{"id":83487,"date":"2024-09-17T19:38:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T19:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/09\/17\/navy-will-force-aviators-to-remain-in-service-to-complete-sea-tours\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:25:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:25:02","slug":"navy-will-force-aviators-to-remain-in-service-to-complete-sea-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/09\/17\/navy-will-force-aviators-to-remain-in-service-to-complete-sea-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy will force aviators to remain in service to complete sea tours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2022\/03\/25\/navy-unveils-up-to-175000-in-bonuses-for-aviation-department-heads\/\" target=\"_blank\">will now require naval aviators<\/a> to serve past their minimum service requirement in order to complete their second, two-year sea tour \u2014 the sea service\u2019s latest attempt to boost retention in the aviation community, according to an internal briefing document obtained by Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The policy applies to officers serving in their first shore tour with a projected rotation date of October 2025 and beyond, and is being implemented due to \u201cpersonnel shortages across second sea duty billets,\u201d the Naval Air Forces document states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis policy increases warfighting readiness by reducing billet turnover rates at sea, and ensuring more of the Navy\u2019s highest priority billets are filled,\u201d the briefing states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naval Air Forces confirmed the authenticity of the document to Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roughly a quarter of unrestricted line aviators request to leave the Navy once they reach their minimum service requirement, sometimes in the midst of that second two-year sea tour \u2014 an issue the Navy attributes to extended training pipelines and first sea duty tour extensions in some instances.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/05\/10\/navy-offering-big-bucks-to-keep-aviation-officers-in-uniform\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24103088899159.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Navy offering big bucks to keep aviation officers in uniform<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Aviators from a variety of platforms are eligible for big bucks if they opt to stay Navy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Navy Personnel Command has historically signed off on such mid-tour separation requests, Navy pilots and naval flight officers will now fulfill the entire length of a second sea tour prior to departing the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAviation [unrestricted line] communities are tasked with filling 904 second sea duty billets; current inventory and separation timing have led to approximately 19% of these billets remaining unfilled and 60-70% of these billets turning over annually resulting in decreased operational readiness in key billets,\u201d the document states. \u201cThis has been mitigated by early departures from first shore tours, which impacts retention and is unsustainable long term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most officers will be forced to stay in uniform for less than a year more under the new policy, according to Naval Air Forces spokesperson Cmdr. Beth Teach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The policy also aims to allow more junior officers to complete their full shore-duty, rather than stepping in to fill empty at-sea billets caused by the departing aviators, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are in a warfighting business and this is one way that we\u2019re going to continue to increase readiness,\u201d Teach told Navy Times. \u201cWe understand that there are concerns, and we\u2019re communicating this more than a whole year in advance, so that people can ask questions and plan their careers. Ultimately, it reduces turnover and creates opportunity for more [junior officers] to complete their shore duty in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a list of questions and answers included in the document, Naval Air Forces says that it is legal for the Navy to require officers to serve past their minimum service requirement to fulfill the prescribed tour length in the event of personnel shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn accordance with MILPERSMAN 1301-108, and higher-level instructions, if determined by competitive category or designator that significant personnel shortages are a compelling military necessity for retention, then an Officer may be retained until the completion of the Prescribed Tour Length written in approved orders,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Word of the policy change spread online Tuesday, and Instagram pages dedicated to the world of junior Navy officers soon went to work with memes related to the news. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DAAW8NXgAXt\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div><\/div><div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\"><div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div><\/div><div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div><\/div><div style=\"margin-left: auto;\"> <div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div><\/div><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div><\/div><\/a><p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DAAW8NXgAXt\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\">A post shared by JOPA (@navy_jopa)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<script async src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The head of naval aviation, Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, is slated to visit several installations next month and hold all-hands calls with junior officers to discuss the policy, according to the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOfficers are encouraged to ask questions about this policy and its impacts to their career planning during detailing discussions, as well as with their chain of command,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those selected for department head may wrap up their second sea tour before the prescribed length of time if the required training pipeline and planned arrival dates require it, according to the briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/static.militarytimes.com\/assets\/pdfs\/1726599678.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Go here<\/a> to read the full document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Navy aviator retention rates declined in Fiscal Year 2023, with 11 out of 15 aviation communities not having enough officers to be department heads, according to the Navy\u2019s latest Health of the Force report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the strike fighter community alone, roughly 25 percent of the Navy\u2019s department head billets are unmanned, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while the Navy has offered big bucks to keep pilots flying Navy, the report said fewer aviators are accepting the department head retention bonuses. Currently, the Navy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/05\/10\/navy-offering-big-bucks-to-keep-aviation-officers-in-uniform\/\" target=\"_blank\">offers aviation department heads<\/a> up to $280,000 to remain in service for seven more years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNaval Aviation continues to meet operational requirements,\u201d the report states. \u201cHowever, sustained support and frequent evaluation of monetary incentives are critical in our effort to retain highly trained and experienced mid- and senior-level aviators.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Navy plans to require its pilots to complete their second at-sea tour before they can get out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":113489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","breaking-news","news","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"}}},"categories":[27,101,23,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3305],"class_list":["post-83487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"RQBANJVOE5CQNBSW4SJA637TKY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/09\/17\/navy-will-force-aviators-to-remain-in-service-to-complete-sea-tours\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Navy will force aviators to remain in service to complete sea tours - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Navy plans to require its pilots to complete their second at-sea tour before they can get out.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Navy will force aviators to remain in service to complete sea tours\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Navy plans to require its pilots to complete their second at-sea tour before they can get out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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