The 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron—made up of airmen from around the Air Force—at Forward Operating Base Speicher are serving as escorts for truck convoys through the dangerous corridors around Tikrit, Iraq. These escort airmen trained at an intensive Basic Combat Convoy Course at the Army’s Camp Anderson-Peters, Tex., learning ground combat skills and Army small-unit tactics. They qualified with M-4 carbines and M-249 machine guns. Three airmen—a truck commander, driver, and gunner—crew each escort gun truck.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.