In his first official missive to the field, the Air Force’s new top enlisted man, CMSAF Rodney McKinley, explains some recent changes the service has made to the senior NCO performance and rating process. He tells airmen that “stratification comments”—those that would rank an NCO against others at his or her base—have become “overused, vague, and subjective.” Consequently, the service has implemented some stringent rules. And, as McKinley writes, “The bottom line is less stratification is better.”
U.S. Northern Command and multiple research organizations just wrapped up a joint, three-year experiment to test new radar technology that could enable the Northern Warning System to detect incoming threats at longer ranges across Alaska and northern Canada.