The Air Force has bestowed the 2006 Col. James Jabara Award for excellence in airmanship upon Capt. John Vargas, a 1996 graduate of the Air Force Academy. Vargas, an F-16 pilot with the 555th Fighter Squadron, Aviano AB, Italy, has completed 45 combat missions, comprising more than 200 hours in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Joint Forge. He demonstrated his skill when he flew at high speed and low altitude—expending flares—directly over enemy forces attacking a coalition convoy, allowing the convoy to move to safety.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
