Tennessee, like several other states that stand to lose their Air National Guard flying units, has filed a lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s right to realign the 118th Airlift Wing, which flies C-130s from the airport in Nashville, without the governor’s say so. The Pentagon wants to move the C-130s to Kentucky and Illinois and send the unit’s aeromedical squadron to Texas. Other states filing lawsuits include Illinois and Pennsylvania.
The Air Force will test out a “next Airmen up” list for the upcoming chief master sergeant promotion cycle, to identify qualified candidates should any of those selected to move up in rank decline to do so.