US military reconstruction teams that are heading off to Afghanistan to help rebuild the Southwest Asian nation are training at Ft. Bragg, N.C., before deploying for yearlong rotations. Airmen are among soldiers and sailors who comprise 12 provincial reconstruction teams that have been training at the Army facility since January. Air Force officers lead six of the teams. Training skills include tactical security, combat training, communications, checkpoints, perimeter guard duty and language training. The teams began deploying last month.
It'll take up to 18 months for Lockheed Martin to deliver the 100 or so F-35s that went directly from production line to storage, awaiting the completion of Tech Refresh 3 testing. Customers haven't complained about the order in which the backlog is being delivered.