Tale of the Tape on Air Mobility: USAF air mobility forces have been working overtime ever since the war on terror began in 2001. In recent Congressional testimony, Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander of USTRANSCOM, quantified the magnitude of the 2005 effort. Airlift support of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq: 1,188,084 passengers and 457,670 tons of cargo moved. Air tanker ops: 508,000 tons of fuel offloaded. Force rotation of units to and from Iraq and Afghanistan: 250,000 passengers and 11,000 tons of cargo in the first three months of 2005.
The Air Force has drastically reduced the number of eligible career fields for Active-Duty Airmen seeking reenlistment bonuses in 2026, going from 89 to 24.