The Air Force’s top uniformed leader has selected CMSgt. Rodney J. McKinley to serve as the next Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, succeeding CMSAF Gerald Murray, who retires June 30. McKinley currently is command chief for Pacific Air Forces. Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, said, upon making the announcement Monday, that McKinley is “a tremendous leader with an impressive array of expeditionary and combat experiences.” McKinley will be the 15th CMSAF, a position first established in 1967.
The Air Force will begin its 71st annual Operation Christmas Drop on Dec. 4. The weeklong exercise is a yearly tradition that delivers supplies such as food, fishing equipment, school books, and clothes to remote islands in the Pacific. It is the longest-running Department of Defense humanitarian mission.