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Officials announce reduction-in-force eligibility criteria

Posted 3/10/2011 Email story   Print story

    

3/10/2011 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force officials announced they will convene a quality-based reduction-in-force board Sept. 19 for mid-grade officers as part of their measures to reduce the number of Airmen to meet the service's congressionally authorized military end-strength levels.

Officials said retaining the highest quality Airmen is vital to appropriately sizing and shaping the force and will be a key consideration when officers across the seven eligible year groups meet the September board.

Board members will consider officers in the grades of major and captain in the following year groups and competitive categories: line of the Air Force: 2000 and 2003 through 2005; judge advocate general: 1999 through 2003; chaplain: 2002 through 2005; biomedical sciences corps: 2000 and 2001; and medical service corps: 2001, 2004 and 2005.

Due primarily to a 16-year high in retention, the Air Force ended fiscal 2010 approximately 2,300 officers above authorized end strength, officials said.

"We changed our approach to the RIF this year to one that will entail a 'quality cut' across an entire year group and competitive category, rather than focusing only on overage Air Force specialties as in the past," said Col. Julie Boit, the chief of military force policy. "Up to 10 percent of officers in each eligible year group and competitive category will be separated to meet congressionally mandated Air Force end strength by the end of fiscal 2012."

While voluntary programs from fiscal 2010 remain in place to make more separations and retirements possible, officials announced Feb. 2 that the Air Force will need involuntary separation actions to supplement the voluntary measures. Officers eligible for the RIF may apply for voluntary separation pay.

Officers have until March 31 to apply for VSP at 1.25 times the involuntary separation pay rate.

Air Force Personnel Center officials said applications will be processed through the virtual military personnel flight, or vMPF. Each application will be considered on its own merit.

To ensure VSP applications in the best interest of the Air Force are approved, approval or disapproval decisions will be made once the VSP window has closed, officials said. Officers approved for VSP must separate on Oct. 1, 2011, and will not be considered by the RIF board.

Officers not selected for retention by the RIF board will be required to separate by Feb. 1, 2012, at the involuntary separation pay rate.

Airmen ineligible for the RIF include officers who have an established or mandatory date of separation of Feb. 1, 2012, or earlier; 15 or more years of total active federal military service by the board date of Sept. 19, 2011; or those who have been selected for promotion or have less than one year of time in grade, the colonel said.

Colonel Boit said Airmen are a trained and ready resource possessing many skills needed by the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard.

"We encourage any officer who is leaving active duty to consider the many great opportunities in our Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard," Colonel Boit said. "We want to keep as many Airmen as possible in our Air Force family."

Airmen are also uniquely qualified for federal civilian positions, and many will receive veteran's preference when applying for federal service, Colonel Boit added.

Colonel Boit highly encouraged transitioning Airmen to take advantage of the transition assistance programs available at Airman and Family Readiness centers around the world.

"There is a wealth of information to be gained in the transition assistance planning seminars the AFRCs conduct, from veterans benefits and employment opportunities to job search and interview techniques," she said.

For more information on detailed eligibility and board information, visit the Air Force personnel services website or call the Total Force Service Center at 800-565-0102. For information on transition assistance programs, contact your local Airman and Family Readiness center.

(Courtesy of Air Force Personnel, Services and Manpower Public Affairs)



tabComments
6/29/2011 3:35:18 PM ET
It shouldn't be by career field. It should be about keeping the best in. However when you have people writing their own EPRs and OPRs, the best pool gets a little muddy. I work for an officer who recently received word of a promotion. No one in the shop understands how that happend. The sad thing is, all of the clapping and congrats were forced by every single person who works for him. This person had no idea what was going on in the shop. These are the people we need to get out. When I came in over a decade ago I worked for great leaders. Now it seems like the good ones are jumping ship due to deployments and doing much more with less, and we are left with the ones who know they can't make it on the outside.
Bitter, Virginia
 
6/24/2011 1:32:38 PM ET
Major, you have no idea what you are talking about. Your attitude exudes in the military and is why the military and every other form of government is wasteful and inefficient. Plenty of other places take care of their people as a whole much better than the military does. Otherwise people would quit the job and the company fail. Government baits people into contracts like the RPA guys and just squeezes the life and drive out of them because, as you say, it takes an act of congress to quit or get fired. Sound like a good plan...
Captain,
 
3/12/2011 5:15:10 AM ET
What a bunch of whiners in the comments below. If you don't like your jobs get out and take your chances on the economy. My guess is that you will find that no employer on the average takes better care of its employees or their families than the military. I also hope you take those attitudes to your new jobs so you can get fired by your new bosses without an act of congress.
Maj, Little Rock AFB
 
3/12/2011 4:27:21 AM ET
The 'quality cuts across entire year groups' angle is bogus. It's just a way of justifying going after career fields that have already been decimated by previous RIFs while preserving the manning level in other untouched career fields.
ckj, SWA
 
