Air Force to Cut 40,000

Probably to pay for the F-22 Raptor. From Stars & Stripes:

The Air Force is planning a five-year drawdown of 40,000 personnel starting in 2006, according to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne.
The cuts would be distributed among active duty, Air Force Reserve, and Air Guard members, as well as Air Force civilians, Wynne said during a Dec. 13 press conference at the Pentagon.
If approved, the cuts would follow the Air Force’s two-year drawdown of 16,000 airmen in order to meet the 360,000-airman end strength limit set by Congress, which was finished in July.
The reduction plans are not a done deal, although “from the Air Force perspective, yes, this is something we’re going to do,” Capt. David Small, a spokesman for Wynn, told Stripes on Thursday.
The cuts will require approval from levels above the Air Force, starting with the Defense Department, Small said.