity and if your tasking doesn’t come up for a 1-1 dwell, you get 2 years at home so more continuity at home station as well.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Sorry Robert…..Hitting the F5 key for 5 minutes to get my only first……
November 9th, 2009 at 12:13 am
I would go with the 1:1. year or longer, Like someone mentioned, when you do anything shorter, you run into issues with all of your “home time” being spent spinning up for the next deployment.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:13 am
heh, just read your question more throughly…
3 month vs 6 month… gotta get more in touch with the rest of the air force :p
November 9th, 2009 at 12:18 am
@medic
yep, hitting refresh.. but waiting to just post first, or reading the strip to have a comment to post first with.. theres that 60 seconds!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:28 am
From an AAFES perspective, (IMHO ONLY) our folks have a choice of a volunter 6 month or 1 year, (which can be extended) and get a temp promotion, foreign post differentail, hazaradous duty pay, R&R, 20 hours a week overtime (they work more than that) but, run the risk of being killed without the chance to defend themselves. We have several KIA/WIA civilian employees supporting the troups in the sandbox.
WHEN WILL THIS BE OVER? AFGANISTAN, IRAQ, HAS LASTED LONGER THAN VIETNAM!!
And again, remember our brothers and sisters at Ft. Hood.
peas, everyone!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:34 am
The line “I’d have understood” sounds weird. It would’ve been better if it had said “I would’ve understood.”
Or maybe it’s just me. :/
November 9th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Really? Hell, when I say it out loud, it’s more like “I’d've.” Then again, “y’all” and “fixin’ta” sound weird to some people but I use ‘em in almost every conversation.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:12 am
@jesse
dont mess with Texas or the Texan Cartoonist!
November 9th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Personally, I’m with Nickel on this. Out the last 9 years, 8 of been either in the sandbox or focused on the sandbox. Better to have a year there, and be away from there even longer. I don’t mind deploying, I’ll volunteer for deployments (just did recently, now waiting to find out), I just have no desire to go back to that area of the world ever again.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:54 am
I am currently on a year long deployment and also in a career field with a 1-1 dwell. When I volunteered for this deployment, I was originally supposed to have 12 months at home after the deployment, however, the AF changed the rules and I am now in line with the rest of the short tours such as Korea. When I get home, I will have 6 months at home on dwell and then be eligible to deploy again to another AOR. Even though it’s not back to the CENTCOM AOR, I will still be deployed….so in reality, I would rather have 6 months deployed, 6 months home….
November 9th, 2009 at 7:04 am
How bout we compromise…3 mos during a 12 mo span.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:13 am
12 months and done.
Farve’s grammar is correct. EOM
November 9th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Yep, Contracting is in a 1-1 Dwell also. I got back in June and am going back in June 2010 due to a PCA that bumped me back a bit…I liked the 18 home 4-6 away. But I guess BOHICA is my montra now. 1-1 here I come.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:50 am
as a Korean Linguist, I basically “deploy” (to Osan) for 12 months every third year. Our manning levels cause us to return to Ft Meade for 2 years before returning, so it’s almost like an extended deployment schedule. It’s not bad; obviously I’d rather have a more “normal” schedule, but nobody seems to have those any more anyway. I think 6 months/6months or 3/3 would be terrible, except that with 3/3 you’d basically always be moving and it’d make the time fly like you wouldn’t believe.
In other news, anyone see the new SRB list? Farva, I think there’s fodder there for a strip (or a few). Guess who has the highest SRBs across the board now? I bet you no one will guess right the first time (and no fair cheating if you’ve seen the list!).
November 9th, 2009 at 10:49 am
King KorLing: Public Affairs Photogs?
The bonus for Triple Nickles looks pretty sweet, but I decided not to try and spend that money until I come up for re-enlistment in 3 more years. Bonus could be higher, lower, or nonexistant by then (right now we’re a high-demand career field, because, well, nobody wants to do it, but that could change in a few years.)
November 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I’m currently at CENTCOM and usually do 2 - 3 months in theater a couple of times a year. It’s a lot of travel and pain, but about the time it starts to get old I’m coming home. To me, it all depends on the job. Most jobs are no different than a remote somewhere like Korea. However, given the choice, I’d rather only do 6 months at a time. Most people in the Air Scouts will get more than a year home after doing a 6 month tour.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I only have one thing to say about deployments…B O H I C A. Yep get ready cause here it comes…
November 9th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I’m definitely on the boat for pushing D and E bands into yearly rotations. D band would mean a year remote every two years, and E would entail one year on and one year off. It may be a longer time away from home, but the increased down time overall would be worth it in the end.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Deployments - I’m in a 1:1 dwell careerfield(1N0X1), although realistically it’s not so bad. Most folks i know are on more of a 1:2 or 1:3 dwell with 6 months gone, 18+ stateside. Personally, I’m still non-deployable for a while longer due to skill level mismatch; I’m a 3 level SSgt retrainee
On SRBs, well, I just spilled my beans on that
I’ll reup in about 2 years with a 6.5 multiplier(hopefully as TSgt) for 4 years, then going again for however long at 13.5 years in with what’s currently a 5.0. Hopefully SRBs for Intel will stay about where they’re at now.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Being a UDM I would rather send my guys for a full year, less work for me, and more concurrent home time.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
As a new father I’d rather do the shorter times more often. They grow up so fast and to be gone for 6 months at a time or more, you miss so much stuff. 3 on 3 off 3 on 3 off would be a better deal. I wouldn’t want my daughter forgetting who I am!
