The Air Force needs to do a better job of promoting itself, said the Air National Guard’s Command CMSgt. Chris Muncy. “The vast majority of the public doesn’t focus on the war front,” said Muncy during a command chiefs forum at AFA’s Air & Space Conference Monday. Less than one percent of the public serve in the military, so it makes sense that it would be more concerned about rising gas prices and the unemployment rate. However, “that affects our airmen,” he said. It’s the Air Force’s job to educate employers about what airmen do. “It stresses our folks out, so we need to tell our Air Force story. The American public needs to know we are there, because they don’t know it now,” said Muncy.
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.