Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Upcoming deployments?

Well, it appears that I may be doing some more. . . travelling. Not sure, and everything - as always - is subject to change, but I will probably be doing more in the next year.

First off - I know I'm going to Squadron Officer's School (SOS). In the USAF, we refer to this as PME - or Professional Military Education. SOS is the next PME course I need to qualify for my next promotion - which is Major. The course is coming up in April 09, for 5 weeks. I'll be in Mobile, Alabama. I hear the course is pretty good - focusing on leadership and military values & what not.

After that. . . well, lets see. We have some new requirements for the 33S3 AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) - including A+ certification, Security+ certification, and Network+ certification. Apparently the Air Force wants to get its comm leaders up to shape with the rest of the US - in terms of qualifications. No worries. The first course - A+ - will be the week prior to going to SOS, so I'll just take 6 weeks off of my civilian job.

Following this, I hope to make Major sometime later this year. Federal recognition can sometimes take a bit. I have my first "board" - which is basically a review of my paperwork, to see if I qualify or not - along with any recommendations by my Squadron and Wing Commanders - happens while I'm in SOS. Completing SOS is the only square I have to fill - so I'm hoping they let it pass, with a caveat that I graduate the course.

My next deployment - well, I'm not certain yet, and there are a few options. I know we have Network+ and Security+ to complete later this year. We also have Unit Compliance Inspection (UCI) later this year. Fun, indeed.

With Iraq beginning to tone down - and with the Presidents new objectives of cease of ops by July - and gearing up in Afghanistan - the pressure is on for the Guard. We'll be providing more support - and folks will be deploying more.

We'll just have to see how that pans out. I'll keep updating. . .