Air Force Reserve Command plans to change the way its groups Reserve colonels to meet promotion selection boards, beginning Oct. 16. It will merge selected reserve and participating individual ready reserve lieutenant colonels being considered for colonel. The head of the Air Force Reserve, Lt. Gen. John Bradley calls the change “especially prudent” considering the strategic shift to an operational reserve, greater Total Force integration, the effects of BRAC 2005 and the Air Force’s impending personnel drawdown. He added that the decision to form one competitive category was not done in a “vacuum.” Bradley said, this decision represents “the best recommendation” from a general officer-led promotions working group, chartered in July, to address problems such as promoting more lieutenant colonels than AFRC’s number of colonel positions.
The Air Force displayed all the firepower it has amassed on Okinawa in an unusually diverse show of force this week. IIn a May 6 “Elephant Walk,” Kadena Air Base showcased 24 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters, eight F-15E Strike Eagles; two U.S. Army Patriot anti-missile batteries near the runway; and…