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There's probably two dozen conferences rooms minimum all over that base. No one thought to sequester a wing of the lodging building for these families? We've been at war for 15 years, I hate to say this but we should be better at this.

Wait till you see the upskirts...

I'm 90% sure the J course is a PCS now. If not it's a long TDY that is "programmed" to be less than 179 days to prevent a HHG shipment. It will definitely take longer. You will be authorized 600lbs of HHG for the TDY and it will not be accompanied. Check the ABQ thread for housing locations. I stayed on base for the 8-month HH-60 MQT and loved it. A townhouse with rental furniture and cable/Internet for less than $60/day and a 10 minute drive to work.

The Reddit post had also been up on JQP's Facebook page. Has since been replaced by this:

And sure enough those of us with young kids know everyone in a flight suit is "Daddy". God bless those families and those that paid the ultimate price.

They landed at Dover about 2 hours ago. God bless their families.

Unsure of the TX course. I am a current HC-J CSO at moody who flew the old P models for a few years as well. Training is almost identical for HC and MC. Ops tempo including TDY and deployment is roughly 1-1 with deployments being in the 4-5 month range. The mission changes with AOR. Mission was CASEVAC in Afganistan, and rescue alert elsewhere. In some AOR's it is easy to feel under utilized because they are primarily SOF. When the SOF guys do a high risk op, they usually have a SOF backup plan if it goes south leaving rescue as the backup to the backup, but we do get alerted and launched for pop up issues (i did one such mission on my last deployment, we were even the RV, left the helo's at home). In that AOR we also flew some overflow trash hauling missions since the single slick was not enough, and some overflow SOF infil/exfil/resupply since they often needed more airlift than they had. In more conventional AOR's that involve more fighter and bomber missions we pull airborne or ground alert for those guys as the primary rescue force. As far as flying opportunities, we honestly get less hours than the MC guys especially since there is a lot of alert time while deployed. At home, it seems the typical schedule will be 7x 5hr sorties per week, which should translate to 1-2 flights per week for most. As for job satisfaction, it depends greatly on your personality. If your satisfaction comes from being the center of the action and racking up hours, the HC may not be for you. For me the job satisfaction in this community comes from knowing that your presence makes all our guys safer, flying a highly rewarding mission that only occurs occasionally is needed, etc... I really enjoy the launch and have to plan the whole mission on the fly aspect as well. It does take a certain mentality to really love rescue. Valdosta, imho, is not bad. We are easy weekend trips from many awesome places, there are a few good restaurants and bars in town, the locals are very pro military, but it is definitely country living (pro or con depending on personal preference). If you are into cars there are plenty of activities from off road to autocross to drag racing, a few good gun clubs if you are into shooting, plenty of hunting opportunities. Morale at the squadron seems to be steadily improving. It seems that a combo of more utilization, many of the bitter types getting out/moving, and the new J capes are having a very positive effect on the community. It does seem that we are trending towards being more involved/utilized and getting more hours.

Rog. Well, look around man. General rule of thumb is don't live anywhere south of Zuni just outside the base. SE of the base near Eubank and Juan Tabo can be a decent exception to that rule. In ABQ, find a decent place, in a nice area, and be willing to spend a little extra to keep you, your wife, and your belongings safe. Also, if you don't have one, get a gun and learn how to use it...a good rule for wherever you live IMHO.