Orlando, February 19, 2010—Readiness remains a big challenge for Reservists, Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief, told attendees at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium. Readiness in the sense of taking someone “from square zero” and maturing them from being a part timer to fully operational status, he said. “Part of that challenge comes with dollars and cents; part of that challenge comes with availability,” he explained. Part of the answer is a training program in place that takes airmen out of basic military training and tech school and, if assuming they have the availability, puts them on an extended-period tour that develops their skills to the point that they may deploy, he said. Such efforts get “them into the fight quicker,” Stenner said, noting that this initiative needs to be sustained.
The top Air Force commander on on the Japanese island of Okinawa has clamped down alcohol and issued a curfew for junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians at Kadena Air Base for the next month. The order came roughly two weeks after a U.S. Marine was arrested for allegedly robbing and…