3,000 Sergeants in the Barrel?: The Air Force says it has notified more than 3,000 staff, technical, and master sergeants that they are vulnerable for retraining in 2006. If the service does not get enough sergeants to volunteer to retrain from overstaffed career fields into those with chronic shortages, it will, as it did last year, nominate candidates for career shifts. (Check the Air Force Personnel Center Web site for the latest vulnerability lists.)
Over the past few months, the Air Force has seen something of a surge in “elephant walks”—large numbers of aircraft lining the runway to showcase airpower and practice generating massive amounts of force in a short timeframe. But the latest one, at Osan Air Base, South Korea, was particularly impressive, featuring much…