Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, on a recent visit to Balad AB, Iraq, told airmen that the Air Force’s shift to a 120-day cycle increased the number of airmen who must deploy as part of an Air Expeditionary Force. He said: “When we deploy an aviation package for 120 days we need a lot more equipment and people because of the increased maintenance the aircraft needs in those environments. That means we need more services, security forces, and other support, but now we’ve just made our footprint bigger.” So, the question is, “Do we go back to 90-day rotations.”
A recent seven-day exercise sent Air Force F-22s—along with other USAF aircraft—to austere, challenging environments across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Agile Reaper, taking place for the second time after its inaugural edition last year, featured 800 Airmen and 29 aircraft across five different locations from April 10-16, training…