US Central Command officials plan to conduct a $180 million renovation and expansion of the CENTCOM headquarters at MacDill AFB, Fla., according to the Tampa Tribune. The Florida newspaper posits the big bucks signal a “lengthy future” for CENTCOM in Tampa, considering MacDill survived BRAC 2005. The expansion would increase CENTCOM holdings from its present 187,000 square-foot facility to about 330,000 square feet. Officials tell the Tribune that the command has suffered from failing infrastructure and tight quarters for years. The building should commence late this year.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.