The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star to Capt. Samantha Elmore, a public health officer of the 9th Medical Operations Squadron at Beale AFB, Calif., for her efforts while deployed to Iraq. Elmore led a team in Baghdad that assessed sanitation and hygiene at city hospitals and the morgue that led to equipment and supplies improvements. She also helped create the first Preparatory Iraqi Nurse Corps.
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.