Another four officer year groups face a Reduction in Force board slated to meet June 11-29. As of May 4, the Air Force says it must involuntarily separate 459 officers—down from about 600 officers in March—by Jan. 29, 2008. By the latest tally, a total of 1,963 officers must face the RIF board. They span several overstaffed career fields in four year groups—1995 (343), 1996 (208), 2000 (397), and 2001 (1,015). The service expects to notify RIFed officers in August. Both this RIF board and the Force Shaping Board (see above) that met in March are part of the Air Force’s Fiscal 2007 drawdown plan to reduce its overall end strength by around 40,000 personnel. The service is reconsidering that total number, though, in light of the planned increase in ground forces.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.