Air Force Deployments

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Many of the Airmen in the United States Air Force face challenges and hardships at work every day. Currently longer deployments are an unnecessary hardship that has been added to the list. That is what I am here to discuss with you today. As the wars overseas have slowed down in the past few years the Air Force has seen the length of its deployments extended. No longer is the average Airman deploying for four months but instead they're seeing six month rotations. I believe standard four-month deployments are better for the Air Force than six months because longer deployments can precipitate family problems, boost the risk of mental health issues, and produce lower retention rates.
Family life is a major part of the military and ensuring members have a healthy life back at home leads to them performing better down range. Studies shows that deployments have a negative effect on both divorce rate and the mental health of service member’s children. According to a study that …show more content…

Despite efforts to keep people from separating such as giving out re-enlistment bonuses to select career fields or allowing people to select new jobs in the Air Force people are still getting out due to long deployments. A study by the National Defense Research Institute shows that service members with 12 or more months deployed in a 36-month period were less likely to stay in than someone with less than 12 months’ time deployed (Giglio, n.d.). At the current rate of six month deployments it will only take a measly two deployments to push someone to that limit. With post deployment retention rates being so low because of the length people are deploying it only makes sense to shorten them to four months. Our veterans that have deployed tend to be our most knowledgeable members in their respected career fields and it is a devastating loss every time one

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