Posted on Jan 21, 2015
Missileers are now highest-paid lieutenants thanks to bonuses
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From: Air Force Times
Two years ago, no ROTC cadets listed nuclear and missile operations among their top three career choices. Last year, however, 65 cadets did. And 174 cadets listed the 13N career field among their top six.
Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, attributes the growing interest to new bonuses that make missile officers the highest-paid lieutenants in the service.
The Air Force missileer community has seen rapid change in the year since a bottom-up review revealed morale problems in the career field.
Among the changes: The Air Force announced bonuses for missileers, which have made officers in the 13N career field the highest paid for the first six years of their careers. A new second lieutenant makes $34,862 per year, and a missileer in that rank is eligible for bonuses of up to $300 per month, along with additional bonuses for those who complete initial skills training and targeted incentive pay for airmen operating outside their main base.
After six years, pilots are eligible for aviation pay, which then makes them the highest paid.
In addition to pay, the Air Force has provided new vehicles to officers, deep-cleaned their launch control facilities, and adjusted their schedules to improve their quality of life, Harencak said Tuesday at an Air Force. More changes are still to come as the service continues to review recommendations from Global Strike Command's force improvement program.
"This isn't something to go, 'OK, we fixed that, let's move on,' " Harencak said. "It's going to be a continuous process."
The deep-seeded issues in the missileer ranks come from the service not focusing enough on the "people aspect" of the nuclear mission.
"We've aggressively gone after the solutions to those problems," Harencak said.
One major issue across the command has been undermanning in critical career fields. The service announced last month an effort to beef up manning in security forces by adding new teams to missile bases. The service is looking at ways to reach 100 percent manning in all critical career fields – security forces, aircraft armament systems, nuclear weapon maintenance, missile electronic maintenance, missile systems maintenance, missile facility maintenance, bomber aircraft maintenance and command post controller.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/careers/air-force/2015/01/20/force-improvement-program-recruitment-pay/22053331/
Two years ago, no ROTC cadets listed nuclear and missile operations among their top three career choices. Last year, however, 65 cadets did. And 174 cadets listed the 13N career field among their top six.
Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, attributes the growing interest to new bonuses that make missile officers the highest-paid lieutenants in the service.
The Air Force missileer community has seen rapid change in the year since a bottom-up review revealed morale problems in the career field.
Among the changes: The Air Force announced bonuses for missileers, which have made officers in the 13N career field the highest paid for the first six years of their careers. A new second lieutenant makes $34,862 per year, and a missileer in that rank is eligible for bonuses of up to $300 per month, along with additional bonuses for those who complete initial skills training and targeted incentive pay for airmen operating outside their main base.
After six years, pilots are eligible for aviation pay, which then makes them the highest paid.
In addition to pay, the Air Force has provided new vehicles to officers, deep-cleaned their launch control facilities, and adjusted their schedules to improve their quality of life, Harencak said Tuesday at an Air Force. More changes are still to come as the service continues to review recommendations from Global Strike Command's force improvement program.
"This isn't something to go, 'OK, we fixed that, let's move on,' " Harencak said. "It's going to be a continuous process."
The deep-seeded issues in the missileer ranks come from the service not focusing enough on the "people aspect" of the nuclear mission.
"We've aggressively gone after the solutions to those problems," Harencak said.
One major issue across the command has been undermanning in critical career fields. The service announced last month an effort to beef up manning in security forces by adding new teams to missile bases. The service is looking at ways to reach 100 percent manning in all critical career fields – security forces, aircraft armament systems, nuclear weapon maintenance, missile electronic maintenance, missile systems maintenance, missile facility maintenance, bomber aircraft maintenance and command post controller.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/careers/air-force/2015/01/20/force-improvement-program-recruitment-pay/22053331/
Posted in these groups: 
Nuclear
Military Pay
Nuclear Military Pay
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
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We are talking about nuclear weapons here. I would personally prefer that anyone involved in handling, monitoring, launching, or otherwise dealing with these weapons have access to the best facilities, training, leadership and that they be well compensated for their service.
There are other military specialties this also applies to.
There are other military specialties this also applies to.
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SSgt (Join to see)
You would think that this is the case but we are often ignored by Washington. The operating forces will always receive the priority and attention because they are the ones deploying and dying for their country. It seems to me that the reason for this is part apathy and part complacency from higher headquarters.
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How about instead of paying people to go into a career field, they force them to go into the career field just like any other job. There's a thing called "Needs of the _____(Insert Service here)"
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LCDR Doug Nordman
So now they're paying these people what it takes to persuade them to volunteer to do the job?
Imagine that.
Looks like the Air Force nukes have learned something from the Navy's nukes. Next thing you know the O-3s will expect $30K/year bonus money (and "silo pay") to stay in the community.
Vince, you're absolutely right about the "contract labor" mentality of all the loyalty you can buy. In the submarine force it's known as "blood money" and a few other NSWF terms.
Imagine that.
Looks like the Air Force nukes have learned something from the Navy's nukes. Next thing you know the O-3s will expect $30K/year bonus money (and "silo pay") to stay in the community.
Vince, you're absolutely right about the "contract labor" mentality of all the loyalty you can buy. In the submarine force it's known as "blood money" and a few other NSWF terms.
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LCDR Doug Nordman
And to any submariner-in-training who's reading this thread, I'll offer a piece of advice from my experience on SSBNs and SSNs:
"Dude: once you go fast attack, you'll never go back."
Save the SSBN tour for when BUPERS (and your family) wrestle you to the ground, hogtie you, and throw you down the hatch headfirst.
The skills you need to learn to succeed in the submarine force's mission areas are best learned as a junior officer on attack submarine missions.
The skills needed to succeed as a boomer sailor can be learned at any stage of your career.
"Dude: once you go fast attack, you'll never go back."
Save the SSBN tour for when BUPERS (and your family) wrestle you to the ground, hogtie you, and throw you down the hatch headfirst.
The skills you need to learn to succeed in the submarine force's mission areas are best learned as a junior officer on attack submarine missions.
The skills needed to succeed as a boomer sailor can be learned at any stage of your career.
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LTJG (Join to see)
These sort of jobs require a unique blend of technical and operational skill sets that when paired with aggressive work schedules make for an above and beyond job; especially for a first tour officer. Can't just ask anyone to fill these roles when the consequences for having an accident are dire (especially in the nuclear propulsion and missile field). They can however 'strongly suggest' qualified candidates consider it and justify it with a bonus
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