Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Welsh: Air Force must get handle on pay, benefitsPublished Nov. 26, 2013
                    
                    By Jim Garamone
                    
                    
                    American Forces Press Service
            **GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFNS) --**The Air Force must control the growth of pay and benefits or the service will be hard pressed to perform its primary mission to fight and win America's wars, the service's top officer said here Nov. 25.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said pay, benefits and medical costs constitute about half of the Air Force's budget -- and those costs are growing.
Left unchecked there will come a time when the service cannot do its job "because all we're doing is paying our people," Welsh said. Some experts believe this will occur in 2023, others by 2032.
All service leaders agree there's a problem, he said.
The general said this is not a scare tactic on the part of senior leaders in DOD.
"There is absolutely no motivation for a service chief to try and scare people in his service -- none," Welsh said. "Everything we do is about taking care of them. Nobody cares more about the men and women in our services than the service chiefs. And nobody wants to do what's right for them more than we do. Scaring them is the last thing on our minds."
Welsh said no service leader is talking about cutting pay and benefits, just slowing the growth. He speaks of managing growth in a different way.
"Our people will understand that," the general said.
The U.S. Congress, the Department of Defense and the services have over the past 20 years provided excellent benefits and comparable pay to military members.
"We've all benefited immensely and we thank them for that," Welsh said. "But it is time to slow it down a little bit until we know we can do our primary job, which is fight and win the nation's wars."
He wants Congress to consider things like slowing down the growth of the military pay raise for the next couple of years while DOD grapples with fiscal issues caused by sequestration.
The service chiefs understand and accept that the department must do its part to deal with America's national debt.
"But no one would argue the mechanism of sequestration is the most effective way to do that. It's absolutely not," Welsh said.
The way sequestration operates is the problem, he said.
"Every business in the world -- if it wanted to downsize and refocus -- would take down infrastructure the first couple of years, reinvest the savings in the product lines that work and then make the cuts over the second half of the 10-year period," Welsh said.
This is not the way sequestration operates. DOD cannot touch infrastructure and personnel accounts are protected. The money has to come from somewhere and that means funds for modernization and readiness will be hit most heavily.
"We haven't been allowed to slow growth on the pay side or the medical side or do anything about infrastructure costs, so everything is going to come out of modernization, force structure and readiness," Welsh said. "There is no other option. That's where the money is."Grand Forks AFB 



CSAF

Related Links
        GENERAL MARK A. WELSH III
                                June 18, 2015
                                Gen. Mark A. Welsh III is Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. As Chief, he serves as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of 660,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander emphasizes five focus areas during AFA Warfare Symposium
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil