Next week some 200 senior officers will know whether they were tapped by the recent Selective Early Retirement Board. The Air Force plans to release the list on Feb. 15. The SERB that met in January considered 657 officers—214 colonels and 443 lieutenant colonels.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.