Officer reduction in force

  • Published
  • By Senior Leadership
  • Pentagon
WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Shaping our Air Force and ensuring we have the right mix of skills sets will result in
approximately 40,000 active-duty Airmen separating from the service in order to meet
our lower authorized end-strength. 

The process for separating these Airmen is very methodical and detailed, and it's being
handled this way because Air Force leaders want to make sure the Air Force maintains
its combat capability as numbers of people in some Air Force Specialty Code are
reduced. The most recent step in this process involves an officer Reduction in Force 
Board. 

This RIF is limited by law that states the number of people separated cannot be more
than 30 percent of the number of eligible officers. Brig. Gen. K.C. McClain, Director of
Force Management Policy for the Air Force at the Pentagon, said, "For the RIF, because
we are trying to do force shaping very, very carefully, we are allowed to do that by Air
Force Specialty Code and by year group, limited to 30 percent. If the sustainment line is
lower than 30 percent, we will take that lower number." The officer RIF will affect
officers in the 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001 year groups. 

The Air Force prefers force shaping to happen through voluntary separation rather than
by involuntary means. That's why Air Force leaders extended the voluntary separation
pay application period for officers, and are making it as easy as possible for officers to
volunteer to separate. 

Force shaping and involuntary separations are never easy decisions for Air Force
leaders. But as Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel,
once said, "It's important to keep in mind what force shaping is all about: the present
and future state of the Air Force. We have to balance our (force) for now and in the
coming years to have the kind of force we need to win the long war we are in now, and
be prepared for whatever comes next." 

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