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Air Force officials announce FY14 force management programs

  • Published
  • By Air Force News Serivce
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  In ongoing efforts to continue to size and shape the force to current and future requirements, Air Force officials have announced the fiscal year 2014 force management programs.

The Air Force ended FY12 159 Airmen over end strength and anticipates ending FY13 at or marginally over end strength. The FY 14 budget requests active duty end strength at 327,600, which is a further reduction of 1,860 from fiscal year 2013 active duty authorized end strength.

For enlisted Airmen, voluntary programs from last year will continue. These include waivers for active duty service commitments, time in grade waivers, enlistment contract waivers and expanded Palace Chase transfers to the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve.

Approximately 130 Airmen in Air Force Global Strike Command could be affected by the Date of Separation rollbacks, according to the AFGSC personnel directorate.

For officers, voluntary programs will continue. These programs will be offered to certain year groups and overage career fields to allow time-in-grade and ADSC waivers. New for this year will be an ADSC waiver of up to 12 months for Senior and Intermediate Developmental Education. Likewise, Palace Chase and the 10 to eight years of commissioned service waivers will continue to be offered.

In addition to voluntary programs, 37 AFGSC officers are vulnerable to meet the Selective Early Retirement Board, which will convene Dec. 9 to consider eligible lieutenant colonels and colonels for retirement under the FY14 force management program.

SERB is one of several FM programs to be implemented in FY14 to help size and balance the force to meet authorized end strength levels, said Lt. Col. John Barlett, the Air Force Personnel Center Operations Division chief.

The lieutenant colonel board will consider officers who have been twice nonselected for promotion to colonel by Dec. 9, the date the board convenes. Career fields affected include Line of the Air Force, Nurse Corps, Biomedical Sciences Corps, Line of the Air Force - Judge Advocate General and Medical Services Corps.

"The Air Force will be smaller in the future. Depending on end strength requirements for fiscal year 2014 and beyond, we may be required to implement additional force management measures throughout the year to meet Congressionally-mandated end strength," explained Col. Dawn Keasley, Military Force Policy Division chief.

She added that the Air Force's goal will be to use voluntary measures first, offer incentives where needed and use involuntary programs if required.

"Airmen are our most important resource and we must do our best to live with the resources we've been given," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III. "That requires having the right balance of skills to meet the needs of the current and future fight which these force management actions will provide."

The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve are conducting their own force management actions in fiscal FY14. Click on Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard for more information.

For more information on FY14 force management programs or to apply, visit the myPers website at https://mypers.af.mil and enter "Force Management" in the search window.