Its all coming together now.

McKelvy is most likely not really retired. He's been assigned a "special projects" position. Kind of like JL and BC. Most likely, a fuel conservation project. And, now with the price of fuel skyrocketing...They need to bring him back to the line. In a command position, of course. To test his new theories.

Thus, the push for retroactivity.

Now, it all makes sense.