The Air 
Force on March 21 flew its first non-stop aeromedical evacuation flight from Afghanistan to Germany, making it in just 10 hours compared to the three to five days such flights previously would consume by stopping over in Kuwait first. Journalist SSgt. Carlos Diaz reports that scheduling the medevac missions is the job of the patient administration division at the new theater hospital at Bagram AB, Afghanistan. Despite its expanded capability, the new facility must send some patients to larger hospitals, such as at Landstuhl, Germany.
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.