Airmen need to take personal responsibility for the health and reputation of the Air Force through their daily actions, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. In his featured address, Schwartz noted that reputations are easily tarnished and that “a single lapse reverberates for years.” Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that airmen set the highest personal examples through their daily actions. “In the end, only results matter,” Schwartz said, so airmen will be judged by their ability to meet their commitments and obligations. Airmen should endeavor to promise less and deliver more—and the Chief made clear this applies not just to commanders, but to personnel at all levels.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.