Originally Posted by
FlyBoyd
I have always wondered but never been able to confirm this....
When the USN/USMC units are forward deployed they basically live the same way during peacetime or war time. Deployed time is roughly the same. A boat is a boat wherever it sails. Marines are used to doing more with way less and living in the dirt. They are crazy like that. OPTEMPO may change but the level of suck is about equivalent, IMO.
The forward deployed AF crew during peacetime pretty much has a standard FOB with all the typical AF type facilities. TAD/TDY length is short. During war time the FOB is wherever the conflict is located and is really substandard when compared to the peace time facilities/locations. TDY/TAD times are usually much longer. With these changes the level of suck increases dramatically.
Thoughts?
There are exceptions to everything in the military ... and the Air Force. I've deployed to the best of facilities and I've built and lived in my own tent. Go figure.
TAD/TDY numbers are irrelevant for the USAF. It all depends on what job you have and what AEF you support. For those in a high demand, low density aircraft, you just continously deploy. But, once you get home, you get your 4 days off and then go back TDY to fly some stupid mission around the world. In my unit, our enlisted folks routinely got 300 days TDY
each year (some deployed, some TDYs). No typo.
I had a briefing somewhere that said the USAF had more people deployed in the middle east doing augmentee jobs. True? I don't know, that's what they briefed. I can tell you, since joining in 1997, the USAF has changed tremendously. Basically, you either deploy or you don't have a job.
-Fatty