The Department of Defense has identified the two airmen who were killed on Jan. 22 in an IED attack on their convoy near Taji, Iraq—TSgt. Jason L. Norton, 32, of Miami, Okla., and SSgt. Brian McElroy, 28, of San Antonio. Both were deployed to Southwest Asia from the 3rd Security Forces Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.