Congress may be on the road to authorization of pilot programs that would enable some servicemembers to leave the service for perhaps three years and then return with no loss of time or grade. Apparently the idea started in the Navy, which has found it is losing some young female officers who want to make the service a career but who found they had to make a choice between a military career and family. Markups of the 2009 defense policy bill do not indicate that the legislation would be limited to women.
Airmen and Guardians in the Active and Reserve component, as well as civilian employees, in “mission critical and high-risk populations” are now required to receive influenza vaccinations annually to “preserve force readiness,” according to a recent Department of the Air Force memo.