Some 43 airmen of the 939th Air Refueling Wing at Portland, Ore., are the first to complete the Air Force’s readiness safeguard command and control functional training exercise. The five-day course, which took place at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center in Wisconsin, provides training in problem solving for personnel manning a unit’s survival and recovery center, putting them “in a realistic environment,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan McDaniel, the program’s director.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.