virginia said:
Wait a minute....They get some kind of monetary incentive right? Or are these guys already over 20 years TIS?
Monetary incentive-- that's pretty funny!
Luckily Title X requires retaining anyone over 18 years on active duty until 20, or making an early-retirement program available to all in that category. So the SERB can only consider those who are over 20, but those SERBed just get the regular retirement benefits. Of course if you take your chances with the SERB and get to stay on active duty then your assignment officer will no doubt be calling you on Monday to discuss your emergent urgent unaccompanied tour in Korea.
I remember a briefer in the mid-1990s stating that the SERB would start looking at records on Monday (of a five-day board) and say "OK, that guy's a valuable asset who deserves to stay on active duty. Who's next?" By Wednesday they'd realize that they'd only set aside 25% of the total number they were supposed to SERB, and by Friday they'd be looking for any flimsy excuse to SERB someone ("Hey, he hasn't updated his official photo in three years-- he might be fat!"). A guy in the audience asked "How do they decide what records to look at first?" The briefer said "It's all alphabetical order."
Everyone in the room turned to look at Dave Zacharias...
virginia said:
I remember the 90's drawdowns. I was in at that point (around '97 or '98) and saw several E5's and E6's getting out and thinking "oh, if only that were me I'd take the money and RUN!"
Funny how your attitude changes, huh?
I watched some of that attitude at a training command-- VSI-separating O-3s were rolling into the parking lot in their new BMWs, choosing among their Silicon Valley startup offers, and feeling sorry for the guys getting orders to department head school.
Unfortunately in 2001 we started getting calls from those same guys-- "Anyone need a Reservist available for extended active duty?"
Meanwhile I was mystified that my three early retirement requests were turned down because of the urgent need for O-4 submariners, but I wasn't sent to sea duty because I wasn't considered promotable. There was plenty to do at the training commands, though.
Brat said:
I am clueless about military staff management, but tell me why in a period of staffing needs would they want to offer early-outs or run a rif?
Do they expect a big draw-down next year
??
It's more of a realignment than a drawdown. The Air Force needs more grunts, fewer senior managers, more fighters, and fewer rear echelon types. For example they've been trying to cut down on personnel managers for nearly two years now, and they may be actually separating some of those junior officers (with the required involuntary separation pay). If people aren't able or willing to convert from a field that's been determined to be "overmanned" to a new "critical skill" field then they're shown the door in one way or another.
In the last 30 years, as the equipment has become more reliable & automated, personnel costs have become a bigger & bigger piece of the budget. For example several classes of Navy ships could run their engine rooms essentially unmanned, the way the merchant fleets do, but there are concerns about damage control and combat manning. So manpower is kept around to watch the computers that are monitoring the equipment.
Old Army Guy said:
It is not much better than the early 70's. Army O3's and 04's that lacked some "ticket"; mostly civilian education level (which, at the time, was a very convinenent discriminator) got put off active duty with a check for about $15,000. Of course they reverted to reserve (not on AD) status but most would never find a paying reserve job.
Anyone leaving active duty before 20 for the Reserves in the Oahu area has been finding plenty of work at major staffs like PACOM and PACFLT. The fly in the ointment, of course, is that they might also find themselves mobilized to the desert.
Next week starts a new fiscal year, with the rumor that 25,000 Navy & AF Reservists are going to be mobilized to backfill Army Reservists completing their mobilizations. "It's really different this time" in that all three services are starting to regard logistics & security as a joint duty, not service specific. So Navy Supply Corps (& AF Finance Battalion?) officers will be standing in the desert handing out a lot of Army combat gear while AF & Navy enlisted will be guarding the perimeters formerly manned by soldiers.
