I did this all through Covid and it was tough, there was never anything in opentime to swap with and as the sole earner I couldn’t just drop my entire month and hope something came up. But it usually worked out to where I wasn’t commuting more than once a month if at all. But every situation is different. You add in more pay, plus more days off and not being tied to a phone all day and it can start to make sense.

Also not everyone who drives to work or “lives in base” lives 10 minutes from the airport. In my situation I could sit reserve at home but I had to basically be waiting and ready to leave as soon as I got a call to make the 3 hour reserve window, so a couple years of it got to be stressful and my life was basically refreshing flica every 10 minutes. Luckily those days are past for me but not always a stupid strategy if your situation is appropriate…