3,000 Sergeants in the Barrel?: The Air Force says it has notified more than 3,000 staff, technical, and master sergeants that they are vulnerable for retraining in 2006. If the service does not get enough sergeants to volunteer to retrain from overstaffed career fields into those with chronic shortages, it will, as it did last year, nominate candidates for career shifts. (Check the Air Force Personnel Center Web site for the latest vulnerability lists.)
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.