This holiday season, the Air Force has “separated” (that is, fired) 157 officers on the eve of their retirement, including pilots flying dangerous missions, to avoid paying their pensions. According to Department of Defense Instructions, those within six years of their 20-year retirement (with no disciplinary blemishes on their record) have the option to remain in service. Nevertheless, the Air Force is committing terminations of airmen a few years away from retirement en masse, citing budget constraints…
Maj. Kale Mosley is one example. He is an Air Force Academy graduate and a pilot who has flown more than 250 combat missions. He deployed to Libya this summer with 30 hours notice. When he returned, the military immediately sent him to Iraq. Just as he was boarding the plane for Iraq, the Air Force gave him his walking papers, effective Nov. 30. Maj. Mosley will not receive a pension or long-term health-care benefits for his family. He is the father of a toddler and a newborn…
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently testified before Congress about potential changes to the Military Retirement System. He said: “We’ve made a promise to people who are on duty that we’re going to provide a certain level of retirement. . . . These people have been deployed time and time again. They’ve put their lives on the line on the battlefield. And we’re not going to pull the rug out from under them. We’re going to stand by the promise that was made for them.”
And Happy New Year!
Lovely. Just lovely. Have ANY of these political twits studied history? The one certain way to trigger a coup is to fail to pay the troops. Including retirement benefits.
The attitude that drove Head of California’s State Assembly Jesse “Big Daddy” Unruh to once pronounce on lobbyists is obviously equally applicable to the mentality of bean-counters in the USAF and elsewhere in Govt: “If you can’t eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women, then vote against them, you have no business being up here.” (in Sacramento, the State Cap.) Jesse would be proud, PROUD of his present-day USAF/DOD/Pentagon fellow bureaucratic philosophiles..
This makes my stomach hurt.
Is there such a thing as breech of contract when retirement from the service is involved?
Breech of Honor? Yes
Breech of Contract -not so much I’m afraid.
…agreed the periodic military RIFs, we have all come to know and love, would appear to militate against a breach of contract action by the service member against the service…the needs of the service being the overriding concern and all…
…that said the optics here clearly fail to pass the smell. Best
That Major has been punked like a prison b*&^h. It’s not right to do this to someone who upheld their end of a serious bargain.
Sorry for the rotten analogy, but I really hate to read about injustice.
Unacceptable and major bravo sierra. It’s like welcome home and here’s the door. But are we surprised by this Administration? They’ve attacked the military on every level from cutting sports programs at the Merchant Marine Academy to prosecuting the Navy Seals whenever they can.
This is a complete travesty. In World War II, 100 missions got you a free trip home. This Air Force pilot did that twice over and was halfway into another 100 combat missions. Disgraceful, but to be expected from an administration more worried with “the optics” of Solyndra’s failure, various grievance schemes and re-election by any means necessary than a military it openly despises.
God help us.
The mission count depended on the unit. It started at 25 in the 8th AF and rose to 35 by the end of WW2 for the bomber crews. I think it might have been 100 in the TACs, but can’t remember for sure.
For it’s “Tommy this” and “Tommy that”
and “chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Thin red line of heroes”
When the guns begin to shoot…
Well, it sucks, but anyone who remembers the Army’s mass RIFs in the 1990s should realize this isn’t anything new.
The author mentions the early retirement option that the services could exercise, although most didn’t because it was a planning fiasco. When someone like Uncle Lex retires, the service is obligated to transfer funds equal to some forecaster’s estimate of his lifetime pension expense. Having guys at fifteen or seventeen years suddenly raise their hands and say, I’m outta here, caused substantial unplanned manpower funding bites when no one expected to pay even the reduced retirement on them for a few more years.
