the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

BE ADVISED: This is a less-than-exciting lament about what the military is or isn't doing with me--who knows?--at the moment. If you seek humor or entertainment, this probably isn't the post for you.

It seems that my bid for an extra year in Izmir was acceptable to everyone involved except for the person at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB whose job it is to look out for my career against all odds and despite my insistence that I don't want my career taken care of, thank you very much.

I'm due to cycle out of here March of 2012, but I requested an extra year here. My request was approved by my senior national representative (and his play is backed by the current Combined Forces Air Component Commander, Lt Gen Jodice) and has the support of Col H back at the Academy who is supposed to get me next.* I'm going for two years in order to make myself decently competitive for lieutenant colonel while ensuring that I'm left plenty of time to "thank" the Academy for my second master's degree. (I have less than five years until retirement at this point, you understand.)

* There's a requirement in the regulation dealing with advanced academic degrees that I return to teach--that is, to pay back time for my degree--within two tours of receiving it. Thus, since I'm not teaching now, my next tour is supposed to be back at the Academy.

It seems that my functional--the person at AFPC who is taking care of my career--has decided that I need to leave here after one year in order to serve two years at a MAJCOM (major command) before going back to teach. On one hand, the two together are technically two tours, but the timeframe is still less than or equal to a regular tour (which is 3-4 years). Also, the move will make me a very good, possibly even excellent, candidate for promotion, which means that I'll be left with plenty of time to pay back the Academy for the degree, anyway.* On the other hand, there's that technicality in the regulation and the chance that I wouldn't make the rank, which would cheat the Academy of a trained instructor too soon.

* If I make lieutenant colonel, I'll be active duty more than 20 years. There is a service commitment involved in accepting a higher rank at this level.

After my senior national representative pushed my functional for a while, he received the following explanation for the rejection of my request for the additional year here:

“Maj Black is in a critical year group period to fill priority requirements.  Due to RIF/VSP/etc. our career field was only able to fill 130 of 400 vacancies during the fall 2011 PCS cycle.  That is woefully below average and subsequently has left us with major deficits in priority organizations.

In concert, her current billet is not only a priority fill but one that is needed for career field development requirements.  It is one of a small remaining number of PCS (vice TDY) short tours that initiate joint time for our FGOs, in addition to the job opportunities involved with it.

She is also in need of additional professional development to comply with recent developmental team vectors (e.g. MAJCOM experience) for her career, prior to returning to USAFA.  She was sent to Turkey for one year in part to allow for one 2-year assignment afterwards to continue to round out her development (and fill other critical AFSC needs) prior to returning to USAFA in 2014. “

Say what?! Critical year group? Let's review....

Remember that Voluntary Separation Pay I was offered three times and the Reduction In Force nonsense I faced in '07? My year group and career field was the single FATTEST of all the year group/fields. THE SINGLE FATTEST, and by a wide margin. It was so fat that they couldn't even come close to kicking out enough people with the VSPs and RIFs combined to bring us down to the end numbers that Congress demanded.

Suddenly, we're seriously undermanned? When did that happen? Did hundreds of my colleagues get the giant boot while I was in school and not paying attention to anything unrelated to Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes, or Walt Whitman?

Second, I'm filling a priority slot. Apparently, this is a tremendously sweet slot for promotion purposes, as it "initiates joint time." This is distinct from "fulfilling joint requirement," note. To get the joint credit, I have to do at least 22 months in a joint billet. Were I to stay here two years, I'd get that (which would make me very competitive for promotion). However, I'm taking up space another FGO (field grade officer) needs to get his/her "initial joint time."

And at what point were they going to tell me (or us, for that matter) that they had planned not one but two intervening operational tours for me all along, regardless of what the regulation says?

So I've passed this information along to Col H, who is fighting the good fight. I've also kept Mich up-to-date with developments along this vein, and we've both kinda ceased to care what happens next with my assignments. It's quite exhausting trying to fight the bureaucracy (I can't help but think of Kafka's The Trial). Plus, we've decided that Mich will join me no matter where I go from here.

And if I have to go to a MAJCOM, please lord, let it be Ramstein, Hickam, or Peterson.

But I'll leave it for those of rank to decide at this point. I'm tired of it. I'm just going to focus on my work here and let the cards fall where they may.

Another variable in this deal is my on-again off-again medical board.

Last week, I got my official notification that the Air Force has finally recognized that I'm on permanent profile. In civilian, that means I'm permanently exempt from certain activities; in my case, running. When they recognize this officially, they initiate a medical evaluation board, or MEB. The purpose of the MEB is to determine if you're fit for continued active duty and if you aren't, how to dispose of you (I mean, um, what your disposition is). I've been waiting for my MEB to be initiated for almost three years. They're supposed to do it within the first year of a permanent profile. They're a bit behind the curve on this one.

The paperwork said I can't go TDY (temporary duty yonder) without the permission of the primary care manager (a fancy way of saying "your personal doctor"; mine is in Incirlik). It also said I cannot be required to walk more than .9 miles. This means I am exempt from doing the aerobic portion of my fitness test, too.

Life in NATO, Izmir, is filled with TDYs, so this was looking bad. That's where you are involved. It's hard to be involved with current ops (at the moment) when you're physically in Izmir. But to add insult to injury, they said I can't do the aerobic portion of my fitness test, which is bad news if I'm facing a medical board. I want them to know I'm fit for duty, of course. (If they were to decide I wasn't, for some strange reason--not an outcome I fear, by the way--they'd have to medically retire me or give me a severance package and I'd end up with VA disability funds until I ceased to be. I'd rather just serve my time and retire honorably, thanks.)

I wrote to my unknown doc in Incirlik asking about the limit on my walking distance. I routinely walk over five miles a day (My roundtrip to work is 4.5, then I walk all day, as well). I also asked the medical dude here (not a doc, not a PA, but an odd animal who serves as a stand-in deployed physician of sorts) whether I could go on the TDY I'm scheduled for next week. Between the two, I got official approval to go on this TDY and a rewritten form that said I am not being medically boarded after all.

This means I still don't do that portion of my test, but I can go TDY to my heart's content. Basically, my MEB is being postponed until I'm stationed elsewhere. I think. And that's ok with me. It's just a silly formality, as far as I'm concerned.

So there it is, not in a nutshell: Diana's current career prospects.

The next few months should be interesting. I look forward to the adventure that next lies in store for us.

d