29 Aug 14. US Ops in Iraq Have Cost $550m Since June. Since June 16 when US President Barack Obama first sent several dozen US troops to Iraq to begin assessing the state of the country’s Army, the United States has spent around $500m on operations there. Briefing reporters on Friday, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said the price tag has run on average about $7.5m per day since June, sometimes less and sometimes more. But taking that average number, that would put the US price tag at $550m through Aug. 28. Operations are paid for through the 2014 overseas contingency operation (OCO) account, and have funded US personnel to staff two joint operations centers in Baghdad and Erbil, 110 US airstrikes, and a constant stream of manned and unmanned surveillance sorties. The United States has also flown a number of humanitarian flights to deliver food, water, and supplies to the stranded Yazidi population in northern Iraq. Kirby said that when it comes to using OCO funds, “we think we’ve got it covered in terms of 2014. We’re well within the limits.” Speaking on Thursday, Obama struck a cautious tone when discussing further operations in Iraq and reports that his administration is weighing airstrikes in neighboring Syria, where the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has its home base. When asked about the potential strikes, he warned that “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don?t have a strategy yet” for dealing with IS, he said. Obama met with his National Security Council on Friday, and is continuing to weigh military and non-military options. “The options that I’m asking for from the Joint Chiefs focus primarily on making sure that [IS] is not overrunning Iraq,” he said. (Source: Defense News)
29 Aug 14. USAF Moves Forward on Force Structure Changes. The US Air Force’s top general said he wants to figure out the balance between the active, Guard and reserve components for the vast majority of his service’s programs in time to drive fiscal 2016 decisions. But some involved in the process are concerned that Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh’s desire to change old paradigms is driving an aggressive schedule that could end in hasty decisions the service could come to regret. The Total Force Continuum (TFC), a permanent office to make recommendations on matters of force structure between the active, Guard and reserve components, is reviewing where force structure could be shifted or moved out of components entirely. The TFC was stood up this year at the direction of Welsh and Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James. TFC’s “high velocity analysis approach” involves a 90-day review of both individual weapon systems and skill sets such as lawyers and engineers. At the end of those reviews, the continuum makes a recommendation on what the force structure mix should look like. That group expects to complete 80 percent of the system-by-system reviews by the end of the year, Welsh said, with a plan to incorporate those findings into the service’s 2016 budget request. “The intent is to figure out how to quit doing things that stand in the way of doing things with common sense,” Welsh said of the TFC during an Aug. 24 speech at the 136th General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States. That high velocity approach might be going too quickly, however, something sources attribute to the desire to have it help shape the fiscal 2016 budget. “This is so different from the other processes we’ve had, like the corporate process for budgeting and even the Total Force Task Force,” one source with knowledge of the discussions said. “There’s always been a rush to get it done in the end, but the high velocity aspect of this is driving a very fast schedule so the Air Force can influence the 16 POM.” The source stressed the belief that Welsh has the best intentions in mind, but worried that program decisions could be made quickly without time for full input from Guard leadership. “This is going at