Air Frame: Year in Review, June 2011: More than 1,100 airmen assigned to Minot AFB, N.D., and their family members were displaced from their off-base homes in June 2011 when the Souris River flooded to record levels, as shown here. On June 6, 2011, Ret. Maj. Gen. John R. Alison, the father of USAF special operations, died at age 98. Also in June, President Obama announced that the United States would withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by mid 2012, reversing the earlier troop surge. The Air Force finished an 18-month project to reposition GPS navigation satellites for better worldwide coverage and launched the ORS-1 imagery satellite into orbit. An engine anamoly cut short the flight test of the second X-51A hypersonic air vehicle and Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel took charge of Air Force Special Operations Command. Air Force photo by SrA. Jesse Lopez
While promotion rates took off for the Space Force’s junior noncommissioned officer corps in 2024, their senior NCO counterparts weren’t as lucky, as the service released statistics and a list of those selected on Nov. 21.