Well, I'd say if you're in the vul window for an IA, start picking the brain of whoever's the mover and shaker (detailer, XO, whatever) for your community. If they think you're likely to get one, pick your grenade and jump on it. I put my hand up for a six-month Jabooty tour...it's hot and boring here, but I'll take boring over the brand of "exciting" you get in Baghdad any day. And there's beer here. I know of others who have gone to Tampa-stan and Abu Dhabi.
What I'm hearing from Millington is that the new IA process (or GSA, or whatever the hell they're calling it) is still a work in progress. They're trying to transition to the new way of doing it, to roll through your IA on the way to shore duty instead of getting yanked from shore. If you're privy to the new issue of "The Hook," there's a blurb in there by CAG Guad (now admiral-select Guad) about how they're doing it. There's lots of "Phase II," "IOC" Powerpoint-worthy acronyms, but bottom line is, they still have to fill billets until the new way's fully up and running, and until then they're still doing it the old way.
My favorite amusement back in P'cola was all these bright-eyed ensigns asking if they could go IA while they're in A-Pool, "because it would help my career, sir". You could practically see all the Black Hawk Down fantasies of gunslinging around Iraq and adorning their manly chests with combat bling dancing in their little brains. Ensigns...
