The Air Force plan to draw down some 40,000 personnel to free up funds for badly needed aircraft recapitalization programs is now about 18 months out of date, according to Maj. Gen. Frank Faykes, Air Force budget chief. Briefing reporters on the 2008 budget, Faykes noted that the drawdown decision was made before the Administration decided to make a permanent increase of 92,000 troops to the Army and Marine Corps. Faykes said that an Army increase of some five brigade combat teams, which have embedded USAF personnel—tactical air control parties—has a bearing on Air Force personnel levels. He said: “If the Army grows, what does that mean for the Air Force? We don’t know yet, so we’re looking at that. But the environment in which we made those decisions … has significantly changed.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent direction that the military services return to a more old-school approach to basic training—with instructors "tossing bunks" and "putting their hands on recruits”—will likely require the Air Force to rewrite policies for military training instructors it has modified over time to cut down on such…
