MILITARY UPDATE
'Stop loss' orders force many to change their plans
Military Update focuses on issues affecting pay, benefits and lifestyle of active and retired servicepeople. Its author, Tom Philpott, is a Virginia-based syndicated columnist and freelance writer. He has covered military issues for almost 25 years, including six years as editor of Navy Times. For 17 years he worked as a writer and senior editor for Army Times Publishing Co. Philpott, 49, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1973 and served as an information officer from 1974-77.
By Tom Philpott
Through television, the nation sees U.S. forces in action in Afghanistan.
Most Americans also know that thousands of reservists have been called to active duty to protect the homeland and help fight the war on terrorism.
Less well known is that more than 40,000 military personnel have seen their plans to separate or retire from service derailed since Sept. 11.
Service "stop loss" orders, the first issued soon after President Bush declared war on terrorism, are a big deal inside the military, causing turbulence and uncertainty for thousands of service families.
The Air Force has been the most aggressive on stop loss with an order last October that blocked for four months all separations and retirements, expect in certain hardship cases. In late January, the Air Force eased up, ending stop loss for 16 percent of officer specialties and 21 percent of enlisted skills.
More releases will be made every two months, said Lt. Col. Rich Binger, chief of separations at the Air Force Personnel Center in San Antonio. But 31,000 Air Force personnel who intended to retire or separate in fiscal 2002 will see some extended service time.
The program is so extensive, Binger said, because the war and homeland air patrols had a dramatic effect on Air Force missions.
"Not knowing what the steady state would look like after 9-11," Binger said, "it seemed a wise decision just to hang on to everybody."
That's why at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Senior Airman Joseph Casey, 25, remains a weather observer with the 1st Operational Support Squadron, five months after his enlistment contract expired. He isn't upset about losing a bartending job he had lined up. But Casey said he is worried about his plans to return to college this fall at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.
"I didn't realize the duration would be to this extent, or that it might affect me going to school this year," said Casey, a bachelor.
Maj. Jonathan Holdaway, 40, an F-15 pilot with the 94th Fighter Squadron at Langley, was six days from the start of training with American Airlines. Within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks, he knew his career plans had changed. He just didn't know for how long.
When the stop loss order came down in October, he pulled his separation papers, knowing he couldn't leave anyway.
"I spent 15 years serving my country. It's a little tough to take yourself out of the game when you are under attack," he said.
The Army delayed using stop loss until January, then did so in increments, targeting only war-critical skills.
The goal is "to minimize stop loss as much as we can," said Lt. Col. Bob Ortiz, chief of the Army's enlisted professional development branch.
On Jan. 15, the Army stopped releasing active duty Special Forces soldiers and selected aviation specialties. A second increment hit Reserve and National Guard personnel in those same specialties plus mortuary affairs, civil affairs and psychological operations. Increment three, which began Feb. 22, blocked retirements and separations for intelligence and law enforcement fields.
Army stop loss is reviewed monthly but soldiers in the first several increments can assume their service time is extended by at least six months. Ortiz called it a "six-month rolling window ... to maintain our flexibility."
Waivers are possible if, for example, a soldier already shipped his or her household goods to a final destination before the stop loss order came down.
The sea services have only modest stop loss programs. Capt. Steve Conn, head of Navy enlisted plans and policy, said law enforcement, security, cryptology and foreign language specialties are affected. But through Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2002, only about 300 sailors will see delays in separation or retirement. That is down from 1,600 because of new reviews of stop loss skills.
The Navy said it plans to review its list of stop loss skills every quarter.
Col. Brian Byrne, head of the Marine Corps' enlisted plans section, said 700 Marines will serve additional months under a stop loss program that took effect Jan. 1. They primarily are in infantry and tanker aircraft skills.
No Marine will be held beyond an extra six months and no retirement plans will be impacted.
The Coast Guard has not used stop loss, choosing to handle an expanded port security mission with reservists, voluntarily recalled retirees and former Coast Guard personnel enticed back through a new lateral-entry program.
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