The Air Force has paid $160,000 in claims related to a 27,000-acre fire that began on the Melrose Bombing Range last year. The Portales News-Tribune reports that SSgt. Craig Seals, a Cannon Air Force Base spokesman, says the Air Force has received four separate claims so far. The prime complaint is soil erosion. Seals said that the service has not determined the cause of the fire, but it is still under investigation. The deadline for filing complaints is November 2007.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. still “believes” in his mantra of “Accelerate Change or Lose”—and indicated the doctrinal changes it produced when he was Air Force Chief of Staff played a role in the service’s recent response to Iran’s aerial assault on Israel, he…