Air Education and Training Command’s enlisted corps inducted retired Maj. Gen. Alfred Flowers into the Order of the Sword—the highest honor the enlisted force can bestow on an officer—during a ceremony at JBSA-Randolph, Tex. “Without question, what General Flowers has contributed to the enlisted force throughout his career, specifically for us in AETC, as the 2nd Air Force commander, and then as he moved on to be the Air Force [financial manager], has certainly furthered [airmen’s] development, furthered their ability to meet the demands and needs of our nation,” said CMSgt. James Cody, AETC command chief. Flowers, inducted on April 6, last served as the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for budget. Before his retirement on Jan. 1, he was the longest serving airman in the Air Force’s history, with 46 years on active duty, including 13 years as an enlisted airman. “I’m humbled by the experience. This is as good as it gets,” said Flowers at the ceremony. He added, “It’s the men and women that surrounded me that made me as successful as I became.” (San Antonio report by SSgt. Clinton Atkins)
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.