AF Plans to Trim 40,000 Personnel Stars and Stripes | Lisa Burgess | December 23, 2005 ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force is planning a five-year drawdown of 40,000 personnel starting in 2006, according to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne. The cuts would be distributed among active duty, Air Force Reserve, and Air Guard members, as well as Air Force civilians, Wynne said during a Dec. 13 press conference at the Pentagon. If approved, the cuts would follow the Air Force’s two-year drawdown of 16,000 airmen in order to meet the 360,000-airman end strength limit set by Congress, which was finished in July. The reduction plans are not a done deal, although “from the Air Force perspective, yes, this is something we’re going to do,” Capt. David Small, a spokesman for Wynn, told Stripes on Thursday. The cuts will require approval from levels above the Air Force, starting with the Defense Department, Small said. The Quadrennial Defense Review, an every-four-years master plan that the Pentagon will issue in February, will indicate whether DOD officials approve of the Air Force’s intentions, Small said. But every year’s planned reduction also will need to pass muster with both the White House and Congress, which has a critical say in the size of all military forces every time it passes the DOD’s annual budget request. But senior Air Force officials have set “the aggregate number” of personnel who must leave over the five years at 40,000, Small said. Officials also have decided on the “total force” nature of the drawdown, Small said. That means no rank will be immune from cuts, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gerald Murray said Dec. 13. “We’re not just going to cut out the workers of the force,” Murray said. “We will shape the force throughout all the ranks.” Equalizing cuts throughout the ranks isn’t a choice for the Air Force, because Congress mandates the number of generals, colonels, and chief and senior master sergeants the service is allowed, based on the size of the force, Murray said. For example, chief master sergeants make up 1 percent of the enlisted Air Force. So if 30,000 enlisted airmen are cut, that means 300 chief master sergeant slots would have to go, Murray said. Throughout the drawdown, “the goal is to have minimal disruption to airmen’s lives and ensure they are well informed of the options they have,” Small said. Air Force officials are working on a “structured plan” to accomplish the cuts while also accounting “for the sustainment of career fields and [allowing] for growth in specialties to meet mission requirements,” Small said in a Dec. 22 e-mail to Stripes. That plan will include adjustments to recruiting and retention goals, as well as an effort to “rebalance” the force by offering opportunities to move into career fields that need more people, such as military police, Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said Dec. 13. “Thirteen percent of the officer career fields are stressed,” along with 20 percent of the Air Force’s enlisted career fields are stressed, Moseley said. Air Force officials also will promote voluntary separations, including the Pentagon’s interservice “Blue to Green” project that eases moves from the Navy or Air Force into the Army, Small said. Small said service officials may also convene some Selective Early Retirement Boards, which require approval from Congress and offer early retirement to individuals who have twice been deferred for promotion and have 15 years of service, instead of the usual 20 years. Officials also may seek help from Congress by asking for “additional incentive authorities” that would make early separation from the service more attractive to members, Small said in the e-mail. Examples of the kinds of incentives the service could ask Congress to fund include incentive separation pay and early retirement monies, Small said. http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,83743,00.html
