My nephew has decided to not re-enlist in the Air Force. I am so relieved

[Siwsan]

I just have a bad, bad feeling about the next couple of years. It is the same feeling I had in 2000. I think he might still have a year to go, so meanwhile I'll just hope and pray things stay stable enough for him to get out. He is young and healthy, and he has what should be some very marketable skills.

[metroins]

1. Not sure how I feel

I'm glad on a micro level for him....but also not glad our military likely lost a good soldier.

[itsrobert]

3. Airman

[ALBliberal]

2. Gotta feeling he won't be alone in this decision. Stay safe troops!

[haele]

4. Just hope they don't implement a stop-loss before he's out.

I saw a lot of good people stuck in the military for a year or two after the end of their enlistment - being sent back to another two/three deployments because the DoD didn't have enough trained replacements in either the skilled billets or in the grunt units.

Good luck to your nephew. And hopefully, there will be a market for his skills when he gets out.

Haele

[workinclasszero]

5. The time to get out is now for sure

After IL Douche starts a hot war in some godforsaken hellhole he will issue stop-loss orders and you will be forced to fight till you are dead or maimed for life.

Stop-loss policy

In the United States military, stop-loss is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date and up to their contractually agreed end of active obligated service (EAOS). It also applies to the cessation of a permanent change of station (PCS) move for a member still in military service. Stop-loss was used immediately before and during the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War. Since then, it has been used during deployments to Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and after the September 11 attacks and the subsequent campaign against terror.

The policy has been legally challenged several times. However, federal courts have consistently found that military service members contractually agree that their term of service may be involuntarily extended until the end of their obligated service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop-loss_policy

[Siwsan]

7. That is my remaining worry

I went to his graduation from basic training and I definitely remember that happened in the month of December. I think he was in basic for 10 weeks, but I'm not really sure. When I went through basic, they had shortened it to 8 weeks but that was quite some time ago.

So if I am calculating right, and things don't blow up by October, maybe he will be in the clear.

[CherokeeDem]

6. My young cousin is in the Air Force...

He plans to remain, having just made sergeant, hopefully reaching master sergeant level before he retires. I was talking to his mother last night and we decided that we were happy he was in the USAF and not another branch of the military. He's in armament attached to a fighter wing and so he'll go where they go if deployed but at least not on the ground.

I fear for the next four years... I don't want to lose these young men and women to Trump's ineptitude.

Good luck to your nephew Siwsan, hope things go well for him!

May we find peace, not war, but I'm not holding my breath.

[MrScorpio]

8. Good on him

This retired AF vet approves.

[Siwsan]

10. There was a time I had hoped he would make it a career.

And I think he was looking at it that way because he seems to really enjoy what he does.

[smirkymonkey]

9. My brother is a Lt. Col. in the Air Force and just got deployed AGAIN to Mosul.

I am absolutely sick to my stomach about it. I will not be well until he is home and safe. I hate this war. He has a wife and two lovely children. I only hope that he comes home safely.

[samir.g]

11. Good decision! Get out before chickenhawks like drumpf and mattis send him off to die for $$$

[Aristus]

12. Welcome to DU.

[samir.g]

19. Thanks!

I lost my old login credentials when the nazis hacked us on election night.

[deaniac21]

13. Air Force

the only branch where enlisted men send officers to battle

[MrScorpio]

14. When I pointed that out to a grunt many moons ago...

It blew his adorable little mind.

[Quackers]

16. I really wish I had joined the Air Force.

I did 8 years with the Army and served in Iraq. The Air Force always took better care of their people. There were more opportunities available too.

[roamer65]

15. With Dump's latest China provocation...it's a smart move on his part.

Hope he able to get out in time, Siwsan.

[Dawson Leery]

17. Considering the insanity about to enter the executive,

wise choice.

[hunter]

18. My brother's godson enlisted when Bill Clinton was President.

After 9/11 he spent a few years in Iraq recovering body parts of our soldiers.

He's still messed up.

Kept it together until he got home.

[librechik]

20. if they need him in the next couple years he will be ordered back

fine print in the document. You are pretty much always enlisted, once you do it.

[Siwsan]

21. I had a one year 'inactive reserve' clause in my enlistment contract.

After that expired, they stopped trying to get me to re-enlist.