The second class of airmen chosen to take up to three years off under the new Career Intermission Program will begin their sabbaticals in 2016 — and the Air Force could move forward on expanding the program.
Interest in the CIP program is growing. During its first round, 46 airmen applied for the chance to take between one and three years off to start a family, go back to school or pursue other personal goals. Of those applicants, 32 airmen — 14 officers and 18 enlisted — were selected.
In 2015, 59 airmen — 22 officers and 37 enlisted — applied; the Air Force has not yet announced how many will be chosen.
The Air Force is now authorized to let up to 40 airmen — 20 officers and 20 enlisted — participate in CIP each year. But the Air Force hopes to go further. In a March speech on diversity, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said she wants to expand CIP beyond the current cap, although the Air Force has not yet said how many it wants to take part in CIP.
In her speech, James held the program up as an example of how the Air Force hopes to become more family-friendly and alleviate airmen’s work-life concerns.
“More flexibility, we think, is an important factor in order to keep some great airmen with the Air Force for the long haul,” James said.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James on Dec. 8 said that one way or another, the Air Force will triple its paid maternity leave benefit to 18 weeks as the Navy did in August.
James said she believes the extended maternity leave will be included in the second round of the Pentagon’s Force of the Future initiatives, which she said would likely be unveiled in the next month or two.
But if the new Force of the Future plans do not extend maternity leave, James said she will act on her own.
And later in 2016, the Air Force will start collecting applications for the third round of CIP. The application window for the second round closed at the end of August 2015, and a panel convened at the end of September to choose who will begin those sabbaticals.
About 70 percent of the first group of airmen chosen took time off to go back to school; others hoped to start a family or care for their relatives, the Air Force announced in March.
The Air Force’s CIP program is now authorized until the end of 2019.
