March 2, 2018: Two-cycle officer assignment system means more time for Airmen, families to make career decisions

(U.S. Air Force graphic by Staff Sgt. Alexx Pons)

Release No: 025
March 2, 2018

Two-cycle officer assignment system means more time for Airmen, families to make career decisions

By Kat Bailey
Air Force’s Personnel Center Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas – In a move toward a more efficient and transparent process, the Air Force’s Personnel Center is transitioning the Air Force Officer Assignment System from three to two cycles. This modification will allow more time for interaction and communication between officers, billet owners, commanders and assignment teams. 

Fifty subject-matter experts from a cross section of all officer Air Force Specialty Codes collaborated to develop the two-cycle assignment timeline, which provides important benefits to both Airmen and commanders, said Maj. Derek Rankin, Assignment Programs deputy branch chief at AFPC. 

“The transition will not change the assignment process, but it will expand the assignment advertisement windows to the field and increase the amount of advanced notification officers and their families receive prior to their moves,” Rankin said. “With expanded windows of assignment advertising, Airmen now have more time and a wider spectrum of visibility to make decisions that impact both their family lives and careers.” 

Additionally, commanders and billet owners will see the reduction of one vulnerable-mover-list, lessening their workload and increasing the time for assignment discussions with Airmen throughout the cycles. However, AFPC will still move the same number of Airmen as required throughout the year.   

The optimized two-cycle system is comprised of a "Summer – report dates in June through September" cycle and a "Winter – report dates in October through May” cycle.

According to Rankin, the two-cycle assignment system will commence with the Winter “transition cycle" this month to establish the two-cycle time-line. Once AFPC gets to a steady state for two cycles, the following year’s Winter cycle will begin each February. 

For more information on the assignment process, visit the active duty Officer Assignments page on myPers from a CAC-enabled computer, or select “Active Duty Officer” from the myPers dropdown menu and search “Officer Assignment.” 

For more information about Air Force personnel programs, visit myPers. Eligible individuals who do not have a myPers account can request one by following these instructions.

 The Air Force Officer Assignment System modification from three assignment cycles to two will allow more time for Airmen to make decisions that affect their family lives and careers. The two-cycle assignment system commences this month. (U.S. Air Force graphic by Staff Sgt. Alexx Pons)

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