Posted on Jul 10, 2015
Are Air Force personnel (military&civilian) safe from being downsized?
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Heard that the Army has to let go of 40,000 troops and the civilian personnel will be downsized as well in the next few years. They are looking at releasing 17,000 civilian personnel. I wanted to know from my fellow airmen and those who work for the AF, are Air Force personnel safe for now?
Posted in these groups: 
Air Force
Downsizing
Air Force Downsizing
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 14
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No branches are safe from downsizing. Sgt (Join to see). The military size ebbs and flows with the events of the world... Check out the size of Army or Air Force thru the years. Downsizing is not a new event. The DOD is the largest part of the Federal Discretionary Budget, which means it is subject to budget cuts, when budget cuts are in order. That said, the USAF was downsizing when the Army was growing.
http://index.heritage.org/militarystrength/chapter/us-power/us-air-force/
http://index.heritage.org/militarystrength/chapter/us-power/us-air-force/
U.S. Air Force - 2015 Index of U.S. Military Strength
The U.S. Air Force provides military dominance in the air, space, and cyberspace domains that enables the Joint Force to quickly project power anywhere in the world at any time. The Air Force holds that it must be able to respond rapidly to contingencies and be the first force in the fight.
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The Air Force attempted to make all their personnel cuts in '13 and '14 Sgt (Join to see). And recently Deborah Lee James (Secretary of the Air Force) and General Mark Welsh (Chief of Staff AF) went on record saying that the Air Force had gotten, "too small" in the last round of personnel cuts.
So while we aren't on the chopping block again yet, and we hope not to be, we still keep one eye on the situation because as we all know: "unlikely is not the same thing as impossible" and it could easily happen again for the Air Force.
So while we aren't on the chopping block again yet, and we hope not to be, we still keep one eye on the situation because as we all know: "unlikely is not the same thing as impossible" and it could easily happen again for the Air Force.
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SrA Matthew Knight
Exactly, as of current they have not announced any cuts on AF personnel. I wouldn't be surprised to see them again in the future but the last I read the AF was actually looking for people separated in certain AFSCs to come back.
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MSgt Alan H
As price tags become larger with cost over runs and other countries that cancel or reduce orders for these insanely expensive pieces of hardware, I foresee more personnel cuts in the future of the Air Force to include reducing numbers, reducing benefits, reducing/eliminating older airframes. And there's also sequester........
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I hope that you do not experience the same kind of cuts that we are experiencing in the Army. I have not heard anything personally about Air Force cuts.
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In my experience, no arm of the service is safe from cuts. When I went to my first tech school, there were a bunch of freshly minted 2LTs with new cars and ink drying on their diplomas. It was during a period of downsizing and there were several tests (written and operational) where failure meant your time in the USAF was over. For me, it was pretty motivating. I did not want to go back to what I left behind. I'm old enough to have watched the military grow and shrink more than once. Where at one time, if you joined and performed, you could count on a career, I see no promise of anything currently.
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MSgt Alan H
You have hit the nail on the head. No one is safe including majors that back in the day were good for twenty. Now as a major they can say good bye up to (I believe) 18? How many years do you have and have you been selected or attended school as of yet? I really think it's a shame, very little career stability.
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I asked this questions because I just got selected for an Air Force Govt job which I waited so long to get back to. The last thing I want to worry about for now is last one in first one out. But I won't get too comfortable but I will prove I am worth keeping around.
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Don't forget that USAF airlift is tied to the number of USA units. I had to retire in 2012 due to HYT changes due to funding cutbacks.
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We are in the middle of a cycle that has occurred after every major war starting in World War II. With the [supposed] end to 2 major wars, the military will start to correct itself. It will do this by cutting budgets and personnel. The last time this happened was after desert storm in 1991 thru 1995. As always, the military will over correct. We are still on downturn that should last about 2 more years. Then the military will yell "Wait! We cut too deep! Bring people back in." This should be a lot better by 2018.
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Services will always adjust to meet Congressional end-strengths...Google "NDAA 2016" and you can read the bills passed by HASC and SASC yourself...increase to USAF but how that is applied will be determined by USAF IAW National Strategy
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