Originally Posted by Merle Dixon

Unfortunately the guard and reserve is short pilots too. After 9/11 and until recently guard/reserve units were chock full of O-4s serving their max 24 years and O-5s serving 26 years+. Most of these guys/gals were airline furloughed after 9/11 and they hung onto their guard/reserve safety blanket. Well, all of those folks have or are retiring. The next generation, guys like me; we left active duty and got an airline job, we have never been furloughed and we are not staying in the guard/reserve one second past 20 years.

Also, many flying units are losing or have lost their ARTs to the airlines and I hear many units can't fill open AGR slots. So many dudes/dudettes are completely sick of Big Blue, they dont want full-time guard/reserve jobs. Heck, I know 5 part-time AFRC pilots (I am one) that recently quit their flying jobs for non-flying 2-day a month jobs or Academy Liaison Officer or Civil Air Patrol jobs. Even as part-timers flying 4 to 6 days a month, we are tired of the Air Force B.S. I also know 2 active-duty IPs that just got hired by the airlines and they want nothing to do with the guard/reserve. Once airline/FedEx/UPS pilots hit second year pay, the guard/reserve becomes a pay-cut and with that pay-cut, the B.S. tolerance drops immensely.

So, increasing guard/reserve utilization will not work.