{"id":26269,"date":"2018-01-08T21:33:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/01\/08\/more-time-at-home-air-force-seeks-to-ease-relentless-deployments-for-in-demand-airmen\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:43:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:43:32","slug":"more-time-at-home-air-force-seeks-to-ease-relentless-deployments-for-in-demand-airmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/01\/08\/more-time-at-home-air-force-seeks-to-ease-relentless-deployments-for-in-demand-airmen\/","title":{"rendered":"More time at home? Air Force seeks to ease relentless deployments for in-demand airmen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senior Master Sgt. Corey Fossbender has lost count of exactly how many times he\u2019s deployed in his 26-year career in the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-seven, maybe? Or 28, the AC-130U aerial gunner guessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe more, though he\u2019s certain he\u2019s been to 19 different combat zones \u2014 several of them more than once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t even tell you how many deployments I\u2019ve had, but 19 combat deployments from Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and anywhere in between,\u201d said Fossbender, who is the senior enlisted leader for the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He isn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Air Force\u2019s wars have shifted, the burden of deployments is increasingly falling on a specialized, in-demand cadre of crucial airmen \u2014 some of the most stressed in the service. Air Force leaders are increasingly worried that the pressure placed on these vital airmen is taking a toll on them and their families<\/a> \u2014 and may even break the force<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re burning out our people,\u201d Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a November news conference, where she discussed meeting an airman who had just returned from his 17th deployment. \u201cAt some point, families make a decision that they just can\u2019t keep doing this at this pace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force is trying to take steps to better manage how its airmen deploy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, it announced that airmen deploying on individual taskings will now be sent in teams of three or more \u2014 a new policy called Deployed Teaming<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This seeks to reduce the strain and pressure that comes when airmen deploy by themselves. Teammates will train together and \u201cprovide mutual support\u201d when overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force is also looking at its 365-day deployments to see if it\u2019s sending the right number of people overseas for a full year, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright said Nov. 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the entire Air Force, deployment rates appear largely unchanged between 2015 and 2016, at a median 1:5 deployment-to-dwell time rate, meaning most airmen stay at home five times as long as they spent deployed before going overseas again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More airmen are deploying \u2014 84,053 in 2016, up from 64,655 in 2015 \u2014 but the average deployment has shortened, from 131 days in 2015 to 98 in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of total days deployed dipped from 8.5 million to 8.3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An MC-130J receives fuel from a KC-135 during training. The Air Force\u2019s in-flight refuelers and special missions aviators are among its most heavily deployed troops, supporting operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. (Senior Airman Ashley Williams\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Warning signs<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a closer look at the data shows where the burden is falling \u2014 and where the warning signs are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Air Force Times analysis of deployment statistics shows that in fiscal 2015, 1,046 airmen who deployed for contingency operations overseas were in the four Air Force specialty codes that averaged a 1:2 deploy-dwell rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fiscal 2016, 1,489 airmen deployed overseas in the seven career fields with 1:2 deploy-dwell ratios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The change in jobs with 1:3 deploy-dwell rates was even more dramatic. In 2015, 2,834 airmen deployed in the 13 AFSCs with that rate. But in 2016, the number of airmen deploying in the 14 career fields with that rate dramatically increased, to at least 5,090.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the career fields with the most demanding \u2014 and increasing \u2014 deployment rates are in missions that proved central to the air campaign against the Islamic State. For example, while 1A0X1 in-flight refuelers stayed at a 1:3 rate, the number of contingency-deployed airmen in that field increased from 677 to 875 between 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deployment rate for 1A8X1 airborne crypto language analysts increased from 1:3 to 1:2 from 2015 to 2016, while the number of contingency-deployed airmen in that field more than doubled, from 222 to 504.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of contingency-deployed 2A9X1 airmen \u2014 who maintain and repair avionics systems for aircraft such as the B-1 and B-52 bombers and the E-8 JSTARS surveillance and command and control aircraft \u2014 nearly doubled from 109 in 2015 to 201 in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, the 2A9X1 career field had an average deploy-dwell rate of 1:4 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in 2016, the airmen in that job specializing in the B-1, E-8 and RC-135 were deploying at a 1:2 rate, and B-52 airmen were at a 1:3 rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe handful of career fields that are [increasingly deploying at a 1:2 rate] are predominantly [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance]-related, either maintenance or linguists, things like that,\u201d said Don Cohen, chief of the force generation branch within the Air Force\u2019s war planning and policy division. \u201cAs we go to more of a counterterrorism-type [mission], there\u2019s a higher reliance on ISR.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t