Thanks for all the intel guys, much appreciated.

That's about what I was expecting with the VBD situation. Happy to hear that you get to bid monthly in whichever base you get assigned for that month. I do a lot of TDY with my current company, but there's no bidding involved. So any opportunity to have a say in where/how I spend the month, even as one of the most junior on the roster, will be an improvement.