Air Force Times Editorial: A drawdown or not? - Air Force Community - Air Force Times

Air Force Times Editorial: A drawdown or not?

During the Air Force Association meeting last week in Orlando, Fla., Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael Wynne told reporters they may reconsider this summer the plan to draw down the force by 40,000 positions — stopping short of that total.

Meanwhile, the Air Force continues to eliminate talented and experienced people — at considerable cost — who won’t be easy to replace.

There are two reasons for Moseley and Wynne’s new line of thinking. First, the administration has proposed —and Congress is likely to support — adding thousands of ground troops. The Army would add a total of 35,000 soldiers by 2012, and the Marine Corps would add 22,000 Marines by 2011.

Moseley and Wynne rightly contend that these additional troops will require support from the Air Force — including but not limited to airlift, close-air support, bombing runs, ISR collection and dissemination, battlefield airmen and medical personnel.

Second, the plan to surge at least another 21,500 troops into Iraq also will require additional support from the Air Force. Just what the service’s role will be is not entirely clear at this point, but that the demands on airmen will increase is not in dispute.

Obviously, these are complicated issues — made more difficult by the fact that the recapitalization of the fleet cannot wait. It would seem unlikely that Congress would direct even more money toward the Air Force. Service leaders are already asking for more than legislators are likely to give. So any plan to end the drawdown early and forgo some of the cost savings that would flow from that strategy will be painful.

But time is not on their side.

The service is now paying experienced officers to leave — many of whom don’t really want to go. Their decisions about whether to take voluntary separation pay just became that much more confusing and difficult.

The sooner the Air Force can come to grips with the direction it is heading, the better — for the service and for the airmen who anxiously await the outcome.