With officers remaining longer in the service, the U.S. Air Force is faced with laying off more than 2,000 commissioned personnel in order to accommodate a shrinking budget. Currently, the Air Force has 2,300 more officers than it can afford, while retention is at its highest level in 16 years because fewer personnel are returning to civilian life.

 

The first batch of layoffs, beginning in May, will most likely to affect junior officers commissioned from 2006 to 2008 who are serving in the judge advocate general’s corps (JAG), biomedical science corps and medical service corps categories.

 

In September, the Air Force will move on to mid-grade officers, specifically those commissioned from 1999 to 2005 in the line-of-the-Air Force, chaplain, JAG, biomedical science and medical service categories.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Air Force to Cut 2,300 Officers from Its Rolls (by Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes)