Hang It On the Commission: The co-chairs of the Senate National Guard Caucus—Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)—asked the Commission on the Guard and Reserves to include in its initial 90-day report a favorable recommendation on the caucus proposal to elevate the position of the National Guard within the Pentagon. If the commission finds it a “worthwhile proposal,” said Bond, then he and Leahy will get legislation started. Leahy remarked that the commission’s support would provide “enormous momentum.” He doesn’t know whether it would succeed this year or next, but he is “convinced that such legislation will eventually pass.”
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…