SECAF discusses current, future personnel issues

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mitch Gettle
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  Ensuring the Air Force operates fiscally is akin to anyone budgeting and paying for household and living expenses. The costs involved must be balanced and paid in order to maintain a certain lifestyle.

For the Air Force, some of the business costs reside in the targeted reduction of 40,000 full-time equivalent positions over the next five years to meet future budget constraints.

The secretary of the Air Force recently talked about how the Air Force intends to meet those force reductions and the impact on Airmen.

“This (reduction) is really about a turning point in our Air Force,” said Michael W. Wynne, “and a realization by our senior leadership that we cannot move forward with our aging equipment with our increasing costs of operation and engagement of our aircraft.”

The Air Force is operating more efficiently as it relies more and more on reachback, innovations in technology and Air Force Smart Operations 21. That efficiency, resulting in fewer Airmen needed to do the work, helps ease the service’s financial responsibility.

There are many costs associated with the continuously expeditionary nature of the Air Force. Just like a household budget, the big-ticket items like rent or a mortgage must be budgeted first.

“We need to continue to put an emphasis on training and resources for equipment to include maintenance and spares,” he said. ”We have an obligation to be the best Air Force in the world and that requires the best equipment and people to do the job.”

Acquisition, investment, and operation and maintenance areas are the top priorities for funds allocation. By focusing on these areas, the Air Force increases its equipment reliability rates and reduces maintenance.

“This is all about the resources this frees up and not about any individuals, who we value very highly,” Mr. Wynne said. “We see that we have higher reliability and consolidated equipment so we will not need as many people as we do today.”

The cuts become a matter of business and fiscal sense leading the Air Force to become a more lethal and agile force, he said.

“These Airmen didn’t come to the Air Force to add expense, they came to make themselves more valuable and the Air Force more valuable,” Mr. Wynne said. “We treasure every one of them, and as we go forward we want to retain highly qualified people to manage this better Air Force we are designing.”

The mission of the Air Force has dictated and always will dictate the direction the Air Force takes when it comes to equipment and personnel.

“Our senior leaders and unit leaders must look at these cuts and ensure we can accomplish the mission,” he said. “We need to ensure we retain the right caliber and quantity (of Airmen) to make the mission happen today, tomorrow and forever.”