November 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
1 - 1 dwell kills me. Jason has it correct. Most if not all intel career fields are 1-1 dwell and have been for a long time.
That does not mean that everybody does six in and six out. It’s more like the billets are refilled every six months.
But, to answer the OP’s question, I’ll take door number 3 and say I’d rather just not deploy at all. This has gone on long enough.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I’m with the short tours crowd. I’d much rather endure 4-6 months away from home at a time with 12-18 months between deployments. Of course career field manning would have to support the longer dwells, but when I have to go, I don’t want to miss out on too much on the home front. Time is flying fast enough as it is to be gone for an entire year.
As for the crossover, Farva, you made Calvin look too much like a college freshman. But then I may simply be getting old because I sometimes wonder if some of the young Airmen and Lts I see are old enough to drive….
November 9th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Wooot, contracting’s still up there with the SRBs! We’ve got 7s across to a 4.5 in Zone D.
Deployments….we’re sitting at 6/6 right now in 6C’s and I’ll tell you what, it’s not fun. I think I wouldn’t almost rather go for a year and stay home for a year to a year and a half. On top of that if we deploy with RH you can add on another 3-4 months that we aren’t ‘offiicially’ compensated for. Have a close friend who deployed with RH came home and left again 2 months later for a 6 Month deployment. It’s not fun.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
At least it seems people in bands have an idea of when they are ‘hot’ for a deployment, people in my AFSC are Enablers, so we can go at any time for any length of time.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Cough Cough*Crossdresser*Cough
November 9th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
CO_forever said it - Contracting is the overall highest, with a Zone A/B/C/E (not D - the AF doesn’t have those) of 7.0/7.0/7.0/4.5. I’m in the wrong field, it seems…
November 9th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
As an AF spouse, I would prefer my significant other to be gone six on, six off. Adjusting to the change being alone, and then having someone home again, is the hardest part for me.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:13 am
If I was to go to 1:1 which is possibly happening in the 2T3 career field, I guess I would go with the full year. I would much rather be home longer. I have already missed out on 1 year and 4 months of my 4 year olds life, might as well be home for a year in between missing more. Right now, I still don’t see the problem with 6 gone 1 year at home, then six again. I also didnt see how we went from 4 months to six months gone and our time at home got shorter. That made no sense to me whatsoever, it seems it would have been easier to just extend the next rotations time at home by 2 months, and bam you have everyone on track and they are now home 16 months instead of the 14 it was… But no, we are down to 12 months at home and 6 months gone. I think the 1:1 is a horrible idea. They might as well just keep you deployed until the war is over. Being deployed half of every year is a horrible idea, plus you will never get to see the other half of the year (including the seasons) at home station… Meaning if your from a cold weather base, like say Elmendorf; and you are deployed for the 6 months during the summer time (which by the way only lasts for like 3-4 month there) all you ever see of your home station is the freezing ass cold winters, and the long dark days. It would be depressing to be deployed to 140* heat just to come back home to -30* weather. That being your whole assignment at “home station.” I hate the idea of 1:1. You wouldnt really have a “home station” as you would be spending half (or more) of your time assigned to a base deployed. The 1 year home, 6 deployed is bad enough. I barely get to see my family as it is. Just me, but maybe its time to leave the whole middle east now. We have failed to do the whole shock aand awe we should have gone for when they attacked the WTC. Hell, last time someone attacked us like that we dropped two nukes on them. Now they are our best friends (I am being a little sarcastic on this, but I think you get my point). This time we didn’t really do anything in return for attacking us. We didn’t give them anything to really fear when messing with the US. We should all just come home, and go back to what we were doing. I hate to say it, but it looks more like a complete failure than any sort of success. Sorry, went off on a tangent. I really dont think they should call it “home station” if your doing 1:1… it will be more of “the place you take your vacation in between deployments”, or “the place my wife and kid(s) lives but I only get to visit.” So far I have missed some of my daughters first steps, my daughters first real sentences, and my daughter learning to write. I personally don’t see the middle east being worth missing any of those. Just me.