Air Force civil engineers have been busy constructing about 28 more tents in Southwest Asia to house some 1,300 airmen arriving in January. This is not your backyard campout-style enterprise. Officials say each site requires a survey, including use of GPS satellite data to measure and place the stakes, trenches, electrical lines, and gravel and dirt for leveling and drainage. More than 25 airmen of the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron work on each site at a time.
The Chinese spy balloon may have popped, but funding to protect against similar threats is inflating, according to the Department of Defense. The high-attitude surveillance balloon that traversed the U.S. in late January and early February prompted last-minute additions to the Pentagon's budget of around $90 million for measures to…