Tempo bands set for medics, security forces

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Predictable deployments
Know how long you’ll be home between...


Tempo bands set for medics, security forces
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 17, 2008 6:00:37 EST

More than a dozen career fields have been assigned tempo bands. That means airmen in high-demand jobs such as security forces, explosive ordnance disposal and medicine, for example, can predict how long they will deploy and how long they will be home between deployments.

Under the old system, airmen sometimes found their deployments extended from four months to six months as the service filled manpower gaps. The tempo band system should end that practice, said Col. J.R. Reid, chief of the War and Mobilization Planning and Policy Division at the Air Staff.

The Air Force is now turning its attention to jobs that deploy less frequently, Reid said. Those bands should be set by the end of January.

“Every airman will be able to see when they are vulnerable,” Reid said.

The old standard Air Force Expeditionary schedule called for all airmen to deploy for four months once every 20 months. The five tempo band schedules range from deploying six months every year to four months out of every 20 months. They also better reflect what airmen are doing now.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/11/airforce_tempo_bands_111708w/%2e