shadow95

Rethinking taking the bonus. I am looking into options to give bonus back and go for a more stable job in the civilian market. I will start calling AFPC next week, but wanted to know if anyone has heard of personnel giving the money back to the Air Force and being allowed to leave.

viperdriver

Only under palace chase or VSP or adsc waiver, which I think are over.

Deuce130

Just what exactly is more stable in the civilian market? You're not talking a civilian flying job, are you?

Hacker15e

Only heard of that under VSP, which is long since gone.

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Marvin

Once you sign, it is very hard to un-sign.

I think he may be talking "stable family life" vs. "stable economic situation", but I could be wrong.

dannolars

Good luck, I know one dude who tried. They said, "thanks but no, you are ours for the forseeable future" and then promptly deployed him. Be carefule about showing your hand, you might get it schwacked by a vindictive CC.

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GunshipGuy

Doesn't sound like this situation applies to you, but I believe that if you're retirement eligible and have a commitment due to the bonus there's a waiver process that one can apply for to get out early. This would apply to those who took the 25 year bonus and more senior navs who took the bonus when it was being offered. It worked for a nav friend of mine.

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shadow95

Going to a civilian non-flying job (more stable then the airline industry) and looking for a more stable life style at the same time. May not even be an option to opt out of the bonus though.

Any more feedback would be appreciated and thanks for the current comments

ClipperJet

An admittedly risky loophole, but, for an honorable discharge, as I remember the regulations, you don't actually have to "be" gay, you just have to convince you commander that you are "likely to" be gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Don't know if you'd have to pay the money back.

Hacker15e

That's why the bonus is such a double-edged sword.

On one hand, commanders can look at signing/non-signing as an indicator of if you're a "company man" or not...and that will impact DPs, strats, assignment pushes, etc.

On the other hand, once you've signed, they know they have you by the balls for several years and can essentially do whatever they want to you (365s, etc).

Big Blue standard...take something sorta positive and find all the possible ways to make it into a lose/lose situation.

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