The Air Force will likely experiment with a new way of filling manpower needs called “sponsored reservists,” said outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. Britain’s armed forces “have a contract for their refueling where their contractor provides both the platform and some of the crews. And, while some of the crews are active duty, some of them are ‘sponsored reserves’,” said Schwartz in a mid July exit interview. “And, we’ve toyed with that here as well,” he added. Sponsored reservists “are employees of the company and who can flip from their civilian certification to military credentials . . . simply by appropriate authorities executing the right orders,” he explained. Broadly, with regard to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, “there clearly are imaginative things to do” to get needed capability with reduced resources, he said.
Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, warned that Russia would remain an enduring threat to NATO and global security, regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine.