Air Force changes how it prepares to fight the next fight

Airmen are gradually shifting how they prepare for deployment as part of the Air Force’s new “force generation” plan, the adoption of which may hit a key milestone in 2023.

In the coming year, the Air Force wants enough units moving through that four-step cycle — from resetting after a deployment, to basic training, to advanced training, to mission availability — to say it has created a sufficient foundation on which to grow that process.

Each phase should last six months. This means that units should have 18 months at their home in between six-month deployments. Some airmen, particularly those in the stretched-thin mobility field, have complained on social media that they’re still flying missions too often in the “reset” phase.

The Air Force hopes that the AFFORGEN plan will provide a welcome break from the past 20 years of nonstop deployments in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. People and planes have suffered from the increased pace of operations.

Expect the push for “multi-capable airmen,” whose broader skill sets allow units to do more with less, to continue throughout 2023. That approach is set to hit Air Force training as well, as the service spreads pre-deployment prep throughout the year and dumps its traditional “Beast Week” for a new test of airmen’s flexibility in combat.