Air Force chief: Personnel shortfall is critical
Jim Michaels , USA TODAY 7:46 p.m. EST December 21, 2016
GTY 526090862 A POL WAR USA VA
(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. — The Air Force’s top officer said the service is critically short of personnel and needs to expand by more than 30,000 active-duty service members to meet its security obligations, including an air war against Islamic State militants.
“We just got too small too fast and we’ve got to grow,” Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, told USA TODAY in an interview Wednesday. “We’re at a risk level I’m not comfortable with.”
Goldfein, who is completing a five-day tour of air bases around the country, said the trip reinforced his concerns that the service is stretched thin. “The shortage of people has fundamentally changed the way we do business,” he said. "To most of the American people they still think they have the Air Force of Desert Storm (1990-91 Gulf War) and we’re not even close."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/12/21/air-force-chief-personnel-shortfall-critical/95718566/
