NORAD and 1st Air Force (Air Forces Northern) brought together air chiefs from North America for a three-day conference at Tyndall AFB, Fla. Through briefings and breakout sessions, the forum provided the attendees the opportunity to foster relationships and cooperation through exchange on topics like air defense, homeland security, and border security. In addition to the US, participants attended from Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. “Our aim, through open and frank discussions, was to positively impact regional air domain issues and to advance relationships with other organizations,” said Maj. Gen. Garry Dean, AFNORTH commander, of the July 12-15 event. He added, “We believe the conference was enormously successful in achieving our goals.” (Tyndall report by Mary McHale)
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…