I will tell you why they are paying people to get out. It's cheaper for the AF or the Navy or whichever service faces this issue to pay people to get out and than to pay the retirements 10 years later when they can just "do more with less". That is simple math, and in the business model of "Naval Aviation Enterprise" or the "Airspeed" concept(I'm sure the USAF has the same buzz words) that is the bottom line. Unfortunately that bottom line is coming at the expense of people. Just another cycle........

It is also cheaper to let pilots Palace Chase to the ANG/Reserves, pay them part time and activate them when you need them - all while cutting training and flight hours and making the ANG/Reserves more and more like AD with never ending bull$hit.

I jumped ship to the ANG after only 4 years of AD last year and I haven't looked back. I'm back home with family and friends, I live in a community where being in the military is not common, and I'm loving the ANG. My intentions were to do it part-time and get an airline job, but was hired as an ART and the commercial world doesn't look as attractive as it used to be. I'm making a 6 figure income, still get to fly a few times a week, go on a trip every so often and I'm home every night. Right now, there's not much else I can ask for. If I can stick it out for another 20 years or so in the civil service, it won't be a shabby retirement either and I'd still be young enough for another 15 years in the airlines if I wanted. I'm sure once these post 9/11 contracts are a thing of the past (we hope), pay scales are going to go up significantly.

If nothing changes in the projected commercial airline growth over the next 5-10 years, retention is going to suffer big time unless they stop-loss people. It's amazing how this sine wave goes back and forth every 10 years or so.

Herc drivers have four months deployed swapped with four months home pretty consistent. Your only ways out of it are AETC or stick around for staff tour - which could be an unaccompanied year to the sandbox. QOL sucks and there will be a mass exodus as the committments come up. The only thing that will temper it will be the jump from 8 year to 10 year committments which will slow the floodgates and mask the real issue from AF leadership.

I love government accounting....I took VSP with 9 years in and got out one year before my pilot training committment expired. Buddy of mine is same year group, same qualifications, took the retention bonus to stay. Roughly we were both paid the same amount, one of us to stay and one of us to leave...somebody call the Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline.

Something doesn't make any sense-- they're announcing 2007 retention rates, yet FY07 doesn't end for another month, and I'm sure it'll take a couple weeks to analyze the data.

My guess is they have the numbers of those that will be off the books by end of FY07. The Navy needs 9-12 months notice to process a resignation so they would theoretically have the data that much sooner.

Yep. Somewhere around July-August, they'll stop accepting current fiscal year applications. Happened to me last year. I had to make a whole new application with "FY07" on it and run it up the chain again. Good times. Not.

I'd like an idiot's guide to understanding the airlines' pay scales.

Take year 1 for instance with Continental. I'm making $31 per hour and I'm "guaranteed" 72 hours. How much over that might I fly? Can I also sit another 72 hours of "reserve" in the same month, thus doubling my money?

And speaking of "reserve", is it mandatory that new hires sit a certain amount of it? If I don't live in my base city, am I required to go there and sit in a crash pad, or is it optional just to make more money?

Here's another question: Aircraft type? How is that determined? Do they tell you at the interview whether you're being considered for widebodies versus narrows? That seems to be a big deal in respect to 2d-3rd-4th year earnings!

There are rumors of new hires going direct to 777s at Continental. Anybody know if this is true? And if so, how do they pick which ones?

Roadking...you'll find plenty of folks willing to discuss 777 orders at CAL on one of the other forums. This is more of a military discussion thread/board.

To redirect - I saw that they added 11F and 12F to their list of AFSCs which are ineligible for force shaping. And I quote "due to overall manning and AFSC sustainment considerations". I'll bet that same line shows up on stop-loss in a year or so. When Gen Mosseley culls the force by another 20k of folks next year, maybe they'll get rid of all the enlisted cooks and cater all of our meals? Ridiculous.

I've heard some say stop loss and I've heard some say larger bonus. I think stop loss can only go so far (ie you can only impliment it for a year or two)...larger bonues will have to emerge to keep guys from taking off for the airlines, which by the looks of it are coming back from 9-11.