SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force may be phasing out up to 200 senior officers within the next two weeks.
"Almost 200 lieutenant colonels and colonels could be forced to retire early by the Selective Early Retirement Board scheduled to convene Jan. 8," the Air Force Times reported Thursday.
The SERB will hold its next set of hearings from Jan. 8 through Jan. 19 and it has the power to choose "up to 30 percent of the eligible officers for retirement," the Air Force Times said.
"If the numbers remain unchanged, that means as many as 61 line colonels, four chaplain colonels, 130 line lieutenant colonels and three chaplain lieutenant colonels could be ordered to retire by the board -- a maximum of 198 officers," the newspaper said.
The paper noted that senior USAF officials said in July the SERB meeting in January for Fiscal Year 2007 was planned in order "to retire 313 more officers than would be expected through normal retirements."
"They have not said how close to that goal they are, or if they will ask the board to select the full 30 percent," the report said.
USAF officers chosen by the SERB for retirement will have to do so by Sept. 1, 2007, but could choose to do so earlier if they wished to, the report said.
"As of Dec. 27, officials at the Air Force Personnel Center said 205 line colonels and 436 line lieutenant colonels are still in the eligible pool. Among chaplains, 14 colonels and 12 lieutenant colonels were still eligible. Overall, that left 667 officers eligible for the board, barring any last-minute retirement approvals," the Air Force Times said.
