Air Force Reshapes 14 Specialties, Cuts Surplus Lieutenants  By Amy Schlesing Arkansas Democrat-Gazette May 11, 2006 The U.S. Air Force chopped its junior officer ranks by about 850 in its latest round of personnel cuts announced Wednesday. Last year, the Air Force announced that it had a surplus of lieutenants in 14 specialties - mostly support roles like finance, personnel and public affairs. As part of its Force Shaping plan, the Air Force set a goal of reducing by 1,100 the number of junior officers in those 14 specialties. When the cuts were announced early this year, the more than 4,000 lieutenants in vulnerable areas had to decide whether to transfer to another field or the reserve force or to face a separation board that would decide who would go and who would stay. About half of lieutenants took advantage of transfer options, leaving 2,084 facing the board to meet targets in certain specialties. Of those, 846 lost their jobs, including three at Little Rock Air Force Base. They must leave the force by Sept. 29. "Through the Force Shaping of personnel and the reduction of legacy air systems [aging planes], that's what's going to free up the budget to make us a better Air Force," said Capt. David Faggard, spokesman for Little Rock Air Force Base. The reduction in lieutenants is in addition to a planned reduction next year of 40,000 airmen of every rank across the Air Force. "The members of this board were charged by the secretary of the Air Force to perform the complex task of right sizing our junior officer force by specialty," said Maj. Gen. Glenn Spears, Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel. "The board members were acutely aware of the magnitude of their role in serving on the first board thus institutionalizing the Force Shaping Board process and ensuring the officer corps is balanced and sustainable." Whether to gamble on a board review was not an easy decision for many lieutenants. Lt. Jon Quinlan, former spokesman for Little Rock Air Force Base, decided not to gamble and applied for transfer within the Air Force to become a navigator. Lt. Sharon Rodgers, former base spokesman and current spokesman for the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, braved the board. And Wednesday she learned that she survived. "It was interesting," she said. "Having grown up in the Air Force as prior enlisted [someone who enlisted and then later received a commission], I understood the rationale behind it. We understand the concept of service before self. But I'm absolutely thrilled that I was retained." Rodgers compared the lieutenant cuts to a business having to downsize. It is a matter of cost cutting and preventing larger cuts in future years. Without thinning the lower ranks of surplus personnel, a flood of officers would vie for promotion. With a limited number of field grade positions at major and above, the surplus of lieutenants could cause a promotion backlog, clogging the ranks across the board because many would have to remain in lower ranks, leaving little room for junior officers to move forward. "It makes room for modernizing," Faggard said. "And the Air Force is changing right now." (Archives)