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Overseas Journeys

Air Squire

Air Squire

Live Free or Die
If a person were stationed overseas and brought his/her family with them, how easy is it to fly the family back to visit relatives? I've read that military can hitch rides in aircrafts on a space available basis. Does that cost anything? And how easy is it to catch one of those rides? Anyone have experiences similar to this sort of situation?
 
Yes, space-a is a great deal because you can get an overseas flight for free. The catch is that sometimes there aren't enough seats and that you can get bumped for a higher priority.

I've done it several times, if you've got free time it's a great way to travel. Ended up flying all over Europe for free as I just showed up and picked the next plane, didn't care where, just as long as I got a seat.

Here's an excellent site that describes everything a whole lot better than I can. http://www.spacea.net/
 
Hm, looks fun...so let me propose a hypothetical scenario, y'all let me know if this is feasible:

Suppose you just graduated OCS, got commissioned, got orders down to Pcola, and you probably have a couple months (?) before you class up for IFS. Time for a tour of Europe? (Or Brazil?) Think I would be running the risk of not being able to get back in time?
 
red_ryder said:
Hm, looks fun...so let me propose a hypothetical scenario, y'all let me know if this is feasible:

Suppose you just graduated OCS, got commissioned, got orders down to Pcola, and you probably have a couple months (?) before you class up for IFS. Time for a tour of Europe? (Or Brazil?) Think I would be running the risk of not being able to get back in time?
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A possibility. I went to Taiwan for a couple of weeks while in A-pool waiting for API. It depends on a couple of things, 1), is the U.S. 'friendly' with the place you want to go and 2) how well your OCONUS packet is put together and how much do you stay on top of it
 
Mustang83 said:
A possibility. I went to Taiwan for a couple of weeks while in A-pool waiting for API. It depends on a couple of things, 1), is the U.S. 'friendly' with the place you want to go and 2) how well your OCONUS packet is put together and how much do you stay on top of it
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Another thing to ponder is how many days of leave you want to burn. Will this put you in the hole? Unless your a prior I doubt many Ensigns will have enough leave on the books to accommodate such a trip. This is assuming priors E's can even transfer our accumulated leave to the Officer ranks for I've never researched it.
 
The other thing to consider, is can you afford to purchase a return plane ticket if need be. It would suck to be staring down the barrel of a report date, and continually get bumped off a space-a flight. It can happen.

Active duty can also use space-a for CONUS flights, just not dependents...
 
Mustang83 said:
2) how well your OCONUS packet is put together and how much do you stay on top of it
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I'm curious about this point. If you are on active duty and go on leave, do you need to request permission to travel OCONUS? For example, if you wanted to take a week and travel to Thailand, you would need to receive CoC approval? Is this ever denied?

I've been on active duty before, but never traveled OCONUS during that time other then on official orders, so I haven't dealt with this before.

Thanks for any clarification anyone can provide.
 
joshmf said:
I'm curious about this point. If you are on active duty and go on leave, do you need to request permission to travel OCONUS? For example, if you wanted to take a week and travel to Thailand, you would need to receive CoC approval? Is this ever denied?
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It doesn't generally get denied, but if you request to go to someplace like Cuba, it probably would be. Mainly it's a country brief from the S-2, followed by a quick debrief upon your return. It's painless.
 
joshmf said:
I'm curious about this point. If you are on active duty and go on leave, do you need to request permission to travel OCONUS? For example, if you wanted to take a week and travel to Thailand, you would need to receive CoC approval? Is this ever denied?

I've been on active duty before, but never traveled OCONUS during that time other then on official orders, so I haven't dealt with this before.

Thanks for any clarification anyone can provide.
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Yes you need CO's approval to travel OCONUS. If conducting that type of travel you have must notify your Command Security Officer of your intentions and be counseled and what not. I think there are even a couple NKO courses you must do prior to your leave also. My command makes you debrief the security officer upon your return. It takes a little more time and legwork to plan and travel OCONUS but can be easily done.

I've never personally seen leave denied for OCONUS unless you want to go someplace like Darfour. But when your on sea-duty leave is an entirely different animal. Needs of the Navy as the saying goes.

Edit: Phrog was quicker
 
Thank you both for the responses. I wasn't planning on summering in the DPRK, just curious how it works and if I'd be able go OCONUS while in.


So if I've been selected for Intel, I'll be doing my own S-2/ Security Officer briefs? That makes things easier ;).
 
joshmf said:
Thank you both for the responses. I wasn't planning on summering in the DPRK, just curious how it works and if I'd be able go OCONUS while in.


So if I've been selected for Intel, I'll be doing my own S-2/ Security Officer briefs? That makes things easier ;).
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There are some countries that require a country clearance as well. The PI is one such country. As a result, you have to lead the target much more to get the message out in time so you can then depart, which requires you to buy the tickets sooner, which...you get the idea. Not an easy task when sitting in a pool waiting to start. Not as big a deal once you're in the fleet.
 
Or you could have a little g-2 and Make your own "OCONUS Packet" then when talking to someone higher up you can sound halfway intelligent as you expound upon the minimal terrorist threat and maximal bikini content of your intended destination.

(I am only inferring what an "OCONUS Packet" is, so sorry if I am wrong, only time I have gone on leave overseas I just said "Hey Sir, me and SSgt XXXX want to head out to Japan on space-a and try and find another flight to Australia or something...")
 
gatordev said:
There are some countries that require a country clearance as well. The PI is one such country. As a result, you have to lead the target much more to get the message out in time so you can then depart, which requires you to buy the tickets sooner, which...you get the idea. Not an easy task when sitting in a pool waiting to start. Not as big a deal once you're in the fleet.
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Country clearances are for official travel only. DOD Foreign Clearance Guide www.fcg.pentagon.mil (might require a .mil address to connect).
 
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