Air Force officials a
nnounced Wednesday that the service has reactivated the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, as of Feb. 11, and will award it retroactively to airmen who qualify going back to the decoration’s suspension in 2005. “We’re going to make it so that there was never a gap,” Lt. Gen. Richard Newton, head of manpower and personnel on the Air Staff, told reporters. The reinstituted medal will be presented to all airmen who accumulate three years of good conduct. Air Staff officials began working in January 2008 on the restoration of the decoration—the second oldest medal in the Air Force’s history—in concert with the service’s top enlisted man, CMSAF Rodney McKinley. McKinley said at the briefing that the decision to cancel the medal back in 2005 came from the belief that all airmen are expected to exhibit good behavior at all times, making an award for good conduct a bit redundant. But the move had “unintended consequences,” he said, as it raised the ire of many retirees and was perceived as a slight to the enlisted corps. “It’s been a goal of mine to bring this back,” said McKinley.
Pentagon Task Force, FAA to Test Counter-Drone Laser
March 7, 2026
The Pentagon’s counter-drone task force announced it would conduct a high-energy laser test with the Federal Aviation Administration less than a month after the use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace over El Paso, Texas.