The Air Force plans to cut 3,530 active duty billets within US Air Forces in Europe over the next two years, which amounts to about 12 percent of airmen stationed there, reports Stars and Stripes. While the number of people/positions being cut in USAFE is much smaller than the 12,000 coming out of Air Combat Command, the percentage is larger because of the huge difference in the size of the two major commands. Air Force Materiel Command has been told to eliminate about 3,000 military personnel, which represents almost 14 percent of its active duty force, and 720 civilians—both presenting different concerns. All these cuts to people and positions are part of USAF’s push to drop 40,000—a mix of active, reserve, and civilian.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.