As for the AF pilots in question, there is absolutely no information here as to their requirements or time in service or time in grade. Sending home guys who fly obsolete aircraft or excess as squadrons are drawn down is just common sense if you’re fully manned everywhere else. Like anyone else, they can transition to the reserves (which is the Air Force’s favorite way of hiding manpower, mobilized reserves, which they do not declare as active duty, unlike the other services, and which they have historically padded by putting two mobilized reservists in one billet) until they make their sanctuary and then, as a reservist, start drawing active duty retirement right away. Or do the regular reservist thing and start drawing a pretty good retirement at 62, with all the medical and other privileges in the meantime.
There are no guarantees from the armed forces, ever. Like any industry or bureaucracy, it has needs of its own, and despite all the flowery rhetoric about service and loyalty, soldiers and sailors may have it for one another, but the system has none. All of you who are drawing retirement see it stolen by COLAs that don’t come close to matching real inflation, or like my father saw in the 1970s and 1980s, delayed COLAs so that the real value of the retirement was chopped to a fraction of what it was the day he retired.
Zane/
See Spazs’ comments, below. The wx has GOT to be better than rural East Anglia (I know, I’ve been to both places.) Surely they need good intel types, if only to keep track of the boat people from Indonesia and Malaysia..lol
I now work in a Company who has always made employment an “at will relationship”. Getting fired sucks, but having the ability to leave on your own is the quid pro quo that tends to keep both sides honest. The present Mil employment relationship is somewhat less than that.
If the MIL had a UNION and they voted primarity Democratic – I kinda doubt this would happen.
Unions voting Democratic is as axiomatic as Blacks (sorry, no A-A for me) voting Democratic. It just is a given, with very few exceptions.
Lighten up, guys. don’t you understand that this Administration has much more important priorities? After all, we have to make space for all those Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered folks who want to serve.
And we need money to pay for all that “free” medical care for illegals – sorry, I meant undocumented potential Democratic voters.
If you would just pay attention you would understand that we don’t really need that entire military anymore. If we would just apologize to all those innocent, peace loving Moslems, and stop antagonizing wonderful people like the Russians and the Chinese we could do away entirely with the military and we could all just sing Kumbaya.
And then we could really focus on the real problems that face us, like some people having way too much money which ought to be shared with all those unfortunates who won’t – I meant to say “can’t” find a job. I mean, after all don’t you think that unemployment benefits should go on for a lot longer than two, or three years?
Lies from Barry the Bozo who has nothing but contempt for those who served….He demonstrated that contempt for years and this is his manner of making sure they know how he feels about Veterans….shallow b@stard.
Perhaps too late for some but youse oughtta ‘come on down’ (to the land down under):
Australia looks overseas for defence staff December 27, 2011:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-looks-overseas-for-defence-staff-20111227-1par2.html
“The Australian Defence Force is trying to recruit laid-off soldiers, sailors and air crew from Britain, the US and other western countries in order to fill recruitment quotas.
Australia is reportedly looking for defence specialists, such as fighter pilots, submarine crews and officers and are offering fast-tracked citizenship as an incentive, The Australian reported on Tuesday….”
Got any work in Perth or Hobart?
I hear tell the Aussies have a few bugs in their inventory….training curve will be a shallow grade, eh?
There is an RAN base at Garden Island West (Garden Island East is adjacent the Opry House, Sydney) with all RAN Helos (with soon to be ROMEOS) at NAS Nowra, NSW) and in WA:
http://www.airforce.gov.au/bases/pearce.aspx
Hobart? ‘I got nothing’ as youse say. Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race finished today. Good enough?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australian-military-seeks-uk-soldiers-facing-redundancy-6282187.html
“…Many engineers have been lured away from the Australian military by the mining industry, which offers better pay and conditions. The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, said yesterday that industry recruiters waited at the docks with job offers for disembarking navy personnel – a neat reversal of the old press-gang tradition, as one Australian newspaper noted yesterday.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is also looking to the US, Canada and New Zealand as potential recruiting grounds, and will reportedly offer those joining from overseas the guarantee of an Australian passport within three months of them being granted permanent residency. Usually permanent residents have to wait two years before applying for citizenship.
