Duncan H Showers

An Air Force at Peace: Are We Ready to Fight and Win Our Nation's Wars? Duncan H Showers

Publisher Marketing: Competitive sourcing, formerly known as outsourcing, and privatization of key support activities has occurred or is underway on virtually every Air Force installation. The organizational make-up of fewer and fewer "blue suiters" represents the future of Air Force installations for the conceivable future. As the Air Force transitions to an Air Expeditionary Force, the effects of this new reality will begin to become clearer. Competitive sourcing and privatization resulted from declining military and civilian force structures, reduced Defense budgets caused by the changing world order, and the end of the Cold War. While the reason our service applies these tools is basically money, the continued implementation of them throughout the Air Force must be a very conscientious, deliberate process. If the tools are applied haphazardly, then a reemergence of the "hollow force" of the 1970's becomes a very real threat. Force modernization concerns, degrading infrastructures, high operations tempo, and personnel retention difficulties all point to potential serious issues for the Air Force. The central theme of this paper is to investigate the impact competitive sourcing and privatization have had on the Air Force's ability to project and sustain itself in a wartime environment. To do this, the study will identify areas impacted and provide the author's assessment of how mission capabilities have been enhanced or degraded because of these contractual tools and answer the question: Is there an impact as we prepare to fight the war of the 21st Century?