The fourth and final iteration of US Pacific Command’s Operational Pacific Angel 2010 has concluded in Sri Lanka. Over an eight-day period in mid August, airmen operating with US military teams worked with their Sri Lankan counterparts to carry out civil engineering projects and provide medical, dental, and optometry care to thousands of patients in Sri Lanka’s Anuradhapura and Puttalam communities. The medical personnel also conducted capacity-building seminars in pediatrics and mental health. The civil engineers repaired and refurbished two primary schools and helped provide equipment for a school in Puttalam. “These activities have had an enormous and positive impact on several communities in Sri Lanka,” said Col. David O’Brien, 13th Air Force surgeon general. The previous Pacific Angel exchanges this year were held in the Philippines in February, Vietnam in May, and Bangladesh in June. (Sri Lanka release by MSgt. Mike Hammond)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. still “believes” in his mantra of “Accelerate Change or Lose”—and indicated the doctrinal changes it produced when he was Air Force Chief of Staff played a role in the service’s recent response to Iran’s aerial assault on Israel, he…