Some folks from BUPERS were in San Antonio last week for a Career Management Symposium. Force shaping is one of the topics they discussed. The briefer mentioned that the officer corps is right at about where the Navy wants it to be, and no more draw downs are planned for the officer side of the house. They were offering VSP (voluntary separation pay) in 2006. I got a VSP letter when I was on my IA last year. At the beginning of the brief, we took a survey that included questions about IA duty. I think the prospect of doing an IA tour is doing some force shaping for the Navy without the need of VSP. I don't know what it's like in other commands, but in my current shore tour about half of the guys are getting out because they're bitter about having done a 1 year non-voluntary IA or they're getting out to avoid getting tapped for an IA later on. I don't think the big Navy leadership is ready to give up on IA duty any time soon. I guess only time will tell how this affects retention in the long run.