Special forces officers, fighter pilots and submarine crews are among the specialised personnel sought by the country’s three services….”
Talk to me about age limits…
Where were these guys 20-25 years ago? Best
http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/recruitmentCentre/canIJoin/ageAndGender/
Maximum Age
“As a general rule, the maximum recruitment age for the Navy, Army or Air Force is three to six years before the Compulsory Retiring Age (CRA), depending on the length of the Initial Minimum Period of Service for the preferred avenue of entry.”
http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/recruitmentCentre/supportAndDownloads/FAQs/Requirements/#Howolddoyouhavetobetojoinuporwhatisthemaximumage
How old do you have to be to join up, or what is the maximum age?
The age limits for entry varies from 17 – 55 years. Specific age requirements are available on each job information page. As evidence of proof of age, all persons wishing to join the ADF must present an original or certified copy of their full birth certificate to their recruiting officer.”
What does Economic Age Limit mean?
The ADF has a set of specific entry age guidelines. These have been developed in response to employer Occupational Health and Safety duty of care responsibilities. There is a risk of injury during initial Military Training and evidence indicates the level of risk increases with age. The entry age guidelines also contribute to the ADF obtaining an economic return on the cost of its training investment, which must be recouped before members reach their compulsory retirement age (CRA) of 60 for full-time and 65 for part-time service.”
http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/recruitmentcentre/canIJoin/overseasApplicants/airforce.aspx
“The Royal Australian Air Force has a limited number of recruiting opportunities for overseas Fighter Pilots and Qualified Test Pilots with fixed wing multi-engined aircraft experience.
Application timings
Whilst Expressions of Interest (EOIs) can be submitted at any time, formal applications are normally reviewed around March of each year, for vacancies or targets that are anticipated during the following FY year. Candidates being considered for a vacancy must be available for enlistment on or before 30 June of the relevant FY….
…Additionally, applicants must make a written undertaking that they will apply for Australian Citizenship as soon as they are eligible (normally after three months service in the Permanent Air Force).”
RAAF Lateral Recruitment Cell
Email: raaf.lateralrecruitment@defence.gov.au
LEX – if you move to Australia you will most likely end up at RAAF Williamtown. There is potential to end up at Perth (2FTS or 79SQN) however I reckon your skills would see you living at Newcastle flying either Hawks or Hornets.
http://www.visitnewcastle.com.au/pages/must-do-experiences/
WillyTown and Amberley are East Coast RAAF Bases with Hornets and Supers respectively but… join the RAAF? Shudder. Perhaps a gig at Pearce as an RAN instructor pilot might be a possibility. RAN pilots train basic/advanced within the RAAF training system…. But then again…
Shudder. Perhaps the smell of paraffin will overcome any objections – VX’s nose knows.
http://www.airforce.gov.au/bases/williamtown.aspx
http://www.airforce.gov.au/bases/amberley.aspx
If you are worried about the Hobbit’s reaction to moving north, I can imagine your concern about moving her to Perth.
The blast wave may make to the mountains of WNC where I live.
I diverted into RAAF Pearce once. Good living…
If not the Australians, maybe the Chinese are looking for a few good men?
(heh)
Perth would be sweet. Buy a sailboat.
Par for the course….the “domestic” agenda is in it’s primacy….once more.
Will the last sane person in DC turn out the lights? Nope…they already left…
man, i hate to be the one to throw the contrary opinion out there (although Zane did take a stab at it)…
..BUT… the article did state that there was an option in there for folks within 6 years of making 20. so can we assume he is somewhere at <14 YOS??? supposing he's NOT got any prior enlisted service, and went straight to Zoomie U after high school, the guy is roughly 35 years old, and more than half way to a Federal retirement. put that in Reserve terminology, he's got 14 years worth of 365 points/year. a six year stint in Air National Guard will get him to a Reserve retirement. meanwhile, assuming he can translate all those current flight hours into a civilian gig at better than O-4 pay(not like THAT never happens, i'm not feeling OVERLY sorry for him (other than the whole "breach of faith" thing)…
I wonder how many Reserve or ANG slots there are. The Airlines were looking for people for awhile, but I haven’t paid any attention to that for about 4 years. Most of the ANG pilots I knew were Airline pilots as well.
