I have heard the USAF is starting to have retention issues. Is this just an "urban legend" floating around, or is there some truth to this?

i dont think they understand the impact it truly has on people. our guys are getting burnt out maintaining aircraft so we can produce training missions. even when the unit isnt deployed, we are slowly getting more and more fed up with our work. stress at work becomes stress at home and eventually people just give up on it. when that happens, everyone else has to pick up the slack and then they all get burnt out too. we end up dropping sorties because we cant fix planes fast enough without people, then we fly even more to make up for the lost sorties. congratulations, we have effectively crafted a maintenance death spiral. everyone is pissed and nobody wants to stay in anymore. we are forced not to do more with less, but to do everything with nothing, yet on top of it we are crucified when we make mistakes. sounds like some weapons grade bullshit to me. but dont worry guys, that "Atta boy" really cheers us up...

This has been going on the decades. The big draw down after Korea left us unprepared for Viet Nam. Numerous draw downs over the next decades left us unable to maintain mission capability with some of our aircraft. I was an admin troop for over 20 years then a 1st Sgt. I saw the people in my squadrons work crazy shifts just trying to keep the A/C in the air. As a SNCO I was put in charge of the engine shop for a month because we didn't have any other SNCOs. I was told the TSgts would run the maintenance and I would take care of the people. How strange is that. Even after being retired since 1991, the people at my base continue to tell me about how they are expected to more with less. The military services have cut all the fat there is and are now into the meat. The pace can't keep up without affecting something.

I really hate hearing this. I've been trying to go Air Guard/Reserve for a year now. I'm prior Air Force with two AFSCs and an active SCI. Recruiters won't look my way because I have tattoos. Just on the arms and easily concealable. Perhaps if push comes to shove, people like me will be given a fair chance to serve again.

Employment Opportunities are improving in the Outside World, Benefits Packages are improving in the Civilian World. Wouldn't surprise me that the Air Force has a little Competition Now.

Certainly some truth, especially in wonderful career fields like RPA pilots. Bonuses just went from $25K to $35K per year, but they haven't changed how they do their jobs (yet). Think it'll work?

The economy is getting better. This always leads to retention and recruiting issues in the AF, especially for high skill AFSCS. No biggie! This happens all the time and there are tried and true methods for fixing it.

Happens every time there is a democratic president. "Small military"=people getting burned out. Freeze on promotions, lack of bonuses, more hours, less people. These are all good reasons to get out!

This has been an ongoing problem with the AF and all military branches. However, retention is a problem with all agencies and businesses. If there is a company that is willing to pay you more than your current company for your services, often the result is someone leaving that corporation to go to another. It is a game in many companies in which a person interviews and receives another job offer for more money to leverage his current company for a promotion/raise. From the military's point, in most cases, you can get a higher compensation from the civilian world that the military will pay you depending on your specialty. Obviously, infantry and tank drivers (or navigators, in my case) are not in high demand on the civilian market. The military's feast-famine personnel practices also make for personnel shortages. Last but not least, if the overall treatment isn't up to snuff (many deployments, long hours, strains on family, etc), people tend to look elsewhere for employment, both in the civilian and military communities. So, there are a lot of reasons why there may be retention issues. The military doesn't have the flexibility to make the job employee friendly like the civilian community does. In the civilian world, such measures are constrained by the bottom line (earnings and profits vis a vis budgetary limits in the military). I haven't noticed a significant difference in either community when it comes to retention. The military's options just seem to be more restricted.

Well I know sir the Air Force Times had posted back in June that due to the projections for 2016 they would allow personnel to come back on active duty for two years for certain career fields. I have inquired through AFPC and currently the list for those targeted career fields has not been identified

Usually it's in low manned career fields. In the last 19 years I've seen two force reductions immediately followed by we need to beef up again. Unfortunately you don't know until the last minute. If your career field is low manned I wouldn't worry about it.