The Air Force chief of staff said Wednesday he is not considering a stop-loss measure that would force airmen to stay in the service to fill a gaping pilot shortfall, appearing to reel back recent comments by another senior general.
Gen. David Goldfein, speaking at the Heritage Foundation, said despite a shortfall of 1,555 pilots, the Air Force is far from the point where it would resort to stop-loss, which has been used during wartime in the past but remains unpopular with the rank and file and instead will focus on incentives to fill the positions.
“It is not really in my portfolio,” Goldfein said. “This is something that the [defense] secretary and the president would consider at a point where they would have to do this in either a national emergency or something of that effect.
“We are far from that point,” he said.
The commander of the service’s Air Mobility Command, Gen. Carlton Everhart, told Roll Call this week that Air Force brass will meet with commercial airline executives next month to discuss ways to cooperate and solve the shortfall of airmen, which includes over 1,200 fighter pilots.
“I said to the industry … if we can’t meet the requirements, the chief could drop in a stop-loss — and you need to understand that,” Everhart told Roll Call.
But Goldfein said he is more focused on incentives and giving airmen more flexibility to move from the active service to the Guard and reserve depending on their personal needs.
“The reason I say I am not considering stop-loss is because I’m looking at working with the force right now,” he said. “I’m looking at all the different options that I can use to incentivize the force to stay with us.”
Lt. Gen. Mark Nowland, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, said Wednesday that the service will work with Congress to try to increase pilot retention bonuses as part of an incentive package to draw and keep pilots.
Lawmakers increased the annual bonuses to $35,000, but the service had requested a $48,000 limit.
