Air Force offers follow-on program for airmen with short tours

Airmen who were selected for a dependent-restricted short tour can apply for the follow-on assignment program, according to an Air Force news release.

If selected for one of these tours as a second or later assignment, airmen can use the program to exchange permanent change-of-station allowances for advance assignment consideration of a stateside assignment, the release said.

The Defense Department-designed program aims to give service members family stability and decrease PCS costs.

When airmen choose realistic locations based on authorizations that exist at the desired follow-on locations, the Air Force Personnel Center has been successful at giving them the options they want, according to the release.

“The Air Force has a placement rate of 70.8 percent for follow-on assignments for the enlisted force in 2017,” said Chief Master Sgt. Jennifer Holton, superintendent of the Support Career Management branch at AFPC, in the release.

If an airman chooses the follow-on option, their family can stay at their current stateside location or choose to move to their follow-on stateside location. It gives the family the choice either to stay in their current location for another year or move to the new location a year or more in advance.

“Instead of moving a family from say, Shaw [Air Force Base, South Carolina] to Mom’s place in Boston for a year, and then to Tinker [AFB, Oklahoma] and paying for two moves, the family can stay at Shaw or go early to Tinker] while the Airman is away on the short tour,” said Bill Houston of the personnel center’s assignments policy and procedures branch, in the release.

However, if the family moves to any location other than the follow-on assignment at the expense of the Air Force, it invalidates the follow-on assignment. Airmen must agree ahead of time to not use PCS allowances to move anywhere other than the follow-on location.

For more information, visit myPers, select “Any” from the dropdown menu and search “Follow-On.”

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