Fifty airmen who were told that they must separate by Jan. 31 or retire through temporary early retirement authority by Feb. 1 can remain on active-duty or keep their date of separation, Air Force officials said Friday.

A review, prompted by an inquiry from an airman about the June Junior Enlisted Retention Board, found that a coding issue resulted in 36 airmen who should have met the ERB did not and were not considered for separation, according to an Air Force release.

Air Force officials looked at all cases where other airmen may have been impacted and found a total of 50 airmen who could have been affected during the ERB.

Officials said that the 50 airmen have been contacted. The release did not say how the 50 were chosen.

"We contacted the 50 Airmen and their senior raters to offer them the opportunity to remain on active duty," said Brig. Gen. Brian Kelly, director of military force management policy, in the release. "In addition, the 36 Airmen who were eligible for and should have met the board will not be affected."

Air Force commanders notified Airmen who met the service's enlisted retention boards of the results recently. The board retained 5,700 of the 7,121 Airmen reviewed in the ranks of senior airman through senior master sergeant. These numbers represent significant reductions from the matrices originally published, which showed nearly 100,000 eligible Airmen with involuntary targets of more than 20,000. The June boards reviewed enlisted members records, consisting of enlisted performance reports, decorations and a retention recommendation form to select individuals for continued retention and considered those Airmen in over-manned Air Force specialties. Senior NCOs not selected for retention will retire by Dec. 1.

The Air Force examined all other eligibility lists for the FY14 boards to ensure the coding was accurate and ensured safeguards are in place for future boards, the release said.

Deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services Lt. Gen. Sam Cox in the release said that the Air Force "thoroughly reviews all instances in which Airmen report concerns regarding personnel programs and where there are issues, as an institution, we seek the most responsible and just course of action to make things right for our Airmen."

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