Air Force to Cut Thousands

The Air Force has announced plans to slash officer strength by at 8,000 in fiscal 2007. One tool will be Voluntary Separation Pay offered to 3,200 line, chaplain, judge advocate general and medical service corps officers with between six and 12 years of service. Another will be involuntary separations for colonels, lieutenant colonels and lieutenants who will be selected by separation boards. Yet another will be a selective early retirement board for line, chaplain and judge-advocate-general colonels and lieutenant colonels. In addition prior service officers eligible for retirement may apply with eight years of commissioned service instead of 10, and lieutenant colonels and colonels may retire with two years in grade instead of three. The Air Force also plans to chop enlisted strength by some 11,000. It will make those cuts by curtailing re-enlistments in over-strength career fields and reducing recruiting.