Returning Airmen Are Healthy, For the Most Part: According to follow-up health assessments of some 12,500 airmen taken within 90 to 180 days after they return from an overseas deployment, most of them are healthy. DOD mandates an immediate health survey and a later one, called the post-deployment health reassessment survey, which personnel can complete online within about 15 minutes. Air Force officials say that about 40 percent of the 12,500 airmen have said they have a health problem—mostly minor ones.
The $4.26 billion Small Business Innovation Research contracting program widely used by the Air Force went into hibernation as the government shut down Oct. 1, but unless lawmakers strike a deal on reforms, the program could reach an abrupt end.
