So does anyone have an actual number of people swimming?

Is there any speculation around World how the election could affect the AMC/DOD flying you do, or would World stay pretty busy regardless?

Just heard from a friend there. They are extremely busy he has been out now for over 45 days. His choice. They are still hiring the Gemini and ATA pilots. Pilots with lots of time, jet and glass, personal rec. a big plus.

Guys like me with 9600 TT (mostly TProp) will have to wait.

I've been on the line since June, I bid for days off and haven't volunteered any days off. I did sell them a day off instead of going directly home (without required rest)after a trip to the middle East. Last month I had 80 hours for pay and worked mostly domestic legs.
Quite a few of the new FE's/FO's are selling some days off though like Dutch indicated.
I'd like to see some more cargo flying, but that tends to go senior..

the short answer is no. Both candidates are saying the same thing. No changes based on what comes out of their mouths.
WG

Really? I tend to disagree with you. Without getting into politics too much and based on what the both candidates have said in the past - if one of them wins there will be a "surge" of military ‘return flights’ - at least for a while. If the other side wins there won’t be any “military charter surge” but the back & forth flights will be going on for some time.

What am I missing?

If we pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, sure, there will be a reduction of AMC flying. However, there seems to be plenty of AMC flying for us that is not associated with our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With Iraq, it can go either way. However, with either candidate, it seems like we'll be in Afghanistan for quite some time.

The one thing that both have in common is that their lips are moving. That should be your first clue. There is nothing that makes me think I should believe what either has to say.
WG

There's a couple of things that you have to remember with the military side:

When we pull out (both canidates say they will, the difference is when), will the troops go back to the states or will they just deploy to another country?

Even if they do go back home, will we resume other smaller deployments?

Since a portion of the flying is being flown by the scheduled carriers, will their flying drop off first?

Historically the answer is yes to all three. World will have hard times when the war is over. The other thing to think about is how much business have we not done because of the war. We haven't flown the Hadj since 2001. I feel a swarma and a cold fruit juice in my future.

Just my humble opinion but I think there's enough stuff going on with Russia and Iran to keep the coals of war burning for sometime. The world isn't getting any less dangerous.