Originally Posted by
AFPirate
Roadking...you'll find plenty of folks willing to discuss 777 orders at CAL on one of the other forums. This is more of a military discussion thread/board.
To redirect - I saw that they added 11F and 12F to their list of AFSCs which are ineligible for force shaping. And I quote "due to overall manning and AFSC sustainment considerations". I'll bet that same line shows up on stop-loss in a year or so. When Gen Mosseley culls the force by another 20k of folks next year, maybe they'll get rid of all the enlisted cooks and cater all of our meals? Ridiculous.
I've heard some say stop loss and I've heard some say larger bonus. I think stop loss can only go so far (ie you can only impliment it for a year or two)...larger bonues will have to emerge to keep guys from taking off for the airlines, which by the looks of it are coming back from 9-11.
Below is an email exchange between Lt Gen Brady (AF/CVA) and Lt Gen
Lichte (AF/A1) regarding a question that came up about pilot bonuses and
VSP at a conference that I recently attended.
===============Break, Break=================
Art, (Lt Gen Lichte: AF/CVA)
I understand during your recent world travels that you were cornered on
bonuses. In particular, we understand you were asked why we would
continue to pay retention bonuses to pilots at the same time we were
offering separation incentive pay and conducting Force Shaping programs.
BLUF: Both programs are necessary to ensure we retain our warfighting
skills while we also meet our goals for end strength and skills mix.
ACP provides us the retention incentive to bridge the gap between when
pilots end their initial ADSC and when retirement proximity helps with
retention. The long term ACP contracts we use provide stability and
help us maintain warfighting capability. Without the incentives the
long lead times, high training costs, and volatile external pilot market
could rapidly degrade our warfighting capability. In contrast, the
force shaping programs are designed to reduce specific skill sets and
year groups to ensure we meet end strength and skill mix goals.
Sometimes these programs overlap as we incentivize some to get out while
also paying some to stay in. Remember that the force shaping programs
are temporary measures to help us reach the right size and shape of our
force. The bonus programs are longer term efforts to make sure we
compete for and incentivize airmen in high demand, hazardous duty, or
hard to fill programs.
My folks have provided two talking papers on the subject of ACP and
bonuses in general.
Bottomline: this is not about "good guys", or even about who "deserves"
a bonus (a case which even general officers continually try to make to
me).....this is about a business case related to what it takes to
sustain a force.
Roger (Lt Gen Brady: AF/A1)