Recommendation:
Aviation Career Incentive Pay (ACIP), now referred to as Aviation Incentive Pay (AvIP) Act of 1974, in Title 37 of the United States Code, was enacted in response to the critical loss rates of experienced aviators across all components. Verbiage in the House Report 93-799 (1974) codifies the intent to fully include National Guard and Reservists. “The committee bill places Reserve ... and National Guard officers under the same aviation career incentive pay program as active duty officers, including the rate step downs and the 25-year termination ... The committee ... desires to treat reservists on an equal basis with active duty members whenever possible." National Guard and Reservists receive only a fraction of this compensation as a result of the “1/30th rule” (Title 37 Section 206 USC.) The transition from a Strategic Reserve to an Operational Ready/Deployable force dictates AvIP parity across all components since the flying requirements are the same for both active and reserve component aviators. Financial prudence should weigh the retention costs (maximum AvIP cost of $12,000 per aviator annually) against the current cost of training of initially training a new aviator (estimated at $1,000,000). In short, with full Avip a reserve component aviator could be retained for 20 years or more for less than a quarter of the cost of initial training. The anticipated results: (1) reduces attrition across National Guard and Reserves while increasing experience levels, (2) significant reduction in turnover costs, (3) reduces throughput burdens of Department of Defense (DOD) aviation training centers, (4) creates a significant incentive for active duty aviators who have determined they can no longer serve on active duty to continue aviation service in the National Guard or Reserves. Increases National Defense readiness across all service components by keeping more aviators in an actively flying status as opposed to an inactive status in the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR).