Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, on a recent visit to Balad AB, Iraq, told airmen that the Air Force’s shift to a 120-day cycle increased the number of airmen who must deploy as part of an Air Expeditionary Force. He said: “When we deploy an aviation package for 120 days we need a lot more equipment and people because of the increased maintenance the aircraft needs in those environments. That means we need more services, security forces, and other support, but now we’ve just made our footprint bigger.” So, the question is, “Do we go back to 90-day rotations.”
U.S. C-17s have now flown 104 loads of materiel out of Afghanistan as the retrograde continues, and U.S. Central Command plans to destroy more than 1,800 pieces of equipment. Between six and 12 percent of the entire retrograde process is complete since, CENTCOM said in a May 11 statement.