Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, USAF personnel chief, told the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee Thursday afternoon that “budgetary pressures” had forced the Air Force into trading personnel for aircraft recapitalization. It was not news to anyone, but the Air Force, in discussing the 2008 budget request, is hammering home that point and the fact that the service must readdress the number of personnel it plans to cut in light of the 92,000 troop increase for the Army and Marine Corps. Brady explained that USAF, faced with a too-small budget, undertook “a hard look at our processes and organizational structure” to make the right cuts to “ensure the survival and future success” of the force. He characterized the decision as “prudent,” because the service has “a rapidly aging fleet that we must recapitalize.”
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…