Although the issues of flight hours and airline hiring has undoubtedly had an effect, has the USAF really taken a hard look at aircrew assigned to non-flying duties? While I was working with places like the Joint Staff and NORTHCOM, I was truly staggered by the number of winged aviators assigned to combatant commanders, post grad schools, HQ, support command etc. While it is necessary to have talented folks in certain commands, and was deemed required "ticket punching" for promotion, the billet increases in these huge staffs and COCOMS was part of the problem.