Hank Polk, an Air Education and Training Command communications and information planner and project manager, has signed up to deploy with Air and Space Expeditionary Force 1/2 destined for Al Udeid AB, Qatar, in May. Officials say that Polk is the first Air Force communications and information civilian to volunteer for an assignment normally filled by a military member. Polk told Air Force journalist Megan Orton, he was just being part of the Air Force team. “If we can get civil servants into some of those positions to give military members a break from deployment, why not,” Polk said.
The Air Force has finished resurrecting a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber that had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.