The Army Guard is a bloodbath,at least in my neck of the woods. Anyone with a 20 year letter regardless of rank is being QRB’d and no one is safe , technician and AGR, M-day not so much, unless you are in an exclusive inner circle. TAG doesn’ t like full-timers in general from what I could tell.
Any excuse to pink slip. Retention my @$$, it is an elimination board.
Yeah, we’re into the QRB’s as well, even though we’re still on an aggressive deployment schedule. I wouldn’t call it a bloodbath, yet, but in aviation you need more full timers.
Depends on when one gets out, Ron. When I was in plt tng in 66 the airlines were taking guys with O-1 time; when I got out they sniffed at 2000-odd hrs of fighter time, “multi-engine, center-line thrust” ticket or no. All they were looking at were guys with 10,000hrs of Tanker time in much the same ac they’d be flying in the airlines as they had a huge surplus of candidates..
Yeah, Virgil, I remember a lot of the SAC guys having an advantage (not warranted IMO) over TAC guys because of the time they spent in the air. Back in the day at least.
Though I never got tired of watching the BUFF’s take off and land. Still, they took too much darned ammo, though we seldom had to off-load them when they got back. F-4′s were much more prudent.
Thanks for your service and don’t let the door knob hit you ……………
Can’t these guys sue for breach of contract ?
I’ve read the opposing viewpoints from Zane and RetRsvMike, but I can’t stop myself from comparing that to civilian service public union jobs such as prison guards in California retiring at 50 with 85%? pay and full medical and such. All the firefighters, teachers, and police who have excellent retirement packages – and are not having any rugs pulled out.
I have to ask where the love is. The entire active military is like 1% of the population at around 3 million right? Considering what they do and what their families endure, I have to call BS on any rugs being pulled out.
Not that the republicans are worth much, but over time it seems obvious that the democrat administrations are the main abusers of the military. Why would anyone sympathetic to or in the military ever vote democrat. Clinton decimated the military. I’ve read on other sites people saying that they wouldn’t have been able to get 24 helicopters in the air at the same time Army-wide during the Clinton administration.
Not to mention the huge fraud and theft accepted apparently by both administrations, Medicare, DOD, and all the other big money venues at like a 50% of the total level according to people testifying who would seem to know..
There was some selective reporting in this article. I can’t state authoritatively, but here is what I am pretty certain about:
These officers were O4s (Majors) who twice failed to select to O5. They were under eighteen years of service (if they were, they would be “sanctuary eligible”. If their first look for O5 was at the normal 16 yr. mark, then they should have reached sanctuary (16 + 2 years failure to select).
As i see it, their problems were caused by a too rapid AF selection process – which got them looked at for O5 too quickly. Certainly, when Congress set up the Officer Promotion Management Act, they intended that officers who made O4 would reach retirement – in normal circumstances. Were are transitioning to a peacetime military, so these aren’t normal circumstances. At the end of WW II, many officers were forced to become enlisted if they wished to stay. Not like we are forcing that on anyone.
These guys aren’t being kicked to the curb – they have many options. First is to move to the reserve component and become retirement eligible. Second, and possibly parallel, is to move to civil service and use their years of military service to gain civil service retirement eligibility on a year for year credit. Do they get money and almost free health care now? No, but they aren’t completely cut off. They are fairly young, and capable of making good contributions in a variety of fields. Not the vision they had, but not the end of the earth either.
