Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh on April 22 received the enlisted service’s greatest award, the Order of the Sword. CMSAF James Cody presented the award during a ceremony at Maxwell AFB, Ala., saying “the entire Air Force is honoring you, all of the enlisted airmen that you have helped. They are all thinking of you and saying, ‘What a great leader.’ ” The award was adopted by the Air Force in 1967, and is the highest tribute enlisted airmen can give a leader, a Maxwell release states. Welsh, who will retire this summer, was nominated for the award in September. He told airmen at the ceremony to “take care of each other. … Keep standing for what you stand for.”
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.