VTIP hopes

Now that I am officially "branch qualified," I've begun to wonder when I can put in my transfer packet to Foreign Area Officer.

Last year, the 2008 year group officers were eligible to transfer through the VTIP (Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program) that started in July 2014. This leads me to believe I'll be eligible (as a 2009YG guy) in the next VTIP sometime coming out late this summer.

Something that might prevent that is the officer separation board that will meet in September. During the last board they held, they locked out all the year groups in consideration from transferring. Once the dust had settled, they opened up the transfer options again. That might happen this time, too.

Another option is to stay logistics and take the next assignment, wherever that is. Ideally, it would be someplace both interesting (Japan, Hawaii, etc.) and career enhancing, but that's hardly ever how things work for me. And whenever I try to game things for my benefit, it works out waaaaaay differently than I'd predicted.

For example, I chose Transportation in the hopes of getting a wider variety of assignment choices (specifically, Korea). But it was either Fort Hood, Texas, or Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Sounded not very fun at first, but it worked out OK because I came back from my Afghanistan deployment unscathed, got Texas residency (no state income taxes), and an affordable house that's now just a couple years from getting paid off.

Another instance was when I tried to interview for an MCT back in March 2014 instead of waiting patiently for the HHC, 194th CSSB. In short, I got the HHC, 498th CSSB. [Wait a moment for that to set in.] But again, that worked out in the end. My wife likes living in Daegu better than in Pyeongtaek, and my kids have had the opportunity to do music, ballet, and komdo (kendo, 劍道) lessons.

So -- do I wait for the VTIP to make a decision, stay in the 16-02 cycle, or ask my branch to put me in the 16-01 cycle? I've decided on the last, with the potential option of doing the VTIP if it doesn't work out. We'll see how it goes.