"...do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."

"For the good of the Air Force, for the good of the armed services and for the good of our country, I urge you to reject convention and careerism..."
- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Maxwell AFB, April 21, 2008

"You will need to challenge conventional wisdom and call things like you see them to subordinates and superiors alike."
- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, United States Air Force Academy, March 4, 2011

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Thanks for the Relay NORAD!


It appears the message got through to Santa.  I went to a Town Hall today and got some more information on the questions on my Christmas list:
Dear Santa,

1.  Since the announcement stated that enlisted who were RIF'd with more than 15 years will automatically be offered Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA), and since that same detail was for some reason not provided for officers RIF'd with more than 15 years in...  Well....  Will it be offered for officers, too?

2.  Since the announcement stated that enlisted force shaping boards would not consider those who would have eighteen years of service by the mandatory separation date since they would be in "sanctuary," and since the same details were not offered for officers who would be separated with eighteen plus years...  Well...  Will officers also be considered to be in sanctuary if the separation date puts them at eighteen years and therefore also spared the RIF?

3.  Are pilots going to be denied TERA yet again in January (because they're hacking the mish in not-overmanned-career fields with less than stellar manning unlike those officers being offered TERA), only to months later find that 550 jets were cut from the inventory afterward, making them magically (and without any previous knowledge, of course) eligible for the RIF?  Or are pilots so "bored" that they will be considered overmanned and allowed the same opportunity as other officers in January?
What Santa today said was:

1.  Officer involuntary/voluntary programs will target officers in "overage populations" (by AFSC and year group).

2.  Enlisted folks who are not retained after a board, who have more than 15 years of service, will NOT be offered TERA.  This contradicts recent guidance on MyPers:
- Quality Force Review Board (QFRB). The... TERA will be offered to Airmen with at least 15 years of service who are not retained....

 - Enlisted Retention Boards. The... TERA will be offered to Airmen with at least 15 years of service before the board and to similarly eligible Airmen who are not retained...
I'm going to track down if this really true or not.  If not, I'll continue to ask whether the same offer of TERA will be made to officers who are not retained from the RIF.

3.  My second question from my list was answered, and it was shown on page/slide eight of a powerpoint slideshow.  The RIF board for officers will not consider officers who will have eighteen years of service as of January, 2015, just like the enlisted boards.

4.  The list of those eligible to apply for TERA has been created, but has been put on hold for some reason.  Expect notifications to come if you are eligible for the program.

Santa's slides with more information can be found here.   These slides have not yet been verified by AFPC, though the question has been asked, so it's possible one wing got it wrong (though I doubt it in this case).
I'll continue to find and verify information, and then update this blog post.  Thanks for the quick turn around Santa!

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for looking into it and asking the questions. Been following your blog for awhile since I'm in a similar situation approaching my 18 year point as a major. As a medical officer AFPC says we're always allowed to continue to 20 yrs with a good record but these days I'm not putting anymore faith in that. I'll feel better when I can punch in the retirement date in MyPers one year out. I've had great assignments in base operations and several deployments but too deep operationally and not enough career-broadening or strategic experience likely kept me from promotion. That's OK with me since I did well where I was and led my flights to excellent results. I tried for special-duty a few years back but AFPC shot that down because my career field is usually below the authorization limit and they did not release me from primary duty. It's been a great experience in the AF and looking forward to transitioning my leadership skills to the private sector. I would consider civil service but federal management is too dysfunctional now :(

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  2. I added slides from the Town Hall in case they're useful. Haven't yet gotten AFPC to verify the RIF date of separation/sanctuary thing yet.

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  3. Have you seen the eligibility matrix from mypers (if not I can send). Very curious what you make of the following asterixed remark at the bottom:

    *All Selectively Continued Officers with greater than 15 but less than 19 total years of service are eligible for TERA and other voluntary programs, with the exception of the Following AFSCs: 11F/H/U, 12F/H/U, 13C/D/L, 18X ,52R

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  4. It's good news for the great many pilots I know who want to get out. The question I have is, what constitutes AFSC? Is it a person's primary AFSC (PAFSC)? Is it their RDTM code? What if your PAFSC is not on the chart (like trainer pilot or generalist pilot)? Then what AFSC is used?

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  5. I looked at my SURF and there is a section under "AFSCs" that says "Core Flag" and gives a three digit identifier (ie "11F") which I'm guessing is what will be used for these programs as the "core AFSC."

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  6. Yeah I would suspect its core AFSC. I'm not sure exactly how many officers are in continued status but I would guess its not over 1000, I wonder how many of those they'll approve. Great post and love the info...

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