I don't even ask if you were passed over. Only know if you tell me. Mainly only care if you have a clean record and you check out thru bro network/guys in the squadron like you.
I didn't see any mention of the utilities allowance that overseas members receive in addition to the capped OHA rate.
Either way, I agree that the only people that will eventually benefit from this are the owners of all the "Eagles Landing", "Pilots Cove", and "Base Vista" apartment complexes out there.
Could I outsource all of my OPRs, award packages, staff meeting slides, and decs to India for $5k a year? Could 10 pilots pool money together to pay for someone to sit Top 3 every day?
I'm with Pawnman - don't care where you're at for 6 months, if you're gone that long, you better be accomplishing something real. Gone 6 months for "training" makes the separation from family/home extra lame. I hope the B-1 bros don't have to do what the B-52 dudes did...which is "deploy" to Guam consistently for 6 months at a time. Guam is awesome in TDY doses, not for spending your third 6 month rotation at away from family.
A Crew Chief more eloquent than myself wrote this and has been making the rounds. I remember her as an love hate relationship scooping snow off her at K.I. Sawyer.