Arlington, VA, September 17, 1996 -- The Air Force Association urged the nation's political and military leaders to give serious attention to quality of life issues before it is too late.

The organization's 1996-1997 Issue Paper on Personnel, passed overwhelmingly by the delegates attending AFA's National Convention and Aerospace Technology Exposition, being held in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 16-18, said that highly skilled people are the key to military readiness.

"It is critical that Air Force men and women are accorded adequate pay, housing, health care, child care, education and retirement," the paper said. "While the Association applauds the recent initiatives by Secretary of Defense William Perry to address these quality of life issues, much remains to be done in this area."

The paper noted that the gap between military pay and private sector pay now exceeds 13 percent, and adequate health care for personnel and their dependents, including retirees, remains the most pressing non-cash concern of airmen. The ability of Air Force personnel to find safe, modern and affordable housing is another area of concern to the Association.

AFA called for adequate health and dental care that is affordable, accessible, and portable. By those measures, in its present form, the military's recently instituted TRICARE program falls short, the paper said.

"While performing peacetime training or when deployed overseas, our men and women in the Air Force and other services need to focus on their military missions," the paper stated, "and feel confident that their families back home can pay the bills, get dilapidated housing repaired, find child care that conforms to unpredictable military schedules, and obtain proper medical care."

The Issue Paper was also very critical of attacks on the military retirement system, which is regular fodder for budget-cutters. "Perpetual threats to retirement benefits such as reduction in the annual COLA, the erosion of commissary benefits, and the ever decreasing access to medical care have created a great deal of instability

within the military retirement system," the paper stated. "Those who have served full careers in the Air Force should be rewarded for their years of loyal service."

The Paper also addressed readiness and training issues, force structure, and strongly supported mobilization income insurance for Guardsmen and Reservists and tax incentives for employers of members of the Guard and Reserve.

"By almost any measure, the United States now has the finest Air Force in history," the Paper concluded. Maintaining adequate quality of life for the force is one means of keeping it that way.