Adm. Bill Gortney, former commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, has officially retired from his 39-year military service.

The U.S. Navy said Tuesday a ceremony was held aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington for Gortney, who recorded more than 5,300 flight hours and completed 1,265 carrier-arrested landings in his career.

Gortney’s career includes leadership of several Navy organizations such as U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Central Command area of operations, where he provided support to maritime security and combat operations.

Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, also gave Gortney’s wife Sherry a Distinguished Public Service Award for her support to military members and their families.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said U.S. military forces in Afghanistan will deliver added firepower support and advise ground and air troops of the Afghan military, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes President Barack Obama approved plans to provide additional flexibility for U.S. forces in Afghanistan to proactively support local conventional forces through firepower, close-air support as well as ground and air advisory support.

“In practical terms, this means U.S. forces will have more opportunities to accompany and enable Afghan conventional forces, just like we have already been doing with Afghan special operations forces,” Carter said at a news conference in Brussels.

The report added that U.S. and NATO counterparts’ defense budgets will include funding for national defense and security forces stationed in Afghanistan through 2020.

Carter also indicated other NATO countries have committed to deploy forces to Afghanistan beyond 2016 as part of the coalition’s Resolute Support mission.

DoD said the U.S. also works with allied countries to defeat the Islamic State militant group through NATO operations in western and northern Iraq as well as northern Syria.

Gen. Mark Welsh, chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force, has said the joint force needs to prioritize planning and resources as the U.S. tackles multidomain and transnational threats, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Jim Garamone writes Welsh, who is scheduled to retire by the end of June after a 40-year military career, gave the remarks at a Defense Writers Group event held in Washington Wednesday.

“The chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] really has to be the one, along with the Joint Staff, to do that direction and prioritization,” he said, according to the report.

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. also reports for Breaking Defense that Welsh told event attendees that he would like the service branch to have a new close air support plane that would replace the A-10 “Warthog” jet aircraft as well a sixth-generation fighter jet designed to combat hostile air defenses.

“Eventually, I think the right close air support replacement is something that’s overhead for ground forces all the time,” Welsh said.

Welsh noted that the service branch does not have funds and enough manpower to build and fly a new CAS aircraft, Freedberg reports.

“The A-10 has never been the issue… The issue is the Budget Control Act,” he added.

U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Allyn has said the military branch aims to divest its obsolete or redundant systems and modernize equipment of troops, Army Times reported Monday.

Michelle Tan writes the Army’s priorities include fielding new active protective systems for ground and aerial vehicles, upgrading its fleet of helicopters and mitigating cyber vulnerabilities across the service branch’s network.

Allyn estimated the Army spends 18 percent of its total budget on modernization efforts, invests another 22 percent in force readiness programs and allocates the remaining 60 percent for civilian employees and soldiers.

Sydney Freedberg of Breaking Defense reported Monday the branch is seeking funds from Congress to revive four National Guard AH-64 Apache battalions and multi-aircraft brigade that were cut as part of a downsizing proposal.

“We have begun to look at how do we prioritize delivery of capability to a smaller number of units, rather than spread the peanut butter over 35 years,” Allyn told the publication.