[MikeD]

So talking with the "man" today at training day, here is the current state of affairs according to him.

Apparently, on the overhire thing, 144 total people were being considered to be hired. Of those, 50 were AIAs, the rest being AEO/MIA/MEO/Admin/etc. Of the 144, there were 38 who were "fully vetted", ie- they had BIs in the works or complete and also were slotted and informed of where they were going to be assigned. Of those 38, 28 will likely be picked up early in the fiscal year......likely Oct/Nov timeframe. The remaining ones are in an unknown status for now, but there's no budget money for hiring, nor is there money for replacing those lost, for example, due to retirements. Too many were hired for now, and the budget needs to catch up. Also, by Congressional mandate, the majority of those hired must be sent to the northern border branches.

Lousy info I know, but there's so much in flux. There's next to no $$ available for facilities improvements, and many Branch's have far outgrown their facilities. Many of the former BP branch's have facilities that are lousy conditions-wise. So money is very short for personnel hiring, for infrastructure; but it's been allocated already for M-model H-60s that we really don't need, since A/L models would suffice. But, that's the nature of government, I guess.

Hope that helps.