Army’s about-face on contracts extends aviation officers’ service
By Davis Winkie
Thursday, Apr 27
Editor’s note: After this story’s publication, Army personnel officials spoke with reporters about this issue, confirming Army Times’ reporting. This story has been updated with more information from that briefing.
Officials from Army Human Resources Command recently alerted hundreds of active duty aviation officers that their service commitments are about three years longer than previously thought, Army Times has learned.
The move, which shocked impacted pilots interviewed by Army Times, came due to a previously incorrect interpretation of “branch of choice active duty service obligation” contracts the officers signed during their pre-commissioning training at West Point or ROTC.
“We acknowledge that there were errors in the application of aviation officers’ active duty service obligation
,” said Lt. Gen. Douglas Stitt, chief of the service’s personnel directorate. “We are fixing those errors.”
The chaos comes from the soldiers’ overlapping service obligations — agreements controlling when an officer can leave the Army — 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.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/04/27/armys-about-face-on-contracts-extends-aviation-officers/
