The majority of the force entered the Air Force after Sept. 11, 2001, which means they’ve never experienced an Air Force that wasn’t at war. As operations in Iraq draw to a close later this year, senior leaders are trying to come up with ways to ensure this highly capable, combat-proven force remains motivated, said CMSAF James Roy Wednesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. “We have a dilemma. We keep talking about drawing this force down in Iraq. We will be drawing down in Afghanistan. The challenge for us leaders is how do we keep drawing those innovative young airmen to us and how do we keep them?” said Roy. Today’s airmen “can tell you what they did on their first deployment and even their eighth deployment, but how are we going to replicate that in the future.” Exercises may be the key, whether they are joint, coalition, interagency, or service-specific. That’s “what we need to continue to take all that training and all that development and put it to use,” he said.
Celebrating 100 Years of Liquid-Fueled Rockets
March 11, 2026
March 16, 2026, marks 100 years since Dr. Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket. Over the past century, new and ever more capable liquid-fueled rockets have literally propelled humanity into space. Why liquid-fueled rockets?