It is obvious that the economy is still not where it was before it took a nose dive back in October of 2008. Companies are still laying off workers, thousands of newly unemployed Americans are filing unemployment benefits at this moment, and the talk of falling into a deeper recession still lingers. However, not only does the civilian sector feel the impact of an economic downfall, so does the military community.
In the June 2009 issue of the Air Force Times, an article written by Sam LaGrone titled “Fewer Fighters”, speaks about the downsizing of the Air Force. The government hopes that by downsizing the military we can be a more lethal Air Force focusing on adding the more futuristic and modern aircraft such as the F-22 and F-35. Though this makes more sense as we wish to continue to be the most dominate military in the world, what many don’t know is that by wanting these next generation aircraft, the Air Force is about to start cutting jobs.
The Air Force has plans to start eliminating 5 to 10 squadrons, and a total of 249 aircraft as stated in the article. Four thousand Airman will see themselves without a squadron, though they will be given choices, depending on where their duty location is. The Airman and Officers affected by this cut may be given the option to retrain into another career field, be reassigned to another squadron on their duty station or move to another base doing the same job, though it all depends on what command they are with.
As the economy continues to struggle, Washington will continue to make budget cuts needed in order to move money around to other departments. When we speak about the pros about serving in the military, many if not all will agree that its a pretty safe way to make a living performing a job you enjoy. Though what people don’t know is that even in the military, the jobs that people choose to do while serving, may not be the job they will have by the time they retire or complete their enlistment. While a serviceman may lose his job of choice, he will find himself with a new job possibly with a new squadron; where as his civilian counter part will lose his job and collect unemployment benefits for a limited time while he searches and struggles to find work.
So is job security safe while serving in the military? Sure it is, however you too can find yourself losing the job you chose and love to do, because of military cutbacks pressured by the struggling economy. Though the military in the coming years will save billions of dollars because of these cuts, they already have plans on spending this money elsewhere. This will also affect government workers working on military facilities, private contracting companies and even surrounding areas of military installations.
Air Force Times article (Sam LaGrone
Decrease in Home Sales Attributed to Military Downsizing – old but still a good example
