Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, who visited airmen at Balad AB, Iraq, on Dec. 9, said during a town hall meeting that he is impressed with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing’s mission statement: “Combat airpower for America, right here, right now.” He went on to say, “What I want to tell you all is years from now you’re going to get to say that you gave 30 million people the opportunity for freedom.” The airmen at Balad like those at Aviano AB, Italy, a few days earlier asked Wynne how long the “in lieu of” Army taskings would continue. Wynne repeated his explanation, asserting that airmen would continue to fill ILO taskings “at this particular time” but that it’s not an open-ended commitment.
The Pentagon is counting on Congress to navigate a legislative tightrope and pass a party-line bill to fund nearly a quarter of its $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027, including billions of dollars for top priorities like Golden Dome, the F-35, munitions, and unmanned systems. Experts and lawmakers from…