The AF is busy cutting people so that they can buy their fancy new toys (the F-22, a follow-on to the B-2, and other stuff).

When the AF deploys, no matter how they spin it with the AEF stuff, it's only a small percentage of their total force that is impacted. A-10 units, tankers, AWACS, B-52s...you guessed it - they ALL go. Other units, not so much. There are people in the AF who have been stationed in the same locations for 10+ years. F-15 units (non-Strike Eagle) aren't going to be touched as much as Strike Eagle squadrons. And the small but growing F-22 community is immune to deployment for the foreseeable future. So that 7% is a small figure when compared to the total force, but certain communities are being tapped more than they should be, while others get to hang out and pay lip service to wartime footing.

Add to that the fact that the AF more or less denies the existence of small wars (at least as far as something they really need to take a major interest in), and you get to the center of the problem. From an AF perspective, Small Wars aren't flashy enough. They require equipment that the AF doesn't consider "high speed" (things like transports, slow attack craft, and the like) and thus doesn't invest much in as far as development. The A-10 has been a workhorse in this environment, and it's only been in the last YEAR or so that the AF has bothered to upgrade its avionics to give it a good night operations capability.

As for using AF personnel in support roles, it's those kind of support functions that they've been cutting back on for the past few years. Personnel career fields have been hard-hit, as have some of their IM areas.