1992 or 1993. FE new hire. Major up for Lt. Col? More likely already a Lt. Col. F-16 guy, Agressor back ground, did his Pentagon tour for the CoS of the Air Force? Or the head of TAC??? Maybe TAC. His next assignment is a Sqdr CC. He's hoping for F-16 (F-5??) Agressor CC to Europe. Gets told by the CoS of USAF (more likely the head of TAC)(Creech???) to do a study to show why guys should stay in and go for 20 yrs and get their retirement. Creech (?) thinks the young guys don't understand the value of staying. He does his study....hands it in....and quits. "Even at 17 yrs I realized I was better off leaving. They were stunned that I quit." He was going to do some USAFA liason, CAP, etc, etc, to get his 20 yrs.

Fast forward to 2014 or 2015. I'm helping at job fairs. Guys are having their friends contact me for info/insight. One of the guys is an O-5 up for O-6 in the Pentagon. Briefing the Under Secretary of the AF (a lady....so that might help out what year it was) on the pilot retention issue. He retires. "Yes, ma'am. I'm outta here!" Staying to pin on O-6 wasn't worth it. Getting to the majors sooner was. Got on with Delta and moved back to where his kids could grow up with their cousins and grandparents after being at the whim of mil personnel office for the last 20 years. It's called 'winning.'