The top enlisted airman, CMSAF Rodney McKinley, writes in a new “Enlisted Perspective” paper that the military training instructors of his basic training days taught him lessons that “helped mold me into the airman I am today.” The paper is an entreaty to senior airmen and staff and technical sergeants to join the ranks of MTIs to help the service “meet the demands of our increasing end strength.” The service needs some 220 more MTIs to sustain its plan to push 4,000 additional young people through basic training each year over the next two years, said McKinley.
The Air Force has spent more than two years studying cancer risks to Airmen who work with the service's intercontinental ballistic missiles. Now lawmakers in Congress are placing fresh scrutiny on the issue and have prepared legislation that would direct the service to clean silos and launch facilities.