Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his widely reported April 21 remarks (see above) at the Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., acknowledged that the Air Force has been “in the process of constant change for decades” with, what he termed “a steady drumbeat of expeditionary operations” since the service “has been at war, more or less constantly, for 17 years.”
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held meetings with defense leaders from the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea during a trip to the Indo-Pacific this week.