The job fair held last week by the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, delivered significantly more candidates than the center has positions for at this time. ASC was on the hunt for prospective mid-level acquisition, logistics, program, and engineering professionals to fill 300 to 500 positions—several dozen soon and others over several years—but 5,000 applicants turned out, reports Associated Press (via Fox 8 news). Meanwhile, the Air Force is launching a new marketing campaign next month to help recruit some 20,000 new civilians over the next five years. The goal, according to Shirlene LeBleu, with the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Tex., is to “help fill civilian vacancies more quickly by targeting qualified, local candidates.” It should also, she said, “increase employment opportunities for military dependents.” (Wright-Patt release announcing the job fair; AFPC report by Maj. Beth Kelley Horine)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…