Opinion ID: 4523917
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Secretary’s Instructions

Text: On December 6, 2010, the Secretary of the Air Force (“SecAF”) notified the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (“USD(P&R)”) that, in order to “manage our officer corps and bring us within Congressionally mandated end-strength,” he intended to “temporarily suspend” selective continuation for O-3 and O-4 officers within six years from retirement. Appx1005 (capitalization normalized). The notification was one paragraph: In our continuing efforts to manage our officer corps and bring us within Congressionally man- dated end-strength, I intend to exercise my authority contained in DoDI 1320.08, para 6.3, to not selectively continue large pools of twice-deferred officers in the grades of O-3 and O-4 who would oth- erwise qualify for retirement within 6 years of the date of a continuation. Exceptions to this decision will be some Chaplains (i.e., Catholic Priests), some 2 These instructions became effective on March 14, 2007. See SAppx118. Case: 18-2038 Document: 39 Page: 6 Filed: 04/09/2020 6 BAUDE v. UNITED STATES rated (i.e., Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operators), and some Nurse Corps (i.e., Flight and Operating Room Nurses). Appx1005. The SecAF did not articulate any “unusual circumstances” that might warrant non-continuation of these officers. Id.