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.
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.