Air Force Secretary Michael Donley has initiated two voluntary recall to active duty programs for retirees and Reservists and expanded the number of eligible Air Force specialties for a third program to help minimize the service’s critical shortage of rated officers to operate unmanned aircraft and support other emerging missions in contingency operations worldwide. These programs are the Voluntary Retired Rated Officer Recall Program, Voluntary Limited Period Recall Program, and Voluntary Permanent Rated Officer Recall Program. Adriana Bazan, the chief of voluntary officer recall operations with Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Tex., said there has been “a tremendous response” so far to these programs, with more than 500 rated officers selected for recall to active duty. Applications average 70 per month, she said. Rated officers include pilots, combat systems officers, and air battle managers. (Randolph report by Daniel Elkins)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…