Work has begun to revamp Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina into a predominantly Army facility with a small Air Force presence, following BRAC 2005 actions. The brunt of the effort falls to Air Force Reserve Command, which must dissolve its 440th Airlift Wing C-130H operations in Milwaukee, Wis., transferring its aircraft to other units and its manpower positions to Pope. At some point, Pope will pick up 16 C-130Hs. AFRC’s job is to find people to fill the transferring manpower positions. The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer talked with SMSgt. Lonnie Taylor, an AFRC recruiter, who has been in North Carolina since May trying to fill 1,400 positions, which he says is an unprecedented task.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
