Air Force officials say that although the shift to an A-staff is driven largely by the need to work in the Joint environment, there is an internal element. According to Brig. Gen. Marshall Sabol, USAF’s 1970s-vintage staff structure doesn’t suit today’s airmen, who often find themselves embedded with other services, such as driving trucks for the Army. Now, says Sabol, an airman will understand the Army’s G-staff, Navy’s N-staff, Marine Corps’ S-staff, as well as the J-staff. The icing on the cake is that within the Air Force, each command will have the same structure. “Back in November, if I were to try to get a hold of a person that dealt with manpower issues, one command might call that the A5M, another the XPM, and still another the DPM,” Sabol said. “This reorganization will change that.”
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
