12/6/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Faced with eliminating 7,700 personnel authorizations, Air Force Reserve Command officials have decided to divide those cuts between individual mobilization augmentees and unit reservists.
"To do our part in the Air Force's recapitalization and modernization efforts, as well as participate in high-priority missions identified by the Air Force chief of staff, the Air Force Reserve looked across both its unit and IMA programs to pay its Program Budget Directive 720 bill," said Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley, the chief of the Air Force Reserve and AFRC commander. "In the end, we split the bill in half, with 50 percent coming from the IMA program."
In the next three years, the Air Force will cut about 40,000 positions in the active force. The reductions will help fund aircraft modernization as the Air Force relies more on future technology.
The Air Force Reserve's contribution to PBD 720 includes not funding Category A unit reservists and Category B IMAs. Both categories of reservists receive pay for their service and training.
Reductions in Category A will occur as a result of Base Realignment and Closure drawdowns and force realignments.
Some of these cuts will be offset by BRAC plus-ups and new or expanded total force initiative missions. Recruiters will be challenged to attract the right mix of reservists to serve, General Bradley said.
(Courtesy Air Force Reserve Command News Service)
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