When Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told a virtual town hall audience Dec. 16 “enough is enough” on involuntary force management, the civilian force was not included. According to Air Force officials, USAF will continue to work the drawdown of civilian positions through Fiscal 2015. That will include “multiple rounds of civilian workforce shaping measures to include maximum use of pre-RIF placement flexibilities to help properly place and shape the civilian workforce,” according to an October release. A Sept. 30 RIF is planned as a last resort. “Our hope is that through multiple rounds of voluntary civilian workforce shaping measures and the use of pre-Reduction in Force placement flexibilities we should be able to offset most of our civilian impacts,” said Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson. Richeson said the Air Force is making an effort to reassign civilian employees “into vacant positions without negatively affecting pay or benefits.”
Every year, Congress and the military debate which combat assets should head to the boneyard and which have more life left in them. Lawmakers often opt to keep Air Force systems that bring jobs to their districts, which complicates matters as the service looks to modernize and ditch certain platforms.…