You are listening to the War on the Rocks podcast on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs.

My name is Ryan Evans.

I'm the editor-in-chief of War on the rocks.

In this episode I sat down with General David Goldthine, the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force.

We'd an in-depth, candid conversation about his services personnel challenges, the selection and

education of leaders, as well as strategy, war fighting, and the books that have influenced them over the years.

Many of the questions I ask came from Worn the Rocks members and our members only forum, the War Hall.

You can become a member too at war in the rocks.com slash subscribe. the

so this year I noticed earlier in the year that half of our most red articles of the year,

top 10 most red articles of the year so far

had to do with Air Force personnel issues.

And this was a new thing for War on the Rocks.

The first time in five years where we had,

one, that many most straight articles focused on personnel,

and two, that many most read articles focused on personnel,

and two, that many articles focused on the problems

in a single service.

And so that's why I reached out, and I'm really grateful

that you spend time here.

We have a huge military leadership, and I think this is a good opportunity to talk about some of these things that I know you've been really focused on.

Of course a lot of these problems have been decades in the making and you've certainly been really forthright in public and the way you've talked about them. So next month will be two years

since you rolled out your three big rocks revitalize the squadron, strengthening

...