Air Force Reserve Command’s 440th Airlift Wing flew its flag from Milwaukee to the wing’s new home at Ft. Bragg Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina. Maj. Ann Peru Knabe reports that the 440th AW commander, Col. Merle Hart carried the flag aboard one of the wing’s C-130s at General Mitchell Airport during a special ceremony that culminated with the arrival of the flag in North Carolina on June 9. The unit has operated from Wisconsin for the past 50 years, but BRAC 2005 moved it to Pope, where it will gain two active duty squadrons as active-associate units. According to Knabe, “several hundred” Reservists in Wisconsin plan to continue serving with the 440th, either moving to North Carolina or commuting.
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.