According to the Air Force, enlisted airmen who serve in chronically short critical skills have a “greater opportunity for promotion” than airmen serving in other fields. For 2008 there are 37 specialties that are considered chronic critical skills because they are typically manned at only 85 percent of authorizations. In those 37 fields, the service has boosted promotion rates 1.2 times higher than normal, said CMSgt. Mark Long, USAF’s enlisted promotions and evaluations policy chief at the Pentagon. (Air Force report by SSgt. Julie Weckerlein)
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....