CMSgt. Steve McDonald earlier this month replaced CMSgt. Brooke McLean as Pacific Air Forces’ command chief. McLean, who was PACAF’s top enlisted airman since October 2009, is retiring from the Air Force after nearly three decades of service, according to a Nov. 27 command release. His career began in June 1983 with an assignment as a military pay specialist with the 1st Space Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., according to his biography. PACAF officials held McLean’s retirement ceremony on Nov. 16 at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. McDonald comes to Hickam from the Pentagon, where he had served since September 2011 as chief of Air Force enlisted force development. (Hickam photo captions by TSgt. Jerome S. Tayborn)
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.