Not too many people assume an Airman Basic can identify the components of an M-16, field-strip, clean, and reassemble the standard rifle with ease. Yet that’s exactly what’s about to happen with basic training graduates. Air Education and Training Command plans to issue every basic trainee, beginning in November, a training replica M-16 on his or her first day at Lackland AFB, Tex. It’s just one more step the service is taking to better prepare new airmen for expeditionary force deployments. Already, says MSgt. Janice Allen, the 321st TRS section superintendent, “We are seeing airmen with a better skill set and capacity to deploy.”
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.
