Author Description

The next five years promise to bring significant changes to the Air Force's current operating environment. This change is prompted by several budget initiatives to provide funds for vital programs that include recapitalizing the growing inventory of aging aircraft. Some of these initiatives target manpower billets in specific areas across the Active, Reserve, and Guard forces with a projected goal of reducing full-time equivalent positions by approximately 40,000. One initiative, released as Programmed Budget Decision (PBD) 716 in December 2005, directs the offsets to be fully executed by the end of FY11 across most Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs) to minimize huge losses in a few areas. Within the past year, the period to complete the offsets has been accelerated to end of FY09.