US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Kim Jang Soo agreed during a meeting Feb. 23 in Washington that the two countries will disestablish the current Combined Forces Command on April 17, 2012. At that time they will complete the transition to the new South Korean-led command relationship. The two long-time allies have wrestled for months with timetables and cost sharing arrangements, with Seoul wanting to move more slowly with the transfer of control of forces on the peninsula.
Matthew Lohmeier, who was fired from a Space Force squadron command just two years ago, took another step in his unlikely journey to the Department of the Air Force's No. 2 job May 1, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee that his background as an Air Force F-15C pilot…