“Even in this age of e-mails, instant messages, and video chats, nothing provides the morale boost to a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine like regular packages or letters from home,” says Rep. Tom Davis, (R-Va.), chairman of the Government Reform Committee. Legislation approved by his committee would direct the Pentagon and Postal Service to run a one-year test for troops serving in Afghanistan or Iraq. The troops would receive, each month, a voucher they could send to family members, who would be able to mail one letter or parcel to the service member.
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…