Air Force Reserve officials streamline call-up process

  • Published
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFNS) --  Air Force Reserve Command officials are proposing comprehensive changes to how reservists are managed and called to active duty based on lessons learned from nearly nine years of combat and surge operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Collectively called "AFR 2012," this series of projects establishes a single organization to access Air Force Reserve capability, streamlines the Numbered Air Force management structure and strengthens Headquarters AFRC expertise in a wide range of new and emerging Air Force missions.

"We are revising our management structures and practices to make it easier for our reservists to volunteer, mobilize and deploy," said Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., the AFRC commander. "As our Air Force prepares for the future, streamlining how we bring highly capable and cost-effective reservists on to active duty is vital to our nation's defense."

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Air Force and Department of Defense officials have asked all Reserve components to take on an expanded operational role. In the last almost nine years, more than 32,000 Air Force reservists, representing nearly every Air Force mission area, have volunteered or been mobilized for active duty to fill critical worldwide combat and support requirements.

"AFR 2012 is our vision to enhance the predictability and sustainability of our Reserve force," General Stenner said. "We're going to remove bureaucratic redundancies and barriers to service."

As the first step to redesigning its processes, functions and structures, Air Force Reserve officials did an internal review of its headquarters staffs at the Office of Air Force Reserve in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; Headquarters AFRC at Robins AFB; and the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver.

The most significant organizational change proposed by Air Force Reserve officials is a new "Force Generation Center," projected to be fully operational by 2012. This new organization will be the single manager of the readiness, predictability and availability of Air Force Reserve resources. This will include visibility over reservists and Air Force Reserve organizations supporting operational missions as well as developing better predictability for individual reservists, their families and their employers.

In addition, Air Force Reserve officials will propose staff changes that enhance headquarters expertise in new and emerging missions, streamline the overall command management structure, improve oversight of Air Force Reserve forces, and enable leadership to assess and address the stress on reservists serving at a greatly increased operational tempo.

"The Air Force Reserve is first and foremost a strategic reserve," General Stenner said. "We have to have measures to protect the depth of our forces and ensure our nation has the ability to surge when we really need it."

With about 70,000 people actively participating, the Air Force Reserve is the smallest of the Air Force's three components. The regular Air Force has about 336,000 Airmen; the Air National Guard about 109,000 Airmen.

Reservists save taxpayers money because they are called to active duty in a pay status only when the nation needs them. When they are no longer needed, reservists return to their civilian lives and a non-pay status. Nearly 80 percent of the Air Force Reserve is maintained on a called-up-as-needed but ready-now status.

"We provide nearly 17 percent of the Air Force's capability for about 4 percent of the Air Force's budget," General Stenner said. "Our units and people make outstanding contributions to the national defense. Every day, we leverage a portion of the strategic reserve to support today's operations with a careful eye not to deplete the strategic reserve's surge capability until absolutely needed."