2007 Cuts Were Trial Balloon?: The Quadrennial Defense Review is still circulating among senior Pentagon officials, but it must be close enough to a final product that DOD is willing to let some folks—key contributor Ryan Henry, for one—talk on the record. Henry, who is principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told an American Enterprise Institute gathering at the Australian Embassy this week that the QDR envisions “movement and change in the investment portfolio” to recognize the need to evolve ISR capabilities to find the new-style adversary—one who emerges at will rather than masses. OK, but this is not new information. What else did he say? Ryan noted that the QDR will not have a major impact on the Fiscal 2007 budget. It will not be felt, he said, until the future years defense plan beginning in 2008. So, the 2007 budget drill was just a dry run? Hmmm.
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,…