Air Force officials are releasing the enlisted quarterly assignment listing, or EQUAL, on Oct. 22 for the July to September 2013 overseas assignment cycle.

Enlisted Airmen must update their assignment preferences by Nov. 1 and they will be notified of their assignment selections by Nov. 16.

"We are accelerating the release of the EQUAL list to allow us time to complete the overseas assignment cycle before the Military Personnel Data System upgrade in December," said Michael Kiel, Air Force Personnel Center integrated assignment, applications and training chief. "If Airmen do not update their assignment preferences by Nov. 1, they will not be considered as volunteers for the overseas assignments advertised on EQUAL."

EQUAL posts upcoming assignments by Air Force Specialty Code and rank. Airmen are instructed to review, prioritize and list their assignment preferences based on the EQUAL list. Airmen can update their assignment preferences on the virtual Military Personnel Flight application and view the EQUAL list on the myPers website at http://mypers.af.mil. Active duty Airmen on temporary duty during the EQUAL advertising period can contact their nearest personnel support office for assistance.

The Air Force is upgrading and transferring MilPDS to the Defense Information Systems Agency's Defense Enterprise Computing Center, and the upgrade project is scheduled to take about 23 days to complete. During this period, MilPDS will not be available.

MilPDS is the primary records database for personnel data and actions that occur throughout every total force Airman's career. MilPDS is also used to initiate Airman pay actions, maintain Air Force accountability and strength data, and support a host of interactions with other Air Force processes and systems that rely on personnel data.

Reserve and Guard members will receive specific instructions from the Air Force Reserve Command and Air Reserve Personnel Center concerning how the MilPDS upgrade will impact their personnel programs. More information is available on the ARPC public website at http://www.arpc.afrc.af.mil.  

Officials will continue to release additional information and guidance to the Air Force's manpower, personnel, services and pay communities and total force Airmen to continue to educate them on how the service will perform critical personnel and pay tasks during the MilPDS upgrade.

For more information about the EQUAL list or MilPDS upgrade, visit the myPers website at http://mypers.af.mil.