Senator John McCain Archives - Military Connection

af pilot

Despite the fact that President Trump invoked the National Emergencies Act to address the Air Force pilot shortage, Air Force officials have indicated they have no current plans to act on the authority granted to them by the president’s order to increase pilot numbers.

The Air Force needs roughly 20,000 pilots to accommodate its various needs and fly its wide array of aircraft. Roughly 10 percent of its positions remain unfilled.

While appreciative of the leeway granted by the act which allows the Air Force to voluntarily recall up to 1,000 retired aviators for active duty, the Air Force is responding to the pilot shortage with various incentive programs to keep officers in uniform longer.

Incentives such as promotion opportunities and pay bonuses worth up to $350,000 over a 10-year term may help ease the crisis.

But it doesn’t always come down to dollars and cents. Brig. Gen. Mike Koscheski, the Air Force’s Aircrew Crisis Task Force director said that incentives that focus on work-life balance and quality of life are paramount to retention.

“We’re looking to provide more time for the air crew member to have with their family and some work time at home,” said Koscheski.

But Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Senator John McCain, a veteran who was a U.S. Navy pilot during Vietnam, disagrees. A critic of how the Air Force has handled the pilot shortage, Sen. McCain feels the problem is actually linked to a desire to fly and the fact pilots feel they’re grounded far too often due to budget cuts.

“You are addressing this issue of pilot shortage from exactly the wrong direction,” said Sen. McCain. “I talk to too many [pilots] all the time. They say, ‘Senator McCain, all I want to do is fly. I want to be in combat.’ That’s what they’re all about…So this whole idea of trying to outbid the airlines on the keeping people in the Air Force is foolish.”

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By Debbie Gregory.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that he “should have known better” than to use his personal email for work-related matters.

His remarks followed a New York Times report in which said Carter he used his personal email account for work matters during his first months at the Pentagon. This is a violation of Defense Department rules.

Carter owned up to the “mistake,” taking full responsibility for the fact that he had used an iPhone to send administrative emails.

White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, learned in May that Carter was using the account. McDonough had the White House Counsel’s Office contact the Pentagon to ask why Carter was using the account, and what was being done to ensure he was following government laws and regulations.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that Carter rarely uses email for government business to begin with.

“Any email related to work received on this personal account, such as an invitation to speak at an event or an administrative issue, is copied or forwarded to his official account so it can be preserved as a federal record as appropriate,” Cook said. “After reviewing his email practices earlier this year, the Secretary believes that his previous, occasional use of personal email for work-related business, even for routine administrative issues and backed up to his official account, was a mistake.”

Cook stated that the personal email account was for corresponding “primarily with friends and family,” and did not address any violation of Defense Department rules. He stressed that Carter did not use either his personal or official account for classified material.

The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said that he had requested copies of Mr. Carter’s personal emails for his committee’s review “to ensure that sensitive information was not compromised.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve, and their families.