I think it is worth considering, the bids are targeting vacancies that exist approximately 4-6 months in the future. We tend to think of retirements in an yearly framework, but in reality, there could be months where there are huge changes to the bid statuses, and some less huge, based solely on how many butts are anticipated to leave seats on that 4-6 month horizon. Adding to that is the unknown master plan for new hire assignments... (which admittedly has less impact on the WB conversation)

Just food for thought.

Edit: there may be smaller runs as a result of training capacity as well