where to begin? First off I do not agree 100% with all of 120’s observations, but he makes a pretty good point when it comes to other’s perceptions of the Air Force.

Quote Originally Posted by Cliff View Post
What systems would you propose cutting (other than all the legacy aircraft the AF wants to retire but Congress won't let them) to pay for buying even minimum numbers of F-35s and F-22s?
What is the "minimum" number of F-35s and F-22s? And why both?

I admit that Congressional meddling does hurt the USAF's attempts to divest itself of platforms and programs (as well as the other services). It would take a SecAF and a CSAF with HUGE cajones (and no future employment prospects) to tell Congress too bad, so sad we're getting rid of the B-52s.

However, if I were the CSAF these are a few things I would do:

Kill NASCAR. Kill Jumbotron. Kill ABL (its a money pit). Stop the Thunderbirds F-16 swap. Stop BAS payments to deployed Airmen. All unmarried E-4 and below live in the dorms, with few exceptions, and also three to a room at that (saves BOS and O&M). No TDY's posing as "deployments" and deployments are minimum 6 months (saves O&M). Eliminate some officer billets and give more authority and responsibility to NCOs (they're cheaper). Eliminate AFSCs by requiring more "multitasking" of personnel (some of this is being done). Scrub acquisition costs with a wire brush (especially Space and AFSOC). Cancel all base maintenance contracts (Airmen can cut grass and paint stuff). Squeeze TDY "perks" to a minimum (if you're TDY or "deployed" to a site and billeted within walking distance of your work site, why do you need a rental car? When you deploy to support Cobra Gold at U-Tapao why do you need to stay in hotels in Pattaya Beach, 40 miles away?).

I could jump onto the DPD Warehouse and find more but those are just for starters. Now some will say “those are mostly small dollar amounts.” True, but start cutting the small stuff and it adds up over the FYDP.

Bump me up to SecDef (which is a truly scary thought, I'd have to wear suits all the time) and I would take a long hard look at all of OSD's programs (excluding the services) and scrub them really hard to eliminate waste and duplication of effort. Plus there'd be greater scrutiny on the COCOMs, which would get less of a free pass to dip into the service POMs for their support. Rather than give that cash back, I would pass those savings to the Services to help fund those programs that do need it.

However, change like that hurts when you’ve become used to certain perks, but it can be done. An AF GO once noted that given the fiscal restraints over the next several years the USAF can either be the best in the world at putting lead on target or be the world’s best base support service, but not both. To be the former while giving up the latter requires a big change in culture.

Granted you could also focus more scrutiny on the other three service’s programs and probably find significant savings. But the Marines seem to pretty much make do with what they get, the Army seems careful in what it pushes hard for (although IMHO I think JIEDDO was a bit pricey for the result), and these days it seems like the Navy just tries to stay under everyone’s radar.