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)
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.