Three Virginia lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, complaining about news that the employees now under the National Security Personnel System would not get an “across-the-board pay raise with other federal employees.” Government Executive reports that Rep. Tom Davis (R), Rep. James Moran (D), and Rep. Frank Wolf (R) are not anti-NSPS, but they said employees under Spiral 1 were told that, in the first year under the new system, they would receive the same basic pay boost as those still under the old civil service system. The Pentagon’s new civilian personnel system is still under legal attack from unions, with at least one threatening to pursue Supreme Court relief from the plan’s current labor relations rules.
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…