About 2,240 Air Force officers in year groups 2003 and 2004 could face the force shaping board slated for March. As of Jan. 11, vulnerability charts show the service still needed to reshape the 2004 year group by separating 319 and has put 1,616 in the potential crosshairs. The top targeted career fields out of 13 that still have too many junior officers include developmental engineering, communications/information, intelligence, and science. For the 2003 year group, USAF only needs to bump 131 out of 628 that are eligible. From this group, the service must cull officers in DE, space and missiles, and navigators. The service announced the date of the FSB last fall, and earlier this month also set a reduction in force board date for officers in other overage year groups.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
