If you don’t see USAF efforts in the news, that doesn’t mean airmen are not a “critical part” of the war on terror—that was the message of the Air Force vice chief of staff, Gen. John Corley, during a speech on Capitol Hill at a defense seminar sponsored by DFI International. (Read more on this issue in Air Force Magazine’s July editorial.) Corley explained that the Air Force is fully engaged and needs to recapitalize its three aircraft portfolios—strike, mobility, and command and control—to “remain viable” for the future. “I don’t want our nation’s sons and daughters to be in the last airplane with the last missile, to go against the last enemy aircraft, with the hope that we will come out on top,” he said. It would be best, maintained Corley, to be “overwhelming in that battle.”
Airmen and Guardians in the Active and Reserve component, as well as civilian employees, in “mission critical and high-risk populations” are now required to receive influenza vaccinations annually to “preserve force readiness,” according to a recent Department of the Air Force memo.