Not sure what you`re driving at.. the space-A flight opportunities out of Lajes were great.
I’m not talking Space-A..(although I spent four days in Taipei trying to get a ride to Kadena watching officers with kids going to a swim meet on Okinawa and others with special privileges getting preference).
I was talking about the morale flights. To Germany, to Italy, to Canary Islands, etc. They had a base plane (an old C-54) that would go on ‘training flights’ loaded with “moralees”....needed to be on a waiting list....guess who got to go? Why those lifers that were there on 5-10 year terms with their wives and kids. A poor airman there for 12-15 months never had a chance to move up on the list.
It was a chief reason why I never went lifer, even though serving over 8 years. Enlisted and Officers with dependents were treated much much better than singles (e.g., a single Tech Sergeant got 400lbs whole baggage allowance, ‘families’ got TONS).
I got smart, got out and went to college. I make much much more now and pay in state taxes than I EVER made in a year in the military.