The Pentagon on Monday said that A1C Eric M. Barnes, 20, of Lorain, Ohio, had been killed following an improvised explosive device attack on an Air Force convoy on June 10 about 100 miles south of Baghdad. Barnes, who had deployed to Iraq from the 90th Logistics Readiness Squadron, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., was the second airman to be killed in Iraq last week. We reported in yesterday’s column that an IED attack killed SrA. William N. Newman on June 7. New information from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, states that explosive ordnance specialist Newman died while attempting to defuse an IED.
Gas is king in the vast expanse of the Pacific. And as the Pentagon has sought to build up its capability to deter China, the Department of Defense has undergone a major rethink about how to get fuel to the region. At the heart of the effort is the U.S. Transportation…