Despite an unrelenting pace of activations and deployments for the last 14 years, the Air Force Reserve is “not … burned out,” Air Force Reserve Command boss Lt. Gen. J.J. Jackson said Tuesday. “Seventy-five percent of our people joined since 9/11,” Jackson said at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. “They don’t know anything else.” Since 9/11, Jackson said that 81 percent of Reserve deployments have been made on a volunteer basis, with a force that is still 75 percent part-time. Jackson said he is now focused on making sure the Reserve is modernized in lockstep with the rest of the Air Force, because while USAF Active Duty aircraft are between 25-27 years old, “it’s more like 27-29 years” in the Reserve. Jackson said AFRC is now involved with every mission USAF performs, with the exception of U-2 pilots and “people in missile silos.” The future of the Reserve includes full participation in operating and maintaining the F-35 and KC-46, as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and agile combat support, Jackson said.
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…