Keeping midcareer NCOs in blue a struggle

Keeping midcareer NCOs in blue a struggle
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 6, 2008 6:11:58 EDT

Chief Master Sgt. Mike Durst is used to dealing with numbers and details.

And the numbers he’s looking at are going down.

Durst is the career field manager for about 1,160 enlisted contracting specialists — airmen who handle the day-to-day purchases that keep bases running and planes in the air. As he discusses declining retention in the career field, Durst pulls out a sheet of figures to illustrate his concerns.

There are plenty of young airmen and lots of noncommissioned officers at about the 20-year mark, he explains, but midlevel NCOs are in short supply. Many NCOs were lured away by opportunities to work as civilian contracting specialists for the military.

Somehow, the Air Force has to fill that shortage.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/05/airforce_retention_050508w/