Some 16 Air Force medics deployed to El Salvador for a US Southern Command medical readiness exercise that ended Dec. 13 treated 7,300 patients on the country’s southeastern coast. They got translation assistance from Peace Corp volunteers and spouses of US military members on embassy duty. SOUTHCOM plans to run 64 similar exercises in 17 Caribbean, Central, and South American countries through September 2008.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 defense budget, submitted to Congress last week, accelerates the downsizing of the U.S. Air Force. It proposes divesting 340 aircraft, while only acquiring 76. These cuts risk the Air Force’s ability prevail. “Peace through strength” has...