Originally Posted by Jughead135

Bidding RES or REG? To choose between these two on dollars, the spreadsheet will show you your pay.

If you're looking to max time off or max flexibility to pick stuff up (more money): bid as much as possible within the Shadow--it will all be dropped (more accurately, it never actually gets awarded to you). If you're bidding RES, it's a no-brainer: let every SHADOW day be an "on call" day. If you can hold a line, my suggestion is to bid the highest-time trip you can starting on the last day of the Shadow, then bid as much as you can stuff within the Shadow. Keep in mind that you have to actually be able to get what you bid for this to work (it will never actually be on your line, but it has to be "as if" you could have gotten it). Once your line is complete, anything touching the Shadow goes "poof," so the more you have in the Shadow the less you have on your line outside the shadow, for whatever that line pays (within the LCW, as awarded by PBS).



Chart at 22.C.4 shows the various lengths of the Shadow--it starts the day after training ends. Not sure when it'll show up, but that doesn't really matter. Should be in PBS by the time you're bidding for Dec.

Keep in mind that the Shadow doesn't mean squat once your line is built--the OE Planner owns you and schedules you when he has an LCA available. Ideally (from their point of view), that's during the Shadow--but, if you go beyond that, you're still his property. Advise letting him know (prob too late the "official" way in iCrew, I think that's due by the 25th 2 mos prior(?), but you can always call/email) if you have any "must have" days off in there, bearing in mind that he's probably got plenty of folks wanting Xmas off, too (fortunately, that's also true of the LCAs!).

My training ended last Dec--a tactical RES bid put all of my RES days in the Shadow + 1 outside, and all of my Golden X days from 23 Dec forward. Finished OE on 22nd, enjoyed the Holidays at home.