The Air Force last week began Phase II of its noncommissioned officer retraining program, giving airmen identified for retraining until April 6 to submit a request to retrain and April 29 to follow with a retraining package. The service has identified more than 100 NCOs that it wants to move into a new career field to put them “where they are needed most,” said MSgt. Deitra Mathis, enlisted retraining superintendent at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Tex. If the NCOs on the involuntary retraining list do not meet the April 29 deadline, the Air Force plans to separate them from the service. Air Force officials have said that despite plans to increase end strength, they must continue to shape the force, principally shifting airmen to chronically short fields. (AFPC report)
The cost of the nuclear AGM-181 Long-Range Stand Off missile has come down slightly and the program is on track, but several technologies it relies on are still considered immature, the Government Accountability Office found in a report. Meanwhile, the GAO also assessed the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile as…