The “Best Innovator”: Innovation is the key to becoming “extremely effective and extremely efficient,” Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of US Central Command Air Forces, told airmen during a visit to Balad AB, Iraq. In his view, “the best innovator is the airman on the beat.” North said that airmen have made battlefield adaptations that have led to everything from “better convoy route methodologies” to “best maintenance practices” that enable Balad to fly F-16s “at a rate unheard of in the history of the weapon system.”
The Air Force is renaming its traditional aviation bonus program in 2024 and continuing a new, experimental second program, ordered by Congress, aimed at getting aviators to extend their commitment sooner and for longer. While the programs can’t be doubled-up, aviators may be able to move from one to the…