USAF Overstaffed with Lt's

[big bad john]

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=37048

Air Force lieutenants to learn fates Wednesday
Nearly 900 officers to be let go due to overstaffing

By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, May 10, 2006



Hundreds of lieutenants in selected career fields throughout the Air Force are scheduled to find out Wednesday if they’ll still be wearing their dress blues next year.

The service has determined it has too many officers who received their commissions in 2002 and 2003 and a board met in April to determine who will stay in. According to a press release issued by the Air Force Personnel Center, 843 officers — or just more than 40 percent of those who joined in the two-year period — will be let go.

Judy Grojean, a spokeswoman for AFPC, said Tuesday from Randolph Air Force Base in Texas that officials were reluctant to answer further questions until those affected had been notified.

The news is supposed to come individually from commanders or senior raters.

Air Force lieutenants in Europe will not officially be notified of who is being retained and who is not until Wednesday, said Air Force Master Sgt. Bob Purtiman, a spokesman for U.S. Air Forces in Europe at Ramstein Air Base.

Not all career fields are thought to be overstaffed and the percentage of those targeted in selected career fields could be lower or higher than the overall percentage.

Those who aren’t retained are eligible to seek positions in the reserve or Guard or submit packages to transfer to the Army. They also may apply for civil service jobs. They’re also eligible for variable separation packages.

According to the press release, the officers will be separated no later than Sept. 29. It was not stated how soon the departures might begin.

Those affected have known about the process for months, though the numbers of those who would lose their positions and the dates when they would find out have fluctuated.

According to the press release, 1,240 of the lieutenants who joined the Air Force in the two-year period will keep their jobs.

 

[tomahawk6]

I bet they won't be letting any rated officer's out.

 

[scoutfinch]

Sorry tomahawk but what is a *rated officer*?

 

[tomahawk6]

One that is a pilot or navigator.

 

[big bad john]

http://www.stripesonline.com/article.asp?article=37487&section=104

Some Air Force lieutenants may be asked not to separate


By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, May 27, 2006



ARLINGTON, Va. — After it was discovered that missing paperwork might have devalued their retention package, 192 Air Force lieutenants recently notified that their Air Force career would end on Sept. 30 will get a second look.

A special board will convene June 26 to re-examine their records, Air Force officials said.

The young officers, 1st and 2nd lieutenants who were commissioned in 2002 and 2003, are part of a larger group of 844 Air Force lieutenants who were selected for involuntary separation by the April 2006 Force Shaping Board.

The 2002 and 2003 classes had to be downsized because over-enthusiastic officer recruiting and unusually high retention rates after Sept. 11, 2001, left the Air Force with an imbalance of junior officers, Air Force officials said.

On May 10, the Force Shaping Board selected 844 out of a total of 2,084 lieutenants from the two year groups for involuntary separation, which includes an honorable discharge and eligibility for programs such as Blue-to-Green (going from the Air Force and Navy to the Army).

The officers were selected after board members compared personnel records according to evaluations, board scores, and the level of over- or under-manning of their career field, Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Bentley said Friday.

But as the board continued its “racking and stacking,” members started to note that a few of the personnel files appeared to be missing initial training records from the schools officers attend when first entering into their skills field of choice, Bentley said.

The board continued with its work nevertheless “because they were up against a deadline,” Bentley said. “They had to give [lieutenants] 180 days’ notice of separation, and they had to be separated no later than Sept. 29,” the end of the federal fiscal 2006.

After the board had finished and delivered its results, however, personnel officials found that the “schoolhouses” for certain skill groups had neglected to put training records into their graduates’ personnel files.

And those records could have made a positive difference in the board’s calculation to separate the officer, Bentley said, if a lieutenant had been a distinguished graduate of his or her school, or had another notation indicating outstanding performance, leadership qualities, or motivation.

For the 2002 group, six schoolhouses had not inserted training records into the personnel jackets of their officer graduates, Bentley said: aircraft maintenance, logistics readiness, security force, communications/information, public affairs and finance.

For the 2003 group, three schools had neglected the recordkeeping: air field operations, public affairs and weather.

Personnel officials have corrected the records and on Wednesday sent letters explaining the situation to the 192 officers, Bentley said.

The lieutenants have until June 19 to decide if they want to be reconsidered for retention by the special board, or accept the results of the April board and separate from the Air Force as scheduled, she said.

The results of the special board are scheduled to be announced on July 19, Bentley said.

If, after looking at the complete personnel records, the special board decides to keep some of 192 lieutenants, the Air Force will not go back and cut another young officer who thought he or she was safe from separation to make up the difference, Bentley said.

“Anybody identified as retained, will remain retained,” Bentley said.

Asked how the Air Force will pay for the extra personnel it might end up keeping on the books, Bentley said, “we’ll work it into the force-shaping plan. We need to do the right thing.”

 

[Infanteer]

Make an infantry battalion of Air Force subbies....