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Q. Doesn't the government pay for deployed troops to fly home? A. Yes. As of early 2005, Congress passed legislation to fully fund the cost of airfare for those troops deployed to Iraq & Afghanistan when they come home for their mid-tour R&R. This was a good thing! But we still have troops who have either just come back from deployment, or plan on being deployed in spring of 2006, but can't afford to be with their families for the holidays this year. Those are the main people we focus on, in addition to the "everyday troops" who are stationed in various non-hostile zones throughout the country. Q. Can't military personnel fly for free on military planes? A. Space-Available travel (or Space-A for short) is a program started way back in the 1970's when the military had lots of open bases around the country and around the globe. Each day hundreds of flights with thousands of seats were flying virtually everywhere. But during the 1990's 60% of the military bases in the United States were closed, along with 50% of our overseas bases. To compound matters, fundings for training is the first to go after budget cuts, that means training flights are one of the first "luxuries" to disappear, and with them all the extra seats that would be available to space-a travellers. So now we have less seats on less flights, and those travelling on official business or those on emergency leave are given the highest priority. The lowly (and lesser paid) enlisted personnel trying to visit their familes will be prioritized last, even though they're the ones that can least afford to purchase a commercial plane ticket. So yes, while a recruiter will gladly tell you you can fly anywhere for free, realisticially it's just not a viable option for our younger troops.
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