Air Force Plans To Cut 10,000 Airmen

The Air Force plans to cut its ranks by about 10,000 airmen over the next five years. And the service is now saying those cuts will fall heavily on the National Guard. 3,900 active duty personnel will be cut, as will 900 members of the Air Force reserve. The Air National Guard's ranks will go down by 5,100. The personnel reductions are a direct result of the shrinking number of aircraft the service will operate. In its 2013 budget, the Air Force will propose to get rid of 227 planes in its current inventory. That's part of a larger reduction of 286 aircraft over the next five years. Leaders say they've taken steps to mitigate the impact the changes will have on individual bases by remissioning certain units and creating more partnerships between active component Air Force units and members of the reserve components.