Lt. Col. John Bunnell, an F-15E weapon system officer, on Jan. 24 reached his 3,000th flight hour in the backseat of a Strike Eagle during a four-hour mission from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. “This is a nice milestone for me,” said Bunnell, a native of Birmingham, Ala., who is deployed from RAF Lakenheath, Britain, as commander of Bagram’s 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. This unit comprises a contingent of F-15Es and airmen deployed to Afghanistan from Lakenheath’s 494th Fighter Squadron. Bunnel has been flying in F-15Es since 1990 and has now completed 120 combat sorties. More than 370 of his 3,000 flight hours have been in combat. (Bagram report by SSgt. Richard Williams)
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…