Bottom line, pay is nice but not a single one of you joined the military for the pay. For most, pay will not be the reason people leave. I truly believe we have the best job in the world and being a glorified aerial bus driver shouldn't be able to compete. However with the toxic leadership, the piss poor people management, deployed empire building to prop up the next generation of "combat" generals, and the general apathy from the Air Force makes this decision easy for most. Throwing money at the problem is not going to buy loyalty, but merely keep some fence sitters in for a little while longer. Just my $.02.