The 366th Maintenance Operations Squadron at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, stood down as part of an Air Force-wide effort to align field and company grade officer slots with operational requirements, according to a base release. “This inactivation is a result of a decision made by our senior leaders almost a year ago to correct a long-standing imbalance in the ratio of field grade officers to company grade officers in the maintenance officer career field,” said Col. James McClellan, 366th Maintenance Group commander. “If not corrected, this imbalance would prove to make the maintenance officer career field unsustainable in future years as the demand for senior officers would not be met,” he added during the May 13 standdown ceremony. By the end of the fiscal year, the Air Force plans to inactivate more MOS units service-wide, states the May 16 release. The 366th MOS provided staff support for the maintenance group while also supporting the base’s F-15E operations. As part of the change, about 150 airmen will come under a different squadron and leadership. (Mountain Home report by SrA. Heather Hayward)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
