The Air Force’s manpower and personnel chief, Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, told the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves last week that the Air Force’s “transformation efforts are on target,” and staying there is a matter of making Total Force Integration work. He described TFI as an “inclusive process” that is “critical” to drive the service to solve problems associated with “competing resource demands, an aging aircraft inventory, and emerging missions.” Beyond creating new associate relationships in the field as its cuts personnel, aircraft, and units, the Air Force “is well underway” to integrate its headquarters staff into a Total Force staff, said Brady. He also pointed out that the “debate … is over” about whether there is now only an operational reserve, noting that about 25 percent of each air expeditionary force rotation is Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.