Posted on 10/21/2017 4:22:07 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Trump Signs Order Allowing Recall of Retired Air Force Pilots
October 20, 2017 10:16 PM
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will allow the Air Force to bring back to active duty as many as 1,000 retired pilots to address a pilot shortage.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross, said the Air Force is short about 1,500 pilots.
“The pilot supply shortage is a national-level challenge that could have adverse effects on all aspects of both the government and commercial aviation sectors for years to come,” Ross said.
25-pilot cap removed
Under current law, the Air Force is limited to recalling 25 pilots. Trump’s order, which amends a post-9/11 emergency declaration, removes that cap for the Air Force, as well as other branches of the military.
Ross said the secretary of Defense is expected to allow the secretary of the Air Force to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for up to three years.
(Excerpt) Read more at voanews.com ...
Do I win a cookie? 😁🛩✈️
Getting ready for Norks...
You’ve done so well you get a secret prize. Check your mail.
“Shooting to bring back the 100’s of pilots who left under Obama I suppose. .. ...should call back some senior command officers who were forced out by Obama for various and dubious reasons”.
My thought exactly. Many left under that horrendous regime and his ridiculous ROE. Come back and make the USA strong and brave again. I don’t trust the younger set.
“A draft by any other name is still a draft.” - (with apologies to Shakespeare)
This and other similar trends/factors sort of put the lie to the idea of our “volunteer” military. The nearly two decades of continuous warfare since 9/11 have over-extended and exhausted our military. We’ve asked our volunteers to serve tour after tour after tour till we’ve used them up, and now we’re forcing them to do even more.
This sorry situation was an entirely foreseeable consequence of asking our volunteers to fight never-ending wars micro-managed by politicians who had no intention of letting them actually win.
I always figured it was possible.
Remember the German army in WWII were putting 15 year olds and 60+ year olds on the front line.
There are a lot of rear echelon jobs that a 69 year old 1Lt could do better than most.
I don’t know.
I can’t do the manual of arms anymore. If I try to salute I’ll throw my shoulder out. If I try an about face I’ll probably fall over.
Hell, I’ve even forgotten how to use the F-word.
I suspect many would jump at the chance to get back into the game if the cause was right and we fight to win. I’m 67 years old and consider myself to be in damn good shape for my age. I believe I’m just as deadly as I was almost 50 years ago, maybe more so.
If you get shot down just think of the SSI/Medicare savings! But then those planes are not cheap.
This would be an excellent opportunity to recall John McCain...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Would a voluntary recall be an option?
LOL…great idea. McCain never met a war he didn’t like…and that someone else can fight.
'Concentration' will wear you out as much as major muscle mass exercise!
Semper Fi!
"To Soar is Heavenly,
to Hover, Divine!"
:-)
I always wondered what they would do with a sixty-nine year-old 1st Lieutenant.
A 69 year old Lieutenant with a life time of experience.
Although my service (enlisted and commissioned) was with the Marine Corps, I am going to assume that the Air Force also has a number of ground, non-flying TO billets that call for pilot officers. Releasing a “desk-bound” active duty officer to return to flying is probably how they would be employed. In addition, they would probably recall much younger (relatively speaking) retirees before going for the 69 year olds (of any rank)since, if they were going to be flying, it would be alot easier to requalify them. Right now, it is just the authority to recall up to that many officers. I hope the Air Force has a specific slot identified for each retiree they intend to recall. I also hope there is some compensation provided for the significant amount of income a lot of these pilots will probably lose.
I had just retired (like 3 days before) when Desert Shield went down in 1990 and, as a logistics officer, expected to be recalled to colors. I was in a northern VA office full of recently retired Marines. After a month or so, the Commandant put the word out that the retired community should relax since not even all of the active duty and reserve Marine Corps was involved in the deployment of forces. Ultimately, as I recall, only select pilots, intel and civil affairs officers were recalled.
Interestingly, the one non-retired Marine in the office, an infantry captain with a year or two left on his obligated service, was eventually recalled and sent to Camp Lejeune to command one of the replacement infantry companies being formed for deployment. But Desert Storm was so short and one sided that he was released before even being assigned to a unit. After being released, he returned briefly to our area and used his EAS orders to arrange shipping for his household goods to Florida. He was single, had family in the state and interested in computer simulation. He went to Orlando as I recall, since it was then (and still is now) a major center for the training and simulation industry.
Twenty seven years on, I hope he enjoyed all the success he wanted.
Dutch Holland
A few years ago (about 5?) when the AF, under Obama, was reducing the size of the force all of the non-HQ types were predicting this would happen.
\But, the Perfumed Princes of the Pentagon ignored the warnings. Too busy chasing their Obama promotion I guess.
Any chance of also recalling these very senior officers and then retiring them at a significantly lower rank commensurate with their last year of good service?
AB!, re: “I don’t think this is forcing anyone to come back in, but only allowing them to if they want to”, I would hope that is the case, but the article used the term “recall”, which to me has connotations of being mandatory.
Also, re: “And before you say I was less than patriotic”, the thought never entered my mind. I know you better than that!
If these reactivations are voluntary, that’s good, but it doesn’t negate the dire situation that our leaders have degraded and worn out our military. The National Guard has been used, and over-used, far beyond the scope for which it was originally intended, simply because the politicians didn’t want to take the money they use for their vote buying/bribery domestic programs and spend it on creating and maintaining a sufficient level of strength in the so-called regular “professional” military.
We are far more vulnerable than people realize., We’ve been spoiled by years of rolling over second and third world military forces, but if we have to confront one or more top-level opponents, we stand a good chance of humiliating loss.
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