Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts actively is lining up a new mission, once its F-15s depart for good. (This is the base that everyone—including BRAC commissioners—thought was to close under BRAC 2005.) (DR, 09/15/05) Leading the list of potential missions is intelligence, per Brig. Gen. Michael Akey, head of the Massachusetts ANG. Akey tells the Boston Globe that ANG members at Otis could easily handle the job of processing intelligence data from unmanned aerial vehicles. He also thinks ANG personnel could take over operation of the PAVE PAWS radar facility at Cape Cod AFS, Mass., currently run primarily by active duty airmen and contractors.
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…