Posted on 08/17/2006 4:37:15 PM PDT by SandRat
8/17/2006 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- The Air Force is on track to make its recruiting goal this year, marking the seventh consecutive year the service has brought in the right number and mix of new Airmen.
To date, 25,645 people have enlisted in the Air Force and entered active duty in fiscal 2006. That puts the Air Force on pace to send 30,750 men and women to basic training and technical schools to fill jobs in more than 150 areas.
In response to the Air Force's force shaping, fiscal 2007 recruiting goals have been reduced by 9 percent compared to fiscal 2006 goals, but the drive is still on to bring in quality Airmen.
"The Air Force is still hiring a mix of people in all of its career fields," said Chief Master Sgt. Edward Vargas, Air Force Recruiting Service Operations Division superintendent.
From October through September 2007, the Air Force will seek 27,760 high school graduates or the equivalent, ages 17 to 28, to join its enlisted ranks and 482 college graduates to join the officer corps.
There are more than 20 enlisted career field openings from which to choose. Security forces, mechanics, administration and electronics are the most plentiful career opportunities for 2007, with about 10,200 available positions. Hard-to-fill enlisted career fields include air and ground linguists and special tactics, such as combat controller, survival instructor and pararescueman.
"These career fields are doing extremely well," Chief Vargas said. "We're finding the right mix at the right time."
The officer career fields with the most available positions are pilot, combat systems officer (navigator), air battle management and electrical engineering. Chaplain and medical fields remain hard to fill.
For more information about Air Force careers, visit www.airforce.com. The interactive Web site offers links to enlisted and officer career information, a chat line and a recruiter locator service.
What's that Howieeeeeeee! I can't hear you!!!
Gee....I musta missed the MSM announcement on this.
...trouble is there's a draw down in bomber wings and the future looks dim as the next generation of fighters will probably be UAVs. Pilots will be relegated to fly cargo and personnel carriers. I suppose there will still be plenty of opportunities for missileers though.
Murtha suicide watch.
Considering Afghanistan and Iraq are on the other side of the planet, this isn't a small thing.
I suspect the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard have to turn people away.
Hmmm...when you are cutting 40K out, it isn't hard to meet your recruiting goals.
Exactly.
More to the point, the Presidential Budget Directive 720 (PBD 720) now calls for cutting 60,000 Air Force personnel between now and FY 2011.
The reason for the increase from 40K cut to 60K cut is because of Congress. The personnel cuts were supposed to be accompanied by weapon system cuts that the Air Force asked for: the entire F-117 fleet (no longer deemed needed with the F-22 coming on-line), some B-52s, 100 C-130s from Guard and Reserve units, and the C-21 fleet.
Congress said no. Those aircraft are in their district.
The solution?
20,000 more Air Force personnel shown the door.
The last Force Shaping board got rid of some Lieutenants. Now the cuts are coming to the rest of the force. Some will be offered a cash bonus for leaving between the 6 and 12 yearpoint. Some will not.
I can't applaud the recruiting goal being met. It is smoke and mirrors as you said. In the middle of this war, we are cutting good folks to pay for the F-22 and the F-35.
Perhaps it is the "right" thing to do. But in my mind, we have done a terrible, terrible thing to people who proudly served.
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