http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20...wdown_022708w/

"Air Force leaders want to stop the service’s personnel drawdown early and spare about 6,000 airmen’s jobs, but only if Congress provides the money to do it, the service’s top civilian official said Wednesday.
Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, said leaders have grown increasingly nervous that completing the original plan to shrink the service to 316,600 airmen will cut too deep. But facing an ongoing need to shift money into recapitalizing and modernizing the aging fleet, they decided to carry through with the original plan in the fiscal 2009 budget proposal submitted to Congress on Feb. 4.
Just days later, on Feb. 8, the service submitted an $18.75 billion unfunded requirements list — often called a “wish list” — that includes $385 million to increase the force by more than 18,000 personnel. Wynne said the list was an attempt the hedge the Air Force’s bets on the personnel issue.
Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., blasted Wynne for not clearly communicating the Air Force’s personnel needs.
“You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “Tell us what you want right now.”
In response, Wynne said he would prefer to stop the drawdown at around 330,000, but that is not possible.
“We look like we can stop our decline at around 322,000 by not taking any actions farther than June, because we’re already below 330,000 right now,” he said.
Wynne said the 2005 plan to draw down to 316,000 did not account for growth of the Army — which will require more airmen to support it — and the continued use of airmen to fill Army taskings “in lieu of” soldiers. The Army plan had not yet been announced when the plan was formulated, and the Air Force did not expect that “in lieu of” taskings would continue this long, Wynne said.
On the issue of how many F-22s the Air Force needs, Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley treaded lightly after a public spat with the Pentagon earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters Feb. 13, Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, made comments that were interpreted as being resistant to the Pentagon’s decision to limit the program to 183 or 187 Raptors instead of the 381 the Air Force says it needs. Defense Secretary Robert Gates placed an angry phone call to Wynne, and Wynne and Moseley were forced to disown Carlson’s comments.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Wynne and Moseley were careful not to walk into the same trap. When asked about the right number of F-22s, both leaders said they support the president’s budget proposal.
But Moseley also explained that the Air Force has identified a requirement of 381 Raptors.
“I do support the president’s budget,” he said, but “the number is still 381.”
Moseley also said he is grateful that the F-22 production line will kept open for the near future so the issue can be discussed further."

 

So if the Army has more people...we need more people to support them with ILO taskings? I though if the Army got more people...maybe AF would stop having to supplement them.

We may indeed need more people...but not to send them TDY to fill billets that the Army can't fill.

Congress might want a better argument as to why we need more people. I would think there would be many more arguments for upping our numbers than just supporting Army ILO taskings.

Thoughts?