McChord Takes Half of C-17 Manpower Reductions

The Air Force announced the inactivation of two C-17 squadrons– one at Joint Base Charleston, S.C and one at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. These inactivation’s were part of the FY15 President’s Budget submission released in March 2014 and will occur over the course of the next two years.

The Air Force plans to make adjustments over the next few years to the active duty, Reserve, and Guard components to ensure successful transitions to a leaner force that remains ready for future operations. The FY15 President’s Budget converts 16 AMC C-17s (eight from each base) from primary mission aircraft inventory to backup aircraft inventory. As a result, AMC will inactivate the 17th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., in FY15; and the 10th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in FY16. These inactivations are not new actions, but additional detail on the previously announced budget submission released in March.

“The 10th Airlift Squadron Pathfinders have a storied legacy of outstanding performance,” said Col. David Kumashiro, 62nd Airlift Wing commander. “Their legacy…their DNA…will not be lost. It will forever be part of our Air Force.”

“The men and women of the 62nd Airlift Wing and our United States Air Force are the best trained Airmen in the world. Make no doubt about it, your Airmen here at Joint Base Lewis-McChord remains ready, committed, and able to meet all of our worldwide taskings.”

“In this fiscally constrained environment, we have to balance readiness, capability and capacity,” said Major Gen. Michael S. Stough, AMC’s Director of Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs. “To best preserve this capability, the intent is to fund these aircraft back into primary mission aircraft inventory in future years, and transfer them to the Reserve Component – and we’re working with our Air National Guard partners to do that, perhaps even as early as FY16. We rely on our Total Force partners every day to meet our global mobility requirements; we couldn’t do the mission without them. Our goal is to continue to leverage the unique strengths of the active and Reserve components to meet current and future requirements with available resources.”

Backup aircraft inventory are assigned with no manpower or flying hours. However, they will continue to receive funding needed to support weapon system sustainment. Converting 16 aircraft to BAI removes funding for the personnel and flying hours associated with those aircraft, for a savings of approximately $110M per year.

AMC's goal, reports the Air Force Magazine, is to return these C-17s to PAI status at some point and transfer them to the reserve components, said Maj. Gen. Michael Stough, AMC's director of strategic plans, requirements, and programs. "We're working with our Air National Guard partners to do that, perhaps even as early as Fiscal 2016," he said.