What is a AEF indicator?

An AEF indicator is a number or letter assigned to military personnel so they know when they are eligable to be tasked for deployment. The Air Force has AEF cycles 1-10. Each number has a time frame associated with it so people can plan their lives around their "hot" period. The Air Force has also sarted a banding process. Im not quite sure how the AEF Banding process works. The one thing I do know is it determines based on job how long you will spend at home between deployments.