RANDOLPH Air Force Base, Texas –
The Air Force Recruiting family bid farewell to Col. Michael Brice, AFRS vice commander, at a luncheon and ceremony at the Randolph Officers Club March 7.
"As I leave AFRS, on behalf of my wife and daughter, I'd like to say thank you to everyone across the command," Colonel Brice said. "I would like to salute them and tell them good luck. I have to take my badge off but I will forever be a recruiter."
In an interview before the ceremony, Colonel Brice said he believes one of the biggest challenges facing the Air Force is working with reduced resources.
"The Air Force is entering a difficult period," Colonel Brice said. "Resources such as manpower and money are under pressure DoD-wide. We're going to have to become more efficient. We're fighting a good battle to keep our resources, but we may have to give up some of it. It's going to be important for us, going forward, to be more efficient day in day out. We need to do the same job with less money or less people and using those people in a different way. "
He suggested that one AFRS practice that could be done more efficiently is the transportation of new recruits to Basic Military Training.
"Why would we have a new recruit to MEPS the night before they ship," he asks. "Why can't we have them hometown shipped and save money for their lodging, meal and per diem? When you're talking about 28,000 people that have to go to MEPS the night before they ship, that turns into some real money. Maybe not every one of them can do that. But if you start the first year at five percent then 10 and 15 percent and work your way up, you could free up some money to do something else with. You can do the same job with less money."
The colonel said that since he joined Recruiting Service in 2006, the way people communicate has changed dramatically.
"Social media has become much more prominent," Colonel Brice said. "Kids today will text and use Facebook. We're trying to keep up but we're always a little behind. Some of the rules and policies and communications systems in the Air Force hold us back in some ways. We have to stay relevant with the market and communicating with the demographic we would like to get."
Colonel Brice thanked the members of for their hard work and professionalism. He said that as he moves on, he will miss the people the most and that the people working through the tough times are the part of Recruiting he will always remember.
Colonel Brice becomes Air Education and Training Command director of manpower March 14.