I talked to the lady at recall ops last week about submitting my one year extension letter, and she didn't sound that discouraging. She stated the first extension requests are just starting to flow in, and she expected the approval process to take about 2 months to complete. My hope is that they remain true to what they said which is that the one year extension is based on your commanders approval.

Huggy, you're totally right. I expect once again when I'm within a few months of my new retirement date, they'll realize how bad their manning is and offer more service. If I get the one year extension though, I think that will be it for me. I'm getting tired of the constant deployments that actually happen, and the others that are always dangling over my head.

Best of luck to everyone.