Despite doing well overall in recruiting, the Air Force is still struggling to attract and retain officers in the health professions, says Daniel Ginsberg, USAF’s top civilian for manpower issues. “The on-going high-demand for medical professionals in the lucrative civilian market makes it difficult,” he told Senate lawmakers March 10 (See Getting There From Here above). The Air Force met just 70 percent of its recruiting requirements in these fields in Fiscal 2009, he said. Still, that was up eight percent from Fiscal 2008. Ginsberg said the main shortfall is attracting fully qualified individuals to come straight into fields like biomedical sciences. Plus it’s hard to recruit officers in the fields of psychology, pharmacy, optometry and public health, he said. To address this, the Air Force seeks $85.7 million in Fiscal 2011 for recruiting and retention bonuses for active duty medical officers. (Ginsberg prepared remarks)
Testing of the B-21 bomber and AGM-181 nuclear cruise missile is going well, and some “key” developments with the Raider are expected later this year, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew P. Hunter told a Senate committee on May 8.