“I believe we should boost the size” of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in an interview with Air Force Magazine last week. “I think we can keep more capacity in those components,” and “if we move more force structure into the Guard and Reserve, that’s great.” Welsh acknowledged that the reserve component is less costly to maintain, but he insisted increasing it must not be done “right now … at the expense of the active component.” He explained, “The analysis we’ve done shows that that would be a bad idea and we can show how that would hurt mission capability, not help it.” Ideally, he would like to grow the Guard and Reserve “proportionately” with the Active Duty “to operate that force structure, that hardware.” But the active component is “at a red line … We’re going to break it if we go any smaller,” he added.
Now Enlisted Airmen Can Stay in Uniform Longer
Dec. 8, 2023
The Air Force is extending the amount of time Airmen can spend at most enlisted ranks by two years, as the service looks to combat sluggish recruiting and balance its force structure. The High Year of Tenure (HYT) program sets limits on how long service members can spend in each grade…