The Air Force has to create a “dramatically different” sense of normalcy for airmen returning home from Afghanistan, CMSAF James Cody told reporters at AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. To help prevent airmen from getting bored in their jobs after 12 hard years of war and being in a specific career field, the Air Force needs to find a way to retain them, said Cody during the Sept. 18 briefing. Without a sense of adventure, “bored airmen will go somewhere else,” he said. “They will not hang around long.” Cody said, “It’s difficult to say” what must change since not all airmen are back yet, but this is something senior leadership will have to discuss. “We need to integrate them back into their units” and allow them to “decompress,” he said. “Normal’s going to look dramatically different when you take [the airmen] out of that [combat] environment,” said Cody.
Planning an Air Show Is Hard. At Andrews, It’s Even Harder
Sept. 17, 2025
Joint Base Andrews opened its flightline this month to thousands of civilians, exposing a normally restricted airbase that regularly hosts the president and foreign dignitaries to a curious public eager to see current and historic military aircraft up close and in action.
