AF to Jettison 3,700 Airmen

[bobdina]

AF to Jettison 3,700 Airmen
November 17, 2009
Stars and Stripes|by Jeff Schogol

The Air Force announced plans on Monday to cut 3,700 Airmen, saying the mix of a poor economy and good retention has swelled its ranks beyond manageability.

The service will cut 2,074 officers and 1,633 enlisted Airmen through “voluntary and involuntary early separation and retirement programs,” an Air Force news release said.

The reduction process to last into the next fiscal year, according to the release.

The Air Force has been fluctuating between growing and contracting in recent years.

A few years ago, the Air Force cut Airmen to draw down to 316,000 in order to free up money for more aircraft, such as the F-22.

But Defense Secretary Robert Gates halted the personnel cuts after he fired the Air Force top civilian and military leadership in 2008.

The service then decided it needed to grow to 330,000 because it needed Airmen in areas such as the nuclear mission and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. As recently as January, the Air Force was seeking to bolster its officer corps by calling on retired or separated officers up to 60 years old.

[MickDonalds]

Boot Camp at Disney World.

90% can't deploy because of their type of skill.

USO Morale Tour Duty deployments of less than 3 months.



Good. Keep cutting their numbers.

[nastyleg]

Thier boot camp is getting more realistic and tougher....the beast is a prime example. Although it does not compare with the Army or Marines it is still a step up from what it is precieved to be. Turn and burn deployments (6months overseas and three months back home for consecutive years) is extremely hard on the families of which support thier spouse. Now without the refuelers the planes dont go. With out the rearmers the planes dont kill. Without the PJ pilots got no life line. Without the admin the people dont get to where they are suppose to. All jobs are critical except laundry specialists.

With that being said yeah the AF is still pretty easy ;)

[MickDonalds]

Thier boot camp is getting more realistic and tougher....the beast is a prime example. Although it does not compare with the Army or Marines it is still a step up from what it is precieved to be. Turn and burn deployments (6months overseas and three months back home for consecutive years) is extremely hard on the families of which support thier spouse. Now without the refuelers the planes dont go. With out the rearmers the planes dont kill. Without the PJ pilots got no life line. Without the admin the people dont get to where they are suppose to. All jobs are critical except laundry specialists.

With that being said yeah the AF is still pretty easy ;)

Don't forget the Security Forces (aka MP's) that literally have NO JOB over here in Iraq. They guard entryways INSIDE THE BASE. There's AF-SF guys here in Baghdad and they NEVER leave the wire. EVER. They have NO USE deployed, yet they're here, sitting in a chair watching Ugandans and TCN's perform security checks to the DFAC.

Keep cutting. Give an ARMY 1 star general the Air Force's budget, tell him to make some cuts and I guarantee there'd be a lot less non-deployable clowns wearing Airman stripes, partying it up somewhere stateside.