Bonus or Retirement?
 

3 years away from retirement, but could take the bonus (if they give it in FY13) and would have to sign on for two more. Suggestions? Will the pilot hiring be better in 2015 or 2017?

I think hiring will be better in 2015 and beyond, but the economy and oil prices could screw that up. There should be a lot of movement due to retirements starting next year, getting in on the ground floor could enhance pay and QOL down the road. But the bonus is a bird in the hand...

Tough call as you are pretty close to retirement. There is a qualifier to your question. Are you in the Reserves? If so, my answer is to take the orders without the bonus. Have your applications in at the places you'd like to work. When you get hired. Curtail the orders and go to training. After you're done with IOE, take mil leave for 2-3 years. Another option would be to be a traditional reservist over the next 5-6 years to have the ability to drop mil leave when needed. If a good job comes along, you can always take the 2 years or less of orders and get in sanctuary.

If you're on Active duty, this decision is not easy. Personally, I'd get into the reserves, get to the airline, then proceed with plan A. This will also negate a 365 at the end of your career. Not that AD would do that to you.:rolleyes:

Good luck. The beauty is you have a win/win choice.

Another bird in the hand will be a no-expenses paid 365 to Afghanistan or worse. Once they have you committed and know you can't drop papers, they WILL send you. Trust me.

AD now, but you guys are right about the 365...but my STRD is 2010 a lot of guys ahead of me. Probably not worth it for 100K to stay in two extra years.

A lot of those guys ahead of you will have reasons/excuses/recent PCS and / or bosses who will go to bat for them to get them exempted. The list of people in front of you will disappear faster than roaches when you turn the lights on. Before you know it you'll be standing around asking where the hell everyone went. That's a lot of coin you're talking about, but if you do get sent over, you'll probably go non-current/unqualified. Good luck getting Uncle Sugar to get you flying again. And from what I understand recency/currency is muis importante'. My info is dated, but I've seen enough to know that they're not offering YOU money to fly; they have plenty of captains to do that. They need an mature officer with leadership experience who happens also to have been a pilot to work whatever jobs they have over there. And once you've signed, they've got you..."needs of the AF."

My STRD is 1995 and I'm one of the top 5 11Gs when they last ran a rack and stack to match a requirement. 2010 STRD seems pretty safe to me, but being locked in to another 2 years of AD sounds poopy. Can you stay past 20 w/o taking the bonus? That's what I would do until I could get hired elsewhere. Nice to have the ability to drop retirement papers if you don't like what the AF is doing to you or a better opportunity becomes available.

poopy is a good word for AD these days...deployed 4-6 months each of last three years with no end in sight. Money not worth it anymore. I think my mind is made up and if the jobs arent there being a free agent isnt bad. 2010 for a stint on the ROK.

So,... what you're saying is "maybe it will be really good... but then again, maybe not".

Bottom line for Herkman: do you like serving? In this day and age, "serving" means spending a fair amount of time deployed. Often on 365 orders. As is mentioned above, if you take the bonus, you will probably get some sort of deployment. Many of them are really good. And in many cases, you can lead turn it some, and go do something specific that you want to do. Not always.
However, you probably know most or all of this.

If that does not pass your sniff test, then I recommend you pass on the bonus and separate.
I would not base my decision on what Miss Cleo thinks hiring will be in '15 or '17.

If you want to fly when you retire, you need to be current. It is possible to get current through alternate means, but not easy or cheap. On the other hand 100 large is nothing to sneeze at and the election forbodes high fuel costs, high taxes, and more unemployment.

One last thing, don't stay for the money, stay for the job assignment.