More, Not Fewer ILOs?

The Air Force efforts to curb use of airmen as in-lieu-of soldiers appears headed in the wrong direction, if a news report by Scott Schonauer of Stars and Stripes is correct. Top leaders have emphasized that the service is trying to reduce the number of ILO airmen, especially those serving outside their specialties. However, Col. Karl Bosworth, head of the 732nd Air Expeditionary Group at Balad AB, Iraq, told Stripes that the current ILO force of some 1,500 airmen in Iraq might triple over the next year. He said, “We anticipate the requirements will grow somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 over the next year.” Bosworth said the driver for this increase is the transition from fighting to nation building.