The Navy has been conducting promotions from O4 to O5 at around the 14 year mark for several years now. Though it is beginning to string out the year groups in an attempt to once again return promotion to O5 to the 16 year mark. It does leave many guys I know wondering when the Navy will follow the Air Force model set forth in this article. We are all anticipating a RIF of some kind, we just don’t know when or how bad it will be.
With that said, the article doesn’t do a good job of identifying that this was a really small group of Officers who failed to do the requisite niceties necessary for promotion to O5 like Major Staff, JPME, Masters Degree, etc.
When I came up for O5, I met 10 out of the CNO’s published 11 criteria (didn’t have JPME, just a truckload of deployed joint time). What I didn’t have was tits, which apparently was the sole basis of selection for that entire year group, and somehow wasn’t covered in the CNO’s selection criteria.
SCOTT/
Officers retained as enlisted is more common in the USAF it seems. I met one officer Korean War vet as an enlisted Sr CMSGT with pilots wings in the 70s as well as knew of one sr 0-3 in a sister squadron in early 70s who was in process of electing that route as I was departing the Wing. I was shocked as he didn’t look that old–I would have never guessed he was that senior–nor did he seem that incompetent, rather he actually seemed (admittedly from afar–never flew w. him) one of the more seriously-minded, dedicated guys..
the real motto:
“Nothing is too good for the folks in uniform, but we have to give them something.”
There are 435 open jobs in the House of Representative every other year.
I would love to see every seat have a challenge from a retired/fired military person. Think of what could happen if we had 218 men or women like LTC (ret) Allen West in the House. And some actual combat vets in the Senate other than McCain (with a salute for his uniformed service but observing that his too-long congressional career expired long ago).
Lesson for all other military members, officer or enlisted:
The services no longer have any loyalty for you, or your family, and promises made may not be promises kept. Plan your careers accordingly and while your service and sacrifices have truly helped our country, our government can no longer be trusted to keep their promises. Jump when you have an opportunity that will help feed your family.
Lesson for retireees:
They are screwing everyone else, so our turn will be coming soon.
Of course, illegals, gays, and residents of the liberal welfare plantation will be exempt from any hardships. As long as they continue to vote Democrat.
As a retired reservist awaiting pay, I am nervous to see if I will ever recieve retirement pay. I think if you are drawing pay you are safe, but for those of us who are not….
i’m in the same boat right there with you bud….
don’t know if it will be there for us by the time we age ourselves up to it…. (and i got a rucksack chock FULL of active duty year retirement points)
+1 to all.
Well I’m just relieved that we’ll still have plenty of funds ($800 billion) to bailout Europe’s profligacy and plenty to provide foodstamps, cash aid, healthcare and housing subsidies to millions of lazy no-accounts and illegal aliens.
Yes, Obamacare ABSOLUTELY covers any and all illegal aliens as well as the 47% of this country that pays absolutely no income tax…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luo40WjBKWI
I swear every time I see this it just infuriates me more- and lest anyone think I’m just some idealogue dealing in abstractions I work deep in EastLos and this doesn’t begin to cover it.
Shameful.
The desire and result are to discourage the good.
Gotta cut overhead somewheres so we can sorta fund Obamacare.
Too bad they are not part of the UAW (or TSA). BHO would take care of them.
Troops, not so much.
Sorry, I’m not gonna feel too bad about a two-time non-select for O-5 being shown the door. And where was there a guarantee that you’d be allowed to serve 20 years? Didn’t see that on my enlistment contract…
If PTS is gonna hit sailors, dumping non-select MAJs from the AF isnt’ gonna upset me in the least.
We’ve been waiting impatiently for some of our smartest and best military guys to come home and run for and get some of the good freshman openings in the House and the Senate. I’d pray for major rejuvenation of my tired bones to help these folks like Alan West run for and capture a House or Senate seat. I could at least volunteer to be a proofreader.
