{"id":51857,"date":"2023-04-27T19:16:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T19:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/27\/armys-about-face-on-contracts-extends-aviation-officers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:11:52","slug":"armys-about-face-on-contracts-extends-aviation-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/04\/27\/armys-about-face-on-contracts-extends-aviation-officers\/","title":{"rendered":"Army\u2019s about-face on contracts extends aviation officers\u2019 service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: After this story\u2019s publication, Army personnel officials spoke with reporters about this issue, confirming Army Times\u2019 reporting. This story has been updated with more information from that briefing.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials from Army Human Resources Command recently alerted hundreds <\/b>of active duty <\/b>aviation officers that their service commitments are about three years longer than previously thought, Army Times has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move, which shocked impacted pilots interviewed by Army Times, came due to a previously incorrect interpretation of \u201cbranch of choice active duty service obligation\u201d contracts the officers signed during their pre-commissioning training at West Point or ROTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe acknowledge that there were errors in the application of aviation officers\u2019 active duty service obligation[s],\u201d said Lt. Gen. Douglas Stitt, chief of the service\u2019s personnel directorate. \u201cWe are fixing those errors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chaos comes from the soldiers\u2019 overlapping service obligations \u2014 agreements controlling when an officer can leave the Army \u2014 some of which are contract-based and some of which are set by federal law. Aviation officers have different requirements than those in other roles, adding to the confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of impacted officers signed a letter to members of Congress claiming that officials fed them inaccurate information about their contract lengths. Among its enclosures, which Army Times obtained from multiple sources, were briefing materials and messages from branch managers, the Army\u2019s official career advisors, that affirmed a shorter-length interpretation of their obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officers described service regulations and documents as filled \u201cwith contradicting statements,\u201d and argued that the Army shouldn\u2019t begin enforcing obligations that it didn\u2019t on their peers who departed before the error was realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maj. Gen. Tom Drew, Human Resources Command\u2019s top general, argued that the contract form \u201cclearly states\u201d the longer commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of who is to blame, over 600 Army aviators must now defer any post-service plans for as long as three years, and the additional time means they\u2019ll likely complete another assignment (and move) before they\u2019re eligible to leave. As of Thursday, the Army is aware of \u201cless than\u201d 20 others who already had resignations incorrectly accepted despite owing more time, Stitt said. They won\u2019t be recalled to service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compounding the problem, the letter said, the contracts were not uploaded to many officers\u2019 personnel files until recent months, and automated personnel systems rarely provide accurate service obligation dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drew acknowledged the \u201cerror\u201d in calculating dates, but pushed back on the officers\u2019 assertion that they did not have access to copies of their contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than the handful with already approved resignations, pilots commissioned between 2015 and 2020 who signed such contracts must serve longer than expected due to the discovery. For those who were counting on a fast-approaching separation date and already made firm arrangements for civilian life, Drew said he would \u201cpersonally\u201d review and approve exception to policy requests waiving the additional years on a \u201ccase-by-case\u201d basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uproar comes amid a major recruiting crisis for the service, which has it struggling to fill the ranks. The Army also suffers from recurrent pilot shortages<\/a>, which led it to increase the contractual obligation for pilots trained after 2020 and add more flight training slots<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Black Hawk pilot commissioned in 2019, who requested anonymity due to the matter\u2019s sensitivity, said she feels \u201cmisled\u201d by the whole affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tangled timelines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not all pilots have \u201cbranch of choice\u201d obligations, either. Under the system the Army used for the last decade to match cadets with career fields, prospective officers ranked their desired jobs and indicated whether they\u2019d accept an additional three-year contractual service obligation if necessary for them to get a branch of their choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cadets signed the contracts, not knowing if the Army would even exercise them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the Army branch selection board would weigh a cadet\u2019s ranking alongside their willingness to accept an extra three years, according to methodology documents. Top-ranked cadets often received their favored choices without owing more time, but for a competitive branch like aviation, the board often selected average cadets who elected the additional service obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For non-aviation officers, the math is simple. When their statutory commissioning service obligation ends, they serve their contractual three years. Non-aviation officers who incur any additional contractual obligations, such as one for military schooling, serve them concurrently after their commissioning obligation runs out. The officer can voluntarily resign after the completion of their longest-running contractual obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, an engineer officer from West Point with the following commitments can still resign at the end of their eighth year, because their two contractual obligations run simultaneously:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Five-year statutory commissioning obligation.<\/li>
  • Three-year contractual branch of choice obligation.<\/li>
  • Two-year contractual military course obligation for beginning a specialized development program at the start of year six.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Pilots, however, are the only Army officers who receive a second statutory obligation of six years when they finish flight school, thanks to a law passed during a late 1980s pilot shortage. A pilot with a contractual three-year \u201cbranch of choice\u201d commitment thus cannot resign until at least three years after completing flight school, the Army has clarified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Under Human Resources Command\u2019s corrected application of laws and regulations, an ROTC scholarship aviation officer would not be able to resign until the end of their 11th year if they have the following commitments, assuming they graduate at the end of year two:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Six-year statutory commissioning obligation.<\/li>
    • Six-year statutory flight school obligation that begins when the officer graduates at the end of their second year of service.<\/li>
    • Three-year contractual branch of choice obligation.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Previously, <\/b>officials with Army Human Resources Command treated the flight school commitment as a contractual obligation, the letter said. That policy allowed officers to simultaneously serve it alongside their three-year branch of choice obligation and thus immediately resign six years after receiving their pilot\u2019s wings, if they wished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      According to Drew, the reassessment came after officers commissioned in 2015 began to submit their resignations and his command realized their service obligation dates were incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cWe went back and we did kind of audit all of those out there,\u201d he said. The general cautioned that the service is still \u201crefining\u201d the number of officers, estimated at \u201ca little over 600.\u201d They now can\u2019t leave immediately after finishing their flight school commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u2018I didn\u2019t even really think twice\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      That\u2019s what the Black Hawk pilot thought she could do. As far as she knew, <\/b>she only owed three active duty years from ROTC plus six years after her flight school graduation, since she didn\u2019t take scholarship money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The pilot said briefings she received at training events during the branch education process convinced her that opting for the branch of choice obligation was the only way she could fly. Officials also told her, she said, that under service policy the additional three years would pass before she finished her pilot training obligation anyways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cSo I didn\u2019t even really think twice about it,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI was like, \u2018Sure, I\u2019ll sign one if it helps me in some way,\u2019 because it had no impact on my timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      But the command\u2019s recent message to the aviation community clarified that the Army will apply the three-year obligation after<\/i> the officers finish their six-year flight school commitment, ending the previous policy of treating flight school like any other training obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Both Stitt and Drew committed to improving how the service communicates such commitments, both before and during an officer\u2019s career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For the Black Hawk pilot, it\u2019s too late. The change means she can\u2019t leave the Army until 2030 rather than in 2027 \u2014 and in retrospect, she\u2019s reconsidering her decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cIf my commitment to the Army was only three years, I could have been out last fall,\u201d she said, adding that she eagerly committed what she thought would be roughly eight years in order to fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201c11 years is not something I was envisioning at any point in this process,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was not even on my radar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Pilots claim the Army misinformed them for years about their 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