This transfer option is part of the Space Force Personnel Management Act that was signed into law as part of the fiscal year 2024 military budget, the Air Force said in a release.
The first phase of the act, which selected Air Force reservists for full time Space Force jobs, wrapped up in June.
Other military branches have Reserve components, but not Space Force. Space Force guardians will have either full-time or part-time jobs.
This new model will also let Space Force to forego the use of Reserve forces, the service also noted.
“We believe this is going to help us with talent retention,” Col. Matthew Holston, the Space Force’s Personnel Management Act Integration director, said in August. “There may be life events where you say, ‘I want to continue to serve, but I need to take a step back’.
“This part-time opportunity is an important next step toward fully integrating the talent we need into a single component, best equipped to ensure readiness and achieve our nation’s warfighting missions,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said in a recent statement.
The Southwest Ohio area has a healthy presence of Air Force reservists, at the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, at the 178th Wing in Springfield and elsewhere.
Air Force Reserve eligibility includes:· Air Force Reserve Officers who hold the following Core IDs: 13S; 17X; 14N; 6X.· Air Force Reserve Enlisted Airmen who hold the following Control Air Force Specialty Codes: 1C6X1; 1N0; 1N1; 1N2; 1N3; 1N4; 1N8; 1D7X1; 1D7X2; 1D7X3.· Eligibility outside of 13S and 1C6 must have space experience.
A transfer board will review applicants’ history to ensure at least one prior assignment in a space organization is reflected.·
Eligible service members must be fully trained in the career field for which they are applying.
In time, the Air Force Reserve, like the Air Force, will no longer maintain space operations as career fields, meaning reservists with 13S and 1C6 specialties must volunteer to transfer to the Space Force or re-train for a different Air Force job.
Officers selected for transfer to part-time duty positions must serve at least three years. Enlisted airmen must enlist in the Space Force for a minimum of three years, maximum six years.
Air Force reservists who transfer into Space Force with 15 to 18 years satisfactory service will be allowed to remain in a part-time work role until they qualify for retirement.
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