Marianne
Damn right, Ron. The Obama administration bends over backwards to protect feather-bedded union jobs and pump billions into union coffers for make work projects, but screws the military as a matter of policy. These guys are getting passed over who are in flying billets instead of staff jobs or masters degrees. Shame on the Air Farce.
Anybody remember a book called The MonkeyWrench Gang by Abby Hoffman? The idea is that, while stoned and thinking your particular cause of saving the yellow-bellied sapsucker is oh so swell, the proper course of action is to sabotage the bulldozers and spike the trees. The Luddites, of course, spiked the means of production in order to stop the progress that eliminated their jobs.
Faced with change for the worse, people tend to want to strike out at those in power and the vehicles that put them there. They think such things justified, even laudable. Stick it to The Man and all that.
I don’t wish to seem paranoid, but the Navy has a problem here that the other services do not, and that is in the equipment costs and time to repair against a disgruntled employee. Forget the cost of an aircraft or a tank or even a missile, think of the cost of an aircraft carrier. Or a cruiser.
I’m sure better minds than mine have thought of this already and appropriate safeguards are in place, but if one person were to target the reduction gears with some iron filings, or somebody were to introduce some boron into a reactor during normal reactor chemistry cycles, you’d have a multi-billion-dollar waterfront hotel in short order instead of your preferred warship ready for sea. Sure, you can ensure the people in charge of those tasks are of the highest caliber and get the best deals, buying their support, but it’s only a matter of time before you find the sailor that couldn’t be bought. And the Navy has some critical parts buried deep that are hard to replace.
God help us if there’s a 35 year-old Commander with no family who figures three hots, a cot, and medical care at the hands of the taxpayer in prison is a better retirement than what he’ll get after 17 years in and forced retirement.
I’d normally consider these sorts of vexing questions to be something the government of Pakistan, or perhaps Byzantium, had to deal with. Apparently we now have to work such calculus for our own.
But hey, on the plus side that makes us more like others and less exceptional. So that’s good, right?
– Max
Not Abby Hoffman, Edward Abbey. And one of my favorite authors, bye the bye.
In World War II, 100 missions got you a free trip home. This Air Force pilot did that twice over and was halfway into another 100 combat missions.
I don’t know in which theater of WWII combat aviation 100 missions were a standard, but I do know that in the Eighth of the USAAF, flying bomber-stream missions in the B-17 and B-24 over Nazi-occupied Europe, as little as 25 missions earned you a ticket home.
However, you should consider that number in light of the following caveat. During the worst months of that air campaign, the absolutely overwhelming statistical odds were that if you did 25 missions, you were either (a) dead, or (b) an honored guest of a Stalag Luft camp.
I hate to see patriotic people, who have given it their all, being unceremoniously turfed out on the street without full benefits. But let’s speak bluntly for a moment. Comparing what military aviators have endured in the last two decades to the worst of what their predecessors had endured, is, frankly, insulting to those predecessors.
How many military aviators have been killed in combat in the course of the GWOT?
A number not distinguishable from the number of those who would have died in peacetime exercises on the same scale had the GWOT never happened. Which is itself not a huge number. There are plenty of civilian occupations with less benefits and less prestige that have comparable or larger levels of lethality risk per hours on duty.
We have not been fighting peer adversaries for many decades, when it comes to military aviation.
The loss figures reflect this.
And, ordinary civilians (remember them?) have been enduring crushing economic pain, with pension curtailments or total loss of pensions and benefits, during the same time period that we’re talking about.
I’d like to give everyone who has worked hard, and who has sucked it up, a nice fat benefits package. And I would like to pay for that all with the abundant money growing on the trees in my back yard. However, try as I might, I have not yet managed to plant a tree that produces a crop of free money. If anyone with more refined arboricultural skills can tell me where and how I’m doing it wrong, I would be profusely grateful.
Where I own my debt in Florida, there are abandoned orange groves all around. It used to be that a few acres of oranges were sufficient to make your children’s college payments–they were, in fact, damned near free money. Between the college bubble and NAFTA, no more, hence abandoned orange groves, soon paved down for a new subdivision where every buyer is upside down.
