The VA has opened a new national cemetery—at least five acres of the eventual 80 acres—in Washington County, some 12 miles south of Pittsburgh. VA officials opened the initial site—accommodating some 3,700 burial spaces—last week to veterans and their family members in western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Eventually, the new National Cemetery of the Alleghenies will include more than 19,000 sites—15,000 gravesites, 3,000 columbarium niches, and 1,250 in-ground cremation sites. VA estimates that 323,000 veterans live within 75 miles of the site.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
