The Air Force Reserve is combat-capable and ready to support national security interests around the globe according to Lt. Gen. John P. Healy, the commander of Air Force Reserve Command, during a panel discussion at the annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference Sept. 23.
Healy appeared alongside top Air Force leaders Gen. Adrian Spain, commander Air Combat Command, Maj. Gen. John Klein, assistant deputy chief of staff, Operations and Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, Air National Guard acting director, for a discussion about Enhancing Readiness and Generating Combat Forces.
"My priority from day one has been 'ready now and transforming for the future'," Healy said. "It's critical we are ready all of the time to get out the door and make that [mission] happen."
Healy noted that the Air Force Force Generation rotational model for preparing forces for deployment is particularly well suited to the Reserve's unique structure. The previous popular volunteer system of using "crowdsourcing" to meet short term needs does not allow the Air Force reservist, families or civilian employees to properly prepare.
"In 2024, the data that we looked at from our assigned Global Force Management Allocation Plan taskings said we met 325% of our taskings," Healy said. "We were that onsie-twosie crowdsource for the Air Force. AFFORGEN aligns support to our units and makes it more predictable."
Still, Healy acknowledged the persistent challenge of aligning the Reserve's shorter training time with readiness requirements. Traditional reservists typically serve one weekend a month and two weeks annually, giving them far fewer training days than their active-duty counterparts.
"Readiness comes at 730 days from start to finish in that two-year cycle for the active component," he said. "In Reserve speak, that's roughly 78 to 124 days."
To address that gap, the Air Force Reserve restructured support and manning requests around deployable units of action like the 482nd Fighter Wing at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, which was identified as one of the first in the combat wing deployment cycle, giving that unit the lead-time and support it needed to ensure readiness.
Healy also underscored the Reserve's role in enabling joint force operations, highlighting the component's strength in combat support capabilities.
"More than 30,000 Reservists are part of agile combat support," he said. "We are stacked in capacity."
He pointed to infrastructure investments, like the recent expeditionary civil engineering work on Tinian Island in the Indo-Pacific, where a largely-Reserve force helped ready the site for future operations.
"The depth of capacity that we can provide, that's how we see ourselves best," Healy said. "Setting the theater and making sure that we're ready to go."
