BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --
Having risen to the height of public interest since the
commencement of the Resolute Support Mission in January, the drawdown of U.S.
forces in Air Force Central Command has weighed on the minds of many in 2015, but
perhaps more heavily on one mind in particular.
As the man crunching the numbers here, Tech. Sgt. Gregory
Green, 455th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron manpower analyst, views the
reduced Air Force footprint through a slightly clearer lense than the average
interested party.
“There are magic numbers,” Green said. “Numbers for how many
support personnel should be at BAF as well as how many Airmen should be part of
the aviation package. The same can be said for locations like Kandahar and
Jalalabad. These numbers are always evolving and it’s my responsibility to analyze
the unit’s needs and make recommendations on the best way to fill these
requirements.”
To those on the outside looking in, reaching end strength
numbers might appear to be simple as elementary subtraction. However, when
factors such as safety, security, quality of life and sustainability are added
to the equation, the answers are not always cut and dry.
“We are in the process of building the Resolute Support
Mission Change Request,” Green said. “It’s an intricate progression and it has
to be handled with the utmost care and attention to detail. Manpower is most
important during a buildup and a drawdown and this is a unique situation in
that while we’re ending one mission, we’re posturing to support another, namely
the Train, Advise and Assist mission. We have to ensure we have the right
people to facilitate success.”
In order to reduce the number of Airmen flowing into the
area of responsibility each rotation, a critical piece of Green’s process is
immersing himself in various units around base, developing an understanding of
how they operate, and finally, making recommendations to the commanders who
ultimately make personnel reduction decisions.
“I don’t have the authority to decide who stays and who
goes,” Green says. “What I can do, however, is get to know an organization so
that I have the wherewithal to advise commanders and superintendents on how and
where they can best utilize the smallest amount of people. It’s challenging to
maintain a mission and also send people home. We’re all learning to do more
with less.”
As those with boots on the ground can easily attest, the
military presence in Afghanistan is undoubtedly shrinking. Throughout this
historic transition, those in uniform can rest assured that Airmen charged with
trimming the right pieces at the right time do so with the finesse such a task
requires.
“Predicting what the future of operations will look like
here is a difficult thing to do,” Green said. “For this round of cuts, we’re
doing the best we can for the people and the mission; we’ll just keep doing
that until we’re where we need to be.”