The Air Force definitely is not cutting enlisted aviator career fields—at least not in the near future—because the service says it’s short. USAF officials are encouraging airmen who may be in vulnerable career fields to cross train as boom operators, flight engineers, loadmasters, airborne mission systems, airborne battle management, flight attendants, aerial gunners, and airborne cryptology linguists. It needs to fill these jobs now.
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.