Nuclear Career Field Plus-Up

The Air Force will inject 1,100 additional airmen into eight key nuclear career specialties this fall to bring them up to full manning and alleviate strain on the force. These crucially undermanned roles are “principally in the field,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said when she first announced the initiative last month. They include security forces, nuclear weapons, aircraft armaments, bomber maintenance, ICBM electronic and systems maintenance, missile alert facility maintenance, and command post controllers, Air Force spokesman Maj. Eric Badger told Air Force Magazine on July 10. “When you’re undermanned that means the existing people have to work harder and that impacts morale and it could impact other things as well,” said James during a June 18 breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington, D.C. The Air Force exempted nuclear career fields from current force reduction measures and initiatives to increase manning across the nuclear mission, James said. (James transcript.)