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| Economy |
| Obama Defense Cuts in a Downturn |
| 2010-07-18 |
| Married to a second lieutenant, the woman couldn't help herself. She vented. She gave up a good civil service job and her husband was a staff sergeant, steadily climbing the enlisted ranks, when they decided he should go to Officer Training School. He excelled. She pinned on his bars in December. Now, he's out of a job, one of 28 junior officers getting kicked out because they either haven't started their initial skills training course or didn't finish the training. By year's end, the service will cut 6,000 airmen — enlisted and officer — because so few are leaving on their own due to the recession. The number of officers, second lieutenants to colonels, targeted for discharge is 1,373. "Who would have thought getting commissioned was the worst mistake you made in your life?" the wife asked. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #5 What in the name of Curtis LeMay (Peace Is Our Profession Be Unto Him) was this idiot thinking Indeed. Young man didn't have his back-up-back-up notepad. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-07-18 16:44 |
| #4 ...There's some stuff that just doesn't sound right here. A RIF should not, under any circumstances, result in a debt to the Government for Academy tuition. And THIS guy: Shortly after arriving at Vandenberg for training in late December, the lieutenant was asked if he would launch a nuclear warhead if ordered to, his wife said The lieutenant said he couldnÂ’t, mistakenly thinking he had sole responsibility for igniting the missile.. What in the name of Curtis LeMay (Peace Is Our Profession Be Unto Him) was this idiot thinking when he volunteered for missile duty? He should have been sent straight back to his old unit the instant he gave that answer. "Thought he had sole responsibility" my @ss... Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2010-07-18 12:11 |
| #3 There was a program called "Blue to Green" in which AF and USN officers could transfer to the Army -- the "Blue" services were overmanned and the USA was building up. An AF 1LT munitions officer who worked for me made that move after being RIFd. However, other AF officers refused to apply because they liked their 8-5 AF jobs, had nobody to supervise, and didn't want to camp outdoors. I had no sympathy. |
| Posted by: Highlander 2010-07-18 10:42 |
| #2 He was on probation but turned himself around and finished on schedule. He said he thought the past would stay in the past. So, there's more to the story than we're getting. Past remains the past for juvi records. You're not a juvi at this point in life. The number of officers, second lieutenants to colonels, targeted for discharge is 1,373. Those over 20 years of credible service are going to pull retirement and benefits, unless they choose to walk away from them. Those with over 18 years are lawfully locked into 20 years for retirement unless they've done something justifying a courts martial. Congress made that a law after past abuses by the personnel management in the uniform services. So we're really dealing with from second lieutenants to majors with less than 18 years leaving. It's call a reduction in force. Numerous such actions in the 70s and a few in the 90s. The fundamental problem was that the allocation of manpower in the 80s and 90s was done with a lot of inter service politics and selling their programs to Congress. Now that we've had a fighting war for nearly a decade, the real world is identifying how manpower needs to be allocated. The needs of the two competing allocation processes, empire building versus real life, doesn't match up. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-07-18 07:35 |
| #1 Find a military recruiter, either US Army, Navy or Marine Corps and continue to march. They will be very glad to see you and initiate a grade determination which will most likely result in a return to the enlisted ranks at the previous rank held. Depending upon the needs of the service, the a retention of your reserve commission and status is also a possibility. Don't throw away the time served, hang in there. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-07-18 06:30 |