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Re-enlistment rules: Air Force

It is never too early to start thinking about re-enlisting.

As the Air Force automates more of the military personnel flight functions, re-enlistment decisions that once took plenty of paperwork and time away from your workplace, can now be done from a computer.

For example, most first-term airmen are required to make a Career Job Reservation that assures they’ll have a job if they re-enlist. The old system required the airman to make a formal application. Now, the Air Force automatically makes the reservation for you, unless you happen to be in a career field that is being down-sized as part of the service’s ongoing force cuts.

Of course, if you’re not staying for a second term an automatic reservation won’t make you stay in uniform.

Once an automatic reservation is made, you have until about five months before your enlistment ends to confirm with the Air Force if you are staying or leaving.

The easier methods for re-enlisting are coming on line at the same time the Air Force is trying to cut back its active-duty enlisted force by 6.5 percent, going from 282,822 to 264,424 by the end of September 2007.

As part of that effort, the Air Force is encouraging airmen in some job specialties to cross train into undermanned career fields or leave the service.

One of the most obvious examples of how force shaping is impacting re-enlistment policies is the shrinking number of Air Force specialty codes that offer re-enlistment bonuses.

Starting in July 2006, only 37 jobs were offered bonuses. The jobs included enlisted aircrew members, air traffic controllers, vehicle operations, intelligence-related duties and a host of language specialties. Just two years before, 157 Air Force specialty codes carried re-enlistment bonuses.

The best Web site for detailed re-enlistment information is run by the Air Force Personnel Center. The explanations can get technical and you might to search a bit for the information you need, but many of the answers are there.