Air Force pararescuemen are hard at work in a disaster area. The PJs are flying over the mountains of northern Pakistan in a Russian-made MI-8 helicopter, surveying areas where relief supplies are needed in the aftermath of the country’s devastating earthquake. Other PJs on the team, comprising members of the Air National Guard’s 212th Rescue Squadron, Anchorage, Alaska, are on alert or flying with US aircrews. The Alaskan PJs, says TSgt. Chris Robertson, are particularly well suited to the situation in Pakistan. “We have, by far, more mountain training than any other unit in the world,” he noted.
Senior U.S. lawmakers expressed frustration that they are being cut out of some of the Trump administration’s most central decisions on military policy and spending. Their concerns, which are shared on both sides of the aisle, concern the budget reconciliation process as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to slash…