Seeking 'warfighter mindset,' Air Force basic trainees now carrying rifles through boot camp

I don't see this as a positive or a negative, but it sure sounds like a good idea fairy that landed on the commander's shoulder. The on again, off again nature of this practice doesn't add much to the greater Air Force. I don't know if they've turned it back on, but they stopped requiring annual weapons quals about 1/4 of the way through my time in the Air Force. The only time I carried a weapon in uniform (more than at the range) was when I deployed with the Army. Even then, we had no ammunition for it. It only served as a nuisance.

The Air Force and Space Force are different animals and serve the needs of national security differently than the other services. The Space Force more so, in that most of those folks will never leave the square states. The Air Force (and probably the Space Force, too) has more of a problem with their senior leaders not feeling "man enough" when they are hanging out with their senior leader friends from the other services. My job was never to carry a gun and shoot at the enemy, but to make sure everyone else could talk to anyone on the planet whenever they needed to and later to make sure our systems were secure from cyber attack (we had our wins and losses at that one). There was never a need for me to be proficient with a firearm to get my job done. There are those who do need that in the Air Force, but we aren't a service where everyone is a "riflemen first."

Overall, this just seems like more of the insecure senior leadership problem than something actually necessary to all airmen. If we are going to do it, make sure it's longstanding. Otherwise, just forget it.