You’re right about the 25 missions in World War II. My apologies.
I’ve always viewed my retirement pay as a supplemental income, especially with inflation and the bath we’ve been taking on COLAs relative to the rate of inflation. I’m glad that I stashed away money, invested in relatively safe investments (except for some commercial property, yikes) and got a job after I retired in 2006 after 25 years. I’m also thankful my wife still works, making a good living and my kids got most of their college paid for with scholarships.
I figured the day would come when the politicos in Washington would refuse to face reality and truly balance the budget. Demographics and promises alone with entitlements show that the budget was going to be busted very soon. I knew the surplus during the Clinton years was bullsqueeze and I was proven right. Republican, Democrat, it doesn’t matter. All they care about is getting re-elected. They don’t want to do the right thing until that will be the only course they can take. The difference is that when that happens, the consequences will hurt much worse than if they would’ve done something earlier.
I know several of you mentioned the reserves or the ANG to finish out until retirement. But how many billets are open there? I know the ANG has been rocked with lots of squadrons trading fighters or trash haulers for UAVs.
Historical note:
In the cold war, making LCDR meant making it to 20 and a retirement. Ditto First Class PO. That held through Vietnam. Not making it meant out on severance pay around 12 or so. Enlisted, no severance.
Goldwater-Nichols and DOPMA ended that. The wages of jointness is bloat and killing the careers of the guys who stay in the cockpit and/or at sea. Which isn’t always by choice.
Of course there goes a ton of practical experience in warfighting skills.
I wonder why the staffs come up with such dumb decisions.
Well, Goldwater-Nichols was rammed down out throats by Congress…after being hatched by Army and Air Force staffs. Partly as a power grab, partly as a Staff Officer Employment Act.
I’ve seen several such cycles in my time around the waterfront. One must never believe ALL that is spoken to by the leaders of the moment. The several personnel systems within DOD will always find a way to respond to their instant political/financial needs. The constant unit of fodder is the person. Hate to say it but there seems to be very little that the commom man can do about this situation.
People like retired LCOL Allen West can help by showing the total picture to their Congressional associates.
The Army Reserves is still looking for mid-level (aka Captain-Major) officers – might be willing to look at officers from other services – that’s not exactly my lane, but it is the lane of the guy who sits next to me on weekends. As for me… I’m glad I’m over 18 good years for retirement now.
The voice of rtaoinality! Good to hear from you.
A Zoomie who is a two-time non-select for 05? Sorry, folks, but there is more to the story.
I worked for several years as an Ombudsman for the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve. (ESGR= DoD / Civ help for Guardsmen/Reservists who deployed and then had trouble returning to their jobs). I found out that the people who had a problem had a problem before the current problem. I was given cases where a Guardsman/Reservist was laid off or placed into a different job soon after returning from deployment and I went in with a full head of steam looking for discrimination. What I found in every case was an inch (or more) thick HR folder full of documents describing previous/prior problems.
While you might wish to get all hyperventilated and even put well deserved blame on the golfer-in-chief, my experience tells me there is more to this story. And yes, I spent more than 20 in this same USAF system.
Good enough to send to combat though. And where do we learn that Mosely had twice failed to select for O-5?
See Scott’s post above. He doesn’t swear to it, though. I just think there’s a lot missing from the story, enough to warrant healthy skepticism.
And as a long-time herder of cats, I mean, manager of reserves, I heartily second what Frank said. While there are many, many great reservists out there (when VFA-201 was mobilized, their MO was in line to become VP at, IIRC, Home Depot, and he gave up the VP job because he couldn’t mobilize and be VP at the same time), there are just as many fleabags and the reserves has amazing capacities to cover up its failings–things that would have gotten me court martialed were just swept under the rug and gone.
