Air Force Special Operations Command has begun a new training program for a select group of its security forces airmen. AFSOC plans to use an 11-week course to “fill a capabilities gap that existed between the [Phoenix] Raven’s training and combat operations found in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Lt. Col. Erik Rundquist, program manager for the new training for a Deployed Aircraft Ground Response Element, or DAGRE. Phoenix Raven is the training program developed by Air Mobility Command for security forces that fly with mobility aircraft into high threat areas. Maj. Scott Covode reports that the first class of 18 airmen graduated from DAGRE on Friday.
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.