Retired officers, enlisted members can rejoin active duty to offset personnel shortfalls Published Feb. 7, 2024 Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- The Secretary of the Air Force has reimplemented the Voluntary Retired Return to Active Duty Program in an effort to leverage the talents of our highly trained and experienced officer and enlisted military retirees to help minimize the service's critical manning shortages. Application window opens Feb. 8, 2024. Applications must be submitted by Jan. 31, 2026, and the program allows up to 1,000 retired officer or enlisted personnel to active duty at any given time. Additionally, under this VRRAD program, the period of active duty service is limited to no more than 48 months. Personnel will only fill vacant active duty authorizations. Retired applicants selected for Extended Active Duty can expect to return to active duty anywhere from 4 to 6 months from their date of application. “The VRRAD program is a strategic enabler to embrace experienced talent, tapping into a valuable resource of retired members to fill critical roles to close the gap against our peer competitors,” said Lt. Gen. Caroline Miller, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services. Retired officer applicants are limited to Line of the Air Force commissioned officers retired in the grade of captain through lieutenant colonel. Officers who volunteer to return to active duty under the VRRAD program will primarily fill vacant rated staff, active flying staff, Officer Training School, Squadron Officer School, and Jeanne M. Holm Center academic staff. While all members that meet eligibility may apply, we are targeting the following Air Force special duty codes: 11X – Pilot 12X – Combat Systems 13B – Air Battle Manager 13H – Aerospace Physiologist 13M – Airfield Operations 13N – Nuclear and Missile Operations 14X – Information Operations/Intelligence 15X – Operations Analysis and Weather 16X – Operations Support 17X – Cyber Operations 18X – Remotely Piloted Aircraft 19Z – Special Warfare 21X – Logistics 31P – Security Forces 32E – Civil Engineering 35P – Public Affairs 38F – Force Support Officer 61X – Scientific/Research 62X –Developmental Engineering 63X – Acquisition 64P – Contracting 65X – Finance 71S – Special Investigation Retired enlisted applicants are limited to members retired in the grade of staff sergeant through senior master sergeant. While all members that meet eligibility may apply, the following AFSCs are being targeted: 1C171 – Air Traffic Control 2G071 – Logistics Plans 2T377 – Fleet Management & Analysis 3F071 – Personnel 3P071 – Security Forces 4A271 – Biomedical Equipment 4E071 – Public Health 4N071 – Aerospace Medical Service 4R071 – Diagnostic Imaging 7S071 – Special Investigations 8R000/8R200 – Recruiter(s) Information about the Voluntary Retired Return to Active Duty Program, to include detailed official program guidance, eligibility criteria and application requirements, can be found here.