In other decisions affecting Air Force facilities, the BRAC panel deviated from some Pentagon recommendations. Eielson AFB, Alaska, will keep its active aircraft unit and Galena Airport Forward Operation Location will close. Air Force Institute of Technology will stay in Dayton, Ohio; Onizuka AFS, Calif., will close; Seymour-Johnson AFB, N.C., gets F-15 engine maintenance work from Langley AFB, Va.; Air Reserve Personnel Center will move from the former Lowry AFB, Colo., to Buckley AFB, Colo. (the Pentagon had planned to send it to San Antonio). Hanscom AFB, Mass., will not get some 1,000 new high-tech jobs which the Pentagon had proposed moving there from other states; instead, it will lose 200 of its present workforce.
As commander of Air Forces Central, Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich has been at the heart of almost all U.S. military action in the Middle East, from overseeing airstrikes against Iranian proxy groups to protecting troops as America’s air defense commander for the region. Just before handing over his command to…