(Air Force Times) Editorial: Right-size the Air Force

[unhappycamper]

Right-size the Air Force

The Air Force is putting the final touches on its plan to add about 10,000 more airmen in the next two years.

Details are still sketchy, but Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has offered some details: Half of the new positions will support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The remainder will be split between maintenance and what Schwartz called “the nuclear business.”

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But 10,000 more airmen won’t be enough. Schwartz is calling for another 17,000-plus, to grow the force to 350,000.

That’s an admission that the tradeoffs of the past decade — people for planes — didn’t pan out as planned. The Air Force cut too deeply, and it compromised mission effectiveness.

Now it’s time to right-size the Air Force. And for a change, right-sizing isn’t a euphemism for downsizing. The lesson for the future: Don’t cut too much too fast.


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/community/opinion/airforce_editorial_size_030209/%2e