The Pentagon is issuing Program Budget Decisions based on the final decisions of the Quadrennial Defense Review, which officials expect to go to the printer on Jan. 7. It’s not pretty for the Air Force rank and file or some prized weapon systems. As we reported Friday, USAF will shed some 40,000 personnel over the course of the next five years. Most of the cuts will come up front. Faced with a five-year budget cut of $15 billion (out of $43 billion across all services), senior Air Force leaders say they logically had to turn to both personnel and procurement accounts. They say they could not axe readiness and have no more choice on cutting infrastructure, following the 2005 BRAC decisions. USAF officials plan to announce organizational changes next week, outlining how a restructured, 11 percent smaller Air Force will function.
Air Force Chief of Staff Kenneth S. Wilsbach is allowing Airmen to wear unit pride T-shirts on Fridays and aircrew to wear nametags with their callsigns daily. The morale-boosting gesture is one of his first official acts as Chief and comes at a time when the Pentagon is cracking down…
