Airmen have found a way to help beat the heat problem that accompanies wear of the Air Force’s new Airman Battle Uniform in hot climates like Southwest Asia—just cut out the interior map pockets. Stars and Stripes reports that alteration shops here and overseas are providing the removal service, while USAF has decided to look the other way. Airmen have been voicing complaints for some time, and the word is going out that the service has a lighter version of the uniform, sans those interior pockets, on the way.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…