3/11/2011 4:57:22 PM ET
To Tiger You obviously have no idea what mindless work 24/7 nights and weekends involves. Try being a missileer--without flight pay and other benefits. Try being a cop on the base gate or walking the flightline. Try doing any number of jobs that are far worse than yours--some of which I would bet your leadership served in paying their dues before earning their choice assignment and promotion. You're still a rated officer aren't you? Do you not realize that what you are doing may very well be the future of combat? Look for ways to make the assignment work for you. I took my mindless work 60 feet underground and studied for the LSAT--and ended up getting the Air Force to pay ME to go to law school. It's all in the attitude.
Retired, Alabama
 
3/11/2011 4:49:25 PM ET
To Squirt The reaction of much of the rest of the Air Force to your comments Waaah. You're STILL a pilot aren't you? You still get flight pay don't you? You're still the career field that the rest of us are here to support--a job we try to do proudly and without resentment because the AF mission is first and foremost to FLY. Did you get that promise in WRITING? If not then you obviously missed out on a very important lesson: the needs of the Air Force always come first. If you can't live with that then trying flying elsehwere. As someone who's been both in and out things aren't necessarily going to get any better when you leave.
Retired, Alabama
 
3/11/2011 11:47:01 AM ET
Tiger I know exactly what you mean. I got the bait-and-switch in UPT also. I was promised a F-15C but was told there was a training backlog and I was sent to KC-10s. Heads up AF there are a lot of us that are going to take advantage of this and try to slip out of this box you put us in with all the promises in UPT that never happened.
Squirt, Travis AFB
 
3/11/2011 10:56:39 AM ET
Tiger do you really feel like you were given the bait-and-switch? Last I looked there are a lot of jobs that work 24/7 nights weekends with no end in sight...oh yeah and we actually have to leave home and go to a part of the world where everyone hates us. I also find your insight great that you went to PILOT training. You do get flight pay don't you? Surely you knew when you joined the AF that we had RPAs and you still accepted the opportunity to attend UPT.
Mouse, Here
 
3/11/2011 10:45:26 AM ET
Tiger I understand your frustration. I too worked a mindless job 24-7 365 days a year sitting in a hole in the ground. If the pilot career field is so stressed why does the Air Force use PILOTs as UAV operators? Makes no sense to me or apparently to the pilots who are stuck there.
Jerry, Oklahoma
 
3/11/2011 10:29:51 AM ET
Ha ha at Tiger enslited ISR folks have been doing that grind for decades.
Sgt Whoever, conus
 
3/11/2011 10:20:53 AM ET
Amen to Tiger's comments.
SM, NM
 
3/11/2011 9:22:30 AM ET
Tiger? you feeling the need to submit your own version of a Dear Boss letter? Funny though that the last one was written to General Wilbur Creech...This is your captain speaking...on your left you should see Denver the mile high...
Senior T, Del Rio by the sea
 
3/11/2011 8:22:54 AM ET
Here's the problem with this plan. By taking a cut across the board, although I'd be shocked if a single pilot gets their walking papers, and by allowing everyone to apply for VSP you're going to see career fields that are already hurting go to critical mass. If someone looks out in their future and all they can see are endless deployments with a less than 1 to 1 dwell rate, i.e. the critically manned career fields, they're going to walk if given the chance. Unless of course the whole thing about VSP approvals being made only after the deadline is just a way to blur the fact that cuts really are being made by career field and not straight numbers or quality. In an overage field, You're approved for VSP. In a field that's short-staffed, Oh so sorry you have to stay in. I can't wait for the demographics to come out on the final cuts that do get made.
km, Deployed
 
3/11/2011 6:14:32 AM ET
Eligibility criteria - A pulse.
DMPI, Al JBAB DC
 
3/10/2011 10:09:48 PM ET
Jerry, stop by Creech AFB and take a look at the mismanagement of the UAV enterprise for an explanation. Many of us signed a decade long PILOT training commitment only to have a grand bait-and-switch pulled on us straight from UPT. We do mindless work 24/7 365 through nights weekends and holidays with no end in sight. All-the-while leadership works M-F day shift on a two year touch-and-go on their way to a choice follow on with a promotion. To be honest, most would would pay to leave.
Tiger, Creech AFB NV
 
3/10/2011 2:44:19 PM ET
This is round 3 for officers in the 2003 year group - when does it stop? Between the 1to1 deployment dwell, PCS and RIFs, it is too much to put on the families involved. And now for the truth for those actually stuck with making the decision...VSP comes with too many strings; read the DOD FMR - take your chances with the RIF. 1.25 times is not enough incentive, 2 times was just barely enough. Your VA compensation and guard or reserve retirement will be affected if you take VSP. Veterans preference only goes so far with the automated staffing system used by USAJOBS. Most jobs are still hired based on the good ole boy system and are only advertised because they have to. Guard and Reserve jobs are very hard to come by right now because so many people have been RIFd the last 5 years that want to continue their service.
Proud Veteran, OK
 
3/10/2011 2:19:26 PM ET
Why would anyone take the voluntary separation pay? At only 1.25 times the rate of involuntary separation pay, it makes no sense. When you consider that separation pay is ordinary income and is taxed accordingly, the difference in the becomes irrelevent.
Jerry, Oklahoma
 
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