I just looked through various bid pack’s base trip lines for SDF fleets and there is just too much variety to offer any generalizations. On some lines there is stuff scattered throughout the entire 4 weeks, others have stuff grouped giving rather large blocks of time off inbetween and quite commutable while others are the same but add a single day (turn) right in the center of the block of days off to give you that kick in the nuts you always wanted. Browsing through the individual pairings of these lines is even more daunting. They really are made up of all the leftover stuff. I found a few that had every type of pairing, some that were solely modified turn lines (but mixed am and pm turns), some decent day flying on the MD, some that had 4-6 day pairings with blocks of days off on the Z, and a noticeable number of CML DHs. If you were to live in SDF none of this looked particularly bad, more on the annoying side of the house. Commuting to these, IMHO, would be a challenge but if you lived in an ideal commute city (see below), and with a little hustling to work your schedule you could price together a nice little schedule relative to what you were bid awarded.
Example: there is a 6 day block of 2 day trips back to back. Middle trip starts with a CML. Try dropping or trading 1st trip so you can start week with CML.
Example: 4 on, 2 off, 2 on, 2 off 2 on.
W-W-W-W-0-0-W-W-0-0-W-W
Drop / trade last 2 day, giving you:
W-W-W-W-0-0-W-W-0-0-0-0.
Next Insert a turn (or 2 of you need) to tighten up the block:
W-W-W-W-T-0-W-W-T-O-O-O-O-O thereby turning a 12 day sequence to 9. Not sexy but much more palatable.
If you are on the Z or MD you can try to OT trip trade a bunch of short stuff for a longer intl pairing - every now and then you will get lucky.
There has been a good amount of MIA specific discussion in these threads so you’ll have to dig in and find it all. I do know it ain’t an easy commute to/from SDF (2 legs on pax carriers) and there a lot of folks doing it.
Ideal commute cities are cities that offer nonstop flights on us as well as on the pax carriers giving you the most variety and opportunities to get back and forth. Think PHL, EWR, DFW, JFK, BWI, DC, ATL, CAE (? The old US air base in S car), DFW, ORD, DEN. Then there are the areas that have a high frequency of UPS flights (a day and a night flight and possible weekend action), like in the NE - BDL/MHT, MCO, ONT, RFD, SLC?, I’m thinking also BFI/PDX, and a bunch of others... if you live in one of these towns then base trips can be manageable for commuting purposes.