Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh on Monday called on airmen’s spouses to challenge Air Force leaders. “While we think we have programs that help and we’re getting the job done, … we’re probably kidding ourselves to some extent. And where you see that, you need to let us know,” he said in his opening remarks during the Spouse and Family Forum at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. “If we’re going to be successful in the future, we have got to be willing to take an honest look in the mirror,” said Welsh. He also thanked the spouses for their support during tough times and lauded their resiliency. “When we start asking airmen who have done everything we’ve asked them to do, and they’ve done it well, … to leave the Air Force voluntarily, it’s horrible,” he said regarding the service’s decision to cut some 20,000 airmen this year through the voluntary leave program due to funding constraints.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.