The Navy doesn't want its pilots to check out before the deployment ends.
Will that really boost pilot retention?
The Navy will now require naval aviators to serve past their minimum service requirement in order to complete their second, two-year sea tour — the sea service’s latest attempt to boost retention in the aviation community[.]
It seems more likely to boost pilot resentment. Still, it will help unit cohesion in the air wing.
The Army did this with its units deployed to Iraq at the
height of the fighting. This "stop loss" policy was for the purpose of maintaining unit
cohesion and was not a "backdoor draft" as war critics wrongly
asserted. At least Army troops extended were in combat and knew they were truly needed. Who would be happy with abandoning their comrades by leaving during the middle of a unit's deployment overseas?
Arguing we need more carriers seems moot if we don't even have enough pilots for the few carriers we deploy forward.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War (and the expanded war on Hezbollah) in this post.NOTE: You may also read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved.NOTE: The image was made with DALL-E 3 on Bing.
