Trump til USAF: Hyr in pensjonerte flygere - USAF: Nope - AVweb/Curt Lewis

USAF Rejects Retired Pilot Recall By Geoff Rapoport The U.S. Air Force said on Sunday there are no plans to use the powers created by President Donald Trump last week to force the recall of retired pilots. "We appreciate the authorities and flexibility delegated to us," said Ann Stefanek, chief of Air Force media operations on Sunday. However, "the Air Force does not currently intend to recall retired pilots to address the pilot shortage,” Stefanek said. The White House made waves last week by amending a 9/11-era executive order granting the Department of Defense emergency powers to force the recall of retired military officers to active duty. Department of Defense spokesman Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross had said he expected the Secretary of Defense would use the power to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for three years each, a plan that had evidently not been run past Air Force leadership. Senior Air Force officials have told Congress they are short about 1,500 pilots, a number they expect will grow for several years as airlines continue to hire en masse and the Air Force works to build up training resources. The branch is mostly short fighter pilots who have been most affected by more than 16 years at war. The Air Force says it doesn't plan to recall retired pilots to fix shortage F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Arizona Air National Guard's 162nd Wing fly an air-to-air training mission, April 8, 2015. US Air Force/Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen An amended executive order gave the Defense Department the authority to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots to address a personnel shortage. The Air Force says it doesn't currently intend to recall those pilots however. The Air Force says it doesn't plan to use new authority granted by an amended executive order to recall retired pilots to correct an ongoing personnel shortage. "The Air Force does not currently intend to recall retired pilots to address the pilot shortage," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said on Sunday. "We appreciate the authorities and flexibility delegated to us." Trump signed the order on Friday, granting additional authority to the Defense Department under Executive Order 13223. A Pentagon spokesman said on Friday that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis requested the move. Mattis was expected to delegate to the Air Force secretary the authority to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for up to three years. The Air Force is currently about 1,500 pilots shy of the 20,300 it is mandated to have. About 1,000 of those absent are fighter pilots. Some officials have deemed the shortage a "quiet crisis." Under current law, the Air Force was limited to recalling 25 pilots; the executive order temporarily lifts that cap. The Air Force has already pursued a number of new policies to retain current pilots and train new ones. In August, the service announced that it would welcome back up to 25 retired pilots who elected to return to fill "critical-rated staff positions" so active-duty pilots could continue in their current assignments.