The Air Force has consolidated the Air Force Manpower Agency, Air Force Personnel Center, and Air Force Services Agency at JBSA-Randolph, Tex., into a single entity there, announced service officials on June 4. Efforts are under way to fully integrate the agencies’ functions that now reside under the new organization, which retains the name of the Air Force Personnel Center, they said. “Consolidating allows us to streamline processes, identify efficiencies, and reduce overhead in the A1 enterprise,” said Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services. “This just makes good business sense for the Air Force in today’s budget constrained environment,” he added. Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz signed the guidance letter on the consolidation on May 23; the new organization assumed initial operations on June 1. “The new Air Force Personnel Center will be structurally different from the previous independent agencies, which will allow us to better focus our resources, effort, and time on airmen and families, force support squadrons, and other A1 enterprise customers,” said Maj. Gen. A.J. Stewart, AFPC commander. (San Antonio-Randolph report by Paige Hughes)
Operational testing of the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter could be delayed if all the necessary fixes to the system aren’t made in time, the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Testing said. Dust ingestion, gun issues, software, and the intercom are among the problems to be ironed out.