Senior Air Force officials say the new arrangement to use 18 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130H transports temporarily to build a C-130 schoolhouse at Little Rock AFB, Ark., is a great example of the service leveraging the strengths across its active duty and reserve components. “Guard and Reserve crews are well versed in a variety of C-130 mission sets and are certainly well-qualified for this training mission,” stated Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, AFR boss. “I’m glad this partnership will better assist the Air Force in training qualified total force C-130 crews,” added Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt, ANG director. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said the service leadership “consulted extensively” with the adjutants general of the affected states to reach this deal, which came after controversy doomed the original plan to permanently strip the Guard and Reserve units of aircraft. (See More Details on C-130 Plan below.) (Air Force release)
When acting Air Force Secretary Gary A. Ashworth rescinded service-wide “Family Days” last week citing the need to build readiness, he left it up to commanders, directors, and supervisors to decide if they would still permit extra days off. Here’s how Air Force major commands are taking that guidance.