Lex, I think the AF has a different attitude than we do about what rank denotes “success” as an officer. Others may disagree, but I always looked at O5 as the minimum for a non-prior service Navy officer. One can make O5 without command, and a solid record will select for CDR. Terminal rank line LCDRs almost always had a major flaw – backed up by my O5 selection board experience.
I do know that in the mid 90s, AF navs were being told O4 and twenty was a good career. I also was always amazed at the number of single flying tour AF rated officers I met in my joint assignments. It seemed like they got a single flying tour, then turned into staff weenies in perpetuity – but still wore bags.
. Difference in the original story and “O4 + 20″ is we are now in a shrinking force, so past performance may not be an indicator of the future.
See, THAT’s Lex’s point: Good enough to use you, then discard once they’ve gotten their pound of flesh…mainly, I’d hazzard a guess, due to lack of “growth potential” for being rough around the edges staff-wise/briefing-rpt-writing paperwork-wise…”Garrison Soldier” mentality all the way. True, one aims for those with talent for fighting both the paper-work AND shooting wars, but those types are rare (and rarely need help) while the paper-work guys seem ALWAYS in large surplus while good shooters less so..
And remember, guys who “just fly” have no “higher level” command experience on their OERs while many non-rateds they are directly competing against at O-3/4 level before the promotion boards have “Squadron Commander” and other Wing-level staff position experience laurels as 2nd Lt Supply Squadron CO types in the Combat Support Groups attached to the Wing..
Lex,
A safe assumption given he’s an academy graduate and still an O4. He could be prior enlisted, but would have had to start school before turning 22 (if memory serves) and that would mean a max of 4 years enlisted.
Pinheadda is a Klintonista and a dem, so remember that when you look at something like this. He has no loyalty to anything but his treacherous disloyal party. America does not even figure into the picture, nor do its warfighters. Homey the prez has given the word and Pinheadda marches forth. No one should be surprised that these turd burglars would screw over the real people to save money, rather than taking it from the welfare scum and other assorted freeloaders who serve no useful purpose.
I remember in ’92 getting a letter from my Branch Dick…aka Assignments Officer…offering me $22,000 to resign my commission or leave Active Duty at the three year mark (despite owing five years for graduating from the South Hudson Institute of Technology, West Point Campus). I was warned that if I turned down the generous offer, that I wouldn’t get a dime if wasn’t selected for retention on active duty in the upcoming Lieutenant Retention Board.
A couple months later after the board met (and retained 75% of us) we had our Captain Board, that promoted a whopping 80% of the 75% who were retained. Our effective promotion rate to O3 was just under 60%. Young Captains and Majors look at me like I’m nuts when I talk about the bad old days of the early 90′s and the “peace dividend”. The bad old days are here again.
I do agree that folks are getting promoted way too young. My Battalion XO pinned on O4 at 7 yrs, 8 months (she was a double below the zone selection). At 7 years 8 months I was still halfway through my second company command. It doesn’t work to their advantage. If I had been passed over twice for O5 I would have had 18 years of service and they would have let me retire, now a guy who gets passed over twice would have around 16 years of service and is screwed.
I think that’s another issue. The promotion gates need to be reworked. The current system requires officers to follow a very tight career script, when everybody might be better off if there were more flexibility.
Like the one W. S. Churchill followed?
The whole defense industry is getting RIF’ed too!
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/06/15/lockheed.martin.job.cuts/index.html
The USAF gent will roll to the IRR, where he can do correspondence courses and coloring books to get to his 20 years service and collect a reserve retirement. And with 17 years already on the books, it will be decent coin when he turns 60.
Or he can go find one of the reserve or guard UAV units that are always scrounging for tactically-oriented drivers and sign up and get trained and start hunting jawas, possibly even going back on active duty and sticking around for another 13 years to get to 30, since the appetite for those skills is skyrocketing and if you got the skills and are willing, they will find a way to keep you around.
In short, there are options.