AFPC commander discusses future force

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stephen Linch
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  The commander of the Air Force Personnel Center addressed the service's current reduction in force, recapitalization and modernization during a base community council meeting Aug. 2 at Mission's End.

"Our three main objectives are to win this war, develop our Airmen and modernize our force," said Maj. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski, who's been in command of the AFPC since July 2004, to a crowd of more than 170 base and community leaders.

The service was mandated by the fiscal year 2007 budget to cut 40,000 Active Duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian full-time equivalents.

"We are leveraging people for Air Force compensation, reducing the force so we can afford better equipment for our folks," said the general, a former 509th Bomb Wing commander from June 2000 to April 2002.

In a letter to Airmen in June, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne said
the Air Force would use the cost savings to begin recapitalizing and modernizing the air, space and cyberspace systems to fight the Global War on Terror, and give future Airmen the tools to dominate all levels of warfare and across the spectrum of conflict.

General Przybyslawski highlighted aging aircraft as a target for increased funding.

"If it wasn't for the 15-year-old B-2 out there, the average age of our force would be in the 30s," he said. "This is a very old force that we have to contend with and to be able to respond worldwide." (The Air Force's B-52 debuted in 1955, while the C-130 and KC-135 airframes first flew in 1956.)

The general said the way we do business is ever changing.

"We no longer have the luxury of having four people to do the job one person could do," he said. "If someone isn't here to do that job today, then the job isn't going to get done until tomorrow or whenever that person returns."

He said the Air Force has to make sure Airmen are fully equipped in knowledge and equipment to get the job done.

When asked about the quality of Airmen forced to leave the service in the wake of the drawdown, the general said it's a give-and-take situation.

"We are losing great Airmen, great professionals," he said. "But - I'm convinced the Air Force's loss is America's gain."

In his letter to Airmen, Secretary Wynne said the Air Force is continuing to pare back the force structure from the 349,000 Airmen on active duty at the end of 2006, to a smaller, leaner and more capable force by 2013. He added there are no plans to extend the restructuring beyond the current 40,000 reduction; in fact, the drawdown is subject to change as the service reaps the benefits of productivity-enhancing initiatives and as leaders evaluate Army and Marine Corps end-strength increases.

Land component growth may require the total force drawdown to level off, while the size of specific elements within the Air Force might actually need to grow as well.

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