notjustamilitarywife

There have been a few TDYs in my husband’s 2 years of service that have worked out in our favor- where we’ve come away with a little extra cash.  More often than not, however, we’ve just broken even, or even put out more than the Air Force covers.  I’m sure non-military people think we’re spoiled for “making money” off a TDY even occasionally.  But really, I think the Air Force is pretty much always on the winning side of the transaction.

On my husband’s most recent TDY (just over 3 weeks at survival training) his original orders actually authorized a total TDY pay of $85 LESS than the cost of his airplane ticket, shuttle ticket, and lodging (before even taking into account his food costs).  Luckily he was able to get them to amend the orders, so we end up breaking even with food factored in- but the $200+  we had to spend on supplies for the field, we’ll never see again.

We’ve had friends that have walked away from long term TDYs with thousands of extra dollars, but I don’t see us ever getting one of those assignments.  Anyways, you can’t put a price on spending time with your spouse- even the most lucrative of TDYs means separation!

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