From ILO to JET

The Air Force announced Wednesday that airmen serving “in-lieu-of” taskings in place of ground forces in the war on terror would now be serving in a “joint expeditionary tasking.” The terminology swap, says Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, “reinforces our commitment to the joint fight as an equal member of the joint team.” He added, “The amazing contributions airmen make around the world every day are not in lieu of anything.” Previously, the service had lumped airmen under the ILO label whether they were serving in or outside their core specialties. However, on Oct. 1, the Defense Department provided three separate categories to cover such non-standard taskings. They are: joint force/capability solution to cover those working within their core specialties but in place of another service; ad-hoc to identify those loaned to another service for a single deployable unit; and ILO to signify those working outside their core specialties. And, big surprise, the Air Force says it does not have anyone currently deployed that fits the ILO descriptor. Schwartz wants the Air Force to stick with one term—JET—to apply to airmen serving in any of the three DOD categories. (AFNS report by SrA. J.G. Buzanowski)