ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFNEWS) --   Nearly 5,000 Air Force reservists will receive letters in April, telling them they have to make career decisions because of authorization reductions.

To help pay for force modernization, the Air Force Reserve Command will reduce its manpower authorizations by 7,700 over the next four years. Part of that reduction will come from not funding close to 5,000 individual mobilization augmentee positions.

"We tried to make this whole process as individualized as possible," said Col. Roxane Towner, the commander of AFRC's Readiness Management Group. "Our people are important to us and we're going to do everything possible to ensure we maintain our unrivaled wingman commitment both to our reservists and their gaining major commands."

AFRC senior leaders worked closely with active-duty major commands to identify IMA authorizations for unfunding.

IMAs are reservists assigned directly against a person in an active duty position. Most of these reservists perform 24 individual days of training per year, in addition to 12-14 days for annual training.

While AFRC sent a letter to each individual mobilization augmentee telling them whether or not their position was affected, IMAs directly affected by the reductions received a certified letter with a list of career options available to them.

"The important thing to remember is that this isn't an end-of-the-road scenario," Colonel Towner said. "We have many options available to those who wish to continue their service in the Air Force Reserve."

(Courtesy Air Force Reserve Command News Service)

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