Yeah they do take a while, but I guess it determines if we have what they are looking for, and they sometimes match up our answers to what our refs say about us. But it is thorough these days.
Salary, I have no idea, we were only given a rough estimate, but thats for LH intl.
I'd say it would most prob. be around the $38K mark. They tell you at the AD you attend, and tell people who have mortgages etc if they cant live off the base they pay, they should think about going further, thats what they told us.