The Air Force is thinking outside of the box and is considering relaxing its fitness standards for some career fields or changing its tattoo policy in an effort to broaden its recruiting pool. Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso, the service’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, said USAF needs to “think deliberately about how we value uniformity.” Standards across the entire force “scares a lot of people,” she said during an AFA-sponsored, Air Force event Wednesday in Arlington, Va. “Do I care what a cyber warrior weighs?” Grosso asked, adding if someone who works on cyber networks needs to focus as much on their mile and a half time. Similarly, does the Air Force need to enforce standards related to tattoos the same way now? “Do I care that someone has a flower on their arm?” Grosso said. Still, the service must make sure it doesn’t stray too far from the requirements it has had for decades. “We’re certainly going to need some people who are brawny, and we’re also going to need some people for their intellect as well,” she said.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a GPS III spacecraft on Jan. 27, the ninth of 10 planned GPS III spacecraft to reach orbit. The GPS III satellites bring increased accuracy and anti-jam capabilities to the GPS constellation, which now numbers 32satellites.
