The one hole in your long post is that without the pilot/flying/operations side of the Air Force, there is no Air Force ....regardless of how good capt snuffy is at leading his 200 CE troops or running an mpf.
If there's no tip of the spear left, then all you have is a shaft.
Turn the news off, go outside, and do something manly.
If something newsworthy happens, it will show up in cartoons or you will be called to deploy.
Being "hyper informed" and wringing your hands on the Internet will not change the course of events.
Yup. And I don't know that it's been definitively answered one way or another for vplad. But I'd be damn sure before I risked 3 years of seniority or more.
This isn't an AGR "mobilization". This is volunteering to go back to active duty. I would definitely find out (in writing) from both the usaf and your airline employer if you'll still have a seniority number on the back side of it.
This attitude is why earned retirement benefits (not entitlements) have eroded over the last few decades. A little bite here, a little bite there. Before you know it, you're paying for that free healthcare for life .... etc.
Maybe my terminology is off.
But as in it's not a mobilization or temporary thing. It's full time active duty. So you won't keep your foot in the door at an airline.
I'll gladly support trimming some military earned benefits (not entitlements thanks) when I start seeing other unearned entitlements (welfare) in society getting trimmed as well.
A - "crippling" pilot stortage
B - VPLAD
....
Y - stop loss
Z - profit
break the chain!
Read up on the details ... likely not USERRA protected (kiss that line number goodbye) and no guarantee to return to your guard unit. There are probably several other unsavory factors, but that's just what the porch is acknowledging, and they don't even run the program