The commander of Air Force Reserve Command told Airmen and Guardians attending the Air and Space Forces Association's 2026 Warfare Symposium that Reserve Airman are an advantage to the Department of the Air Force.
"The Air Force Reserve is a force advantage," said Lt. Gen. John Healy, AFRC commander and chief of the Air Force Reserve. "We're efficient as we run our units 28 days a month on only 25% of our population. So that allows cost savings across the board. The average F-16 pilot has three times the flying hours of their active-duty counterparts as they come from active duty and retain that experience."
He said the Reserve is also accessible as senior leaders across the Air Force understand how to program Reserve participation, so it has access to fighter or tanker units for an exercise three years down the road as opposed to volunteerism.
"Lastly, every single one of these things we do, we're lethal. It's not by chance. It's not cherry picking, for instance, it's going through consistent selection and knowing that the experience is there and they're going to be left rock solid in terms of their force," he said.
An example of these qualities is in the 960th Cyber Wing where Reserve Airmen bring their civilian expertise to the unit during unit training assemblies or annual training to reduce real-time threats through mitigation experience gained from the private sector.
The general was asked about the Air Force plan to sunset nearly 50% of the command's fighter capacity at a time when the demand for fighters is surging.
"The Guard, Reserve, and active duty should all be proportionally and concurrently field, and what we have seen for the last 15 years is exactly the opposite. The Air Force Reserve has taken a 48% cut in the Combat Air Forces portfolio while the active duty took a 2% cut and guard 15%," he said.
Healy said CAF losses for the command are occurring at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Whiteman AFB, Missouri, and Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, without recapitalization or program of record for follow on missions.
"My optimism has significantly changed from a year ago," he said. "Right now, with the prospect of budget increases there is a sense of optimism we can get a realistic replacement mission for some of these units."
He added that he is working to stop the loss of talent, highlighting how the 477th Fighter Group, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, is the most experienced F-22 Raptor unit in the service. The pilots in the group are 70% weapons school graduates, conducted 67% of all upgrade training for Elmendorf pilots and conducted 50% of active-duty check rides.
"We can't let this type of experience go off the board," he said. "This is the experience we provide for the fight, and I think it's irreplaceable and why I have been fighting this for almost all of my entire tenure."
Joining Healy on the 'Integrating to Win: Finding the Jets to Fly, Fix and Fight' panel were Gen. Adrian L. Spain, commander, Air Combat Command; Lt. Gen. Linda Hurry commander, Air Force Materiel Command and Maj. Gen. Bryony Terrell, special assistant to the director, Air National Guard.
Earlier in the day, Chief Master Sgt. Isreal Nunez, AFRC command chief and senior enlisted leader for the Air Force Reserve, participated on the 'Readiness for Anything: Leadership in the Trenches' panel with three other senior enlisted leaders. He said there is a need for noncommissioned officers to lead with competence and a culture of teamwork. Adding it helps when the Reserve is able to recruit active-duty Airmen 5- and 7-level noncommissioned officerss.
"We can have all the exquisite airframes but if we don't have exquisite Airmen we lose our decisive advantage," he said. "You know, readiness has a cost, and readiness is also quality of life. We must remember we recruit Airmen and retain families."
