I know a ton of people, in my community and other mobility assets, that would leave given the option - unfortunately with UPT commitments it's not possible, so it's not as easy as saying "feel free to leave".

Personally, I don't know if I'd leave, at least I'm flying something and I'm getting paid to do it. I'll do my time, do whatever the AF see "fit" to do with me while they still own me, and then decide whether or not it's on to "greener" pastures.

A decade ago, hell even a few years ago, the majority of line mobility aircrew weren't spending 250+ days a year away from home. KC10 guys were volunteering for deployments, maybe once a year, just to get hours. Now, we spend 140+ days a year just deployed (for the really unlucky few 210+ days), and then another 50-120 days TDY. From what I hear, same goes for the -135s, -17s and C5s. Doesn't leave much room for a life back home, let alone time for a family.

You can only ask someone and/or their family to do that for so long before something has to give. There's a problem with senior leadership, even at the squadron level, being able to relate to what the young, line fliers are going through today. The majority of our young captains have 6, 7, 8 Oak Leaf Clusters on their Air Medals; yet you look at a lot of squadron leadership and maybe they have a basic AM, maybe one OLC; it's not the same AF for young guys that it was for them, and while some leaders recognize this, there's a lot that don't or just seem to brush it off, like it doesn't matter.

Don't want to bring politics into the mix, but it's also tough to stay positive, or expect people to keep a positive attitude or buy into a war that's been going on for almost 10 years with no end in sight, when on a daily basis you see the poor planning that goes on, the waste of resources and just waste of money that takes place, and the overall fact that we're in a country with corrupt leaders happy to take our money, and where the majority of people don't want us there. Don't get it twisted though, when we do go fly (all airframes), we do a damn good job or give it our best. Because, ultimately it's all about our final customer, some guy(s) on the ground. They deserve it and have to believe and know we've got their backs, regardless of how anyone feels about the war.

Combine all of the above with the ridiculous policies at the bases in the AOR, where focus on actually carrying out the mission has been lost, and then coming home to stuff that's not much better, and can you really blame people for being unhappy, or wanting to bail?

Yes, it's the service, we all signed on the dotted line of our own free will, and we are willing to defend the U.S.A. even if it means paying the ultimate sacrifice one day.
But, that shouldn't preclude us from having a family, seeing our families, watching our kids grow up, or being able to have somewhat of a personal life and be happy. While it's easy to say suck it up, stop complaining and deal with it, we're not robots, there's a human element to deal with and someone can only "suck it up" for so long.

You may not agree with any or some of the above, but I'm honestly telling it how it is, so don't shoot the messenger. This is what we (young/mid-level CGOs) talk about and vent about. Maybe it's what people have always vented about or felt, I don't know, I don't think so. Maybe it's just in the mobility world.
It'll be interesting to see if a lot of people put their money where their mouths are come decision time to stay in or get out. If they bail, the AF is going to be in a world of hurt on the ops side; or maybe it'll get what it wanted, reduced numbers.