We cannot rest easy with these successes, however. While strong public support and significant pay raises have helped, the state of the economy has played a major role in our recruiting and retention success. With the economy on the mend, we are going to have to work hard to continue to attract the sharp, motivated people we need. We will continue to help ourselves in the recruiting retention competition by maintaining pay comparability with the civilian sector, by further improving the living and working conditions of our people, and by working hard on other people-oriented programs. Our retirement system, for example, is an important influence on career retention, and yet it repeatedly comes under attack.
Military retirement is a commitment to our men and women in uniform.
Proposed changes to the system that adversely affect our people do irreparable harm to one of our most important retention incentives. To ensure that our forces are prepared for combat, we will continue aggressive and demanding training. Exercises such as Red Flag give our aircrews realistic training against a variety of simulated enemy aircraft and ground-based defenses. Through the Joint Chiefs of Staff exercise program, we train as we plan to fight, as part of a combined, multiservice force. Through these exercises we get valuable experience in deploying and employing forces under the same joint operational command arrangement we would have in wartime.