New airmen are not surprised to find themselves driving trucks in the desert or in a firefight in Iraq, Moseley said at the AEI conference. He explained that “40 percent” of the people in the Air Force today came in after 9/11, so have no recollection of a different time. “They know exactly what they’re getting into,” Moseley asserted. He added that 80 percent of today’s Air Force personnel are post-Cold War airmen so they only know an expeditionary style of service. “This is what we do,” he said.
When the Air Force sets a new program baseline for the B-52 re-engining this fall, there will be “some” cost increase, because the project wasn't previously fully funded, and the Air Force has a better handle on actual supplier costs and knowledge from ground testing, program officials said.