Air Force battlefield airmen and fighters and bombers have been using three towns in Louisiana to practice urban air strike skills. The towns of Deridder, Leesville, and Oakdale volunteered to let the Air Force conduct urban combat air support training—providing today’s real-world type environment. Such crowded urban areas have “made it difficult for controllers to coordinate with aircraft” to strike enemy forces and avoid killing civilians and inflicting collateral damage, said Lt. Col. Frank Corley III, 548th Combat Training Squadron commander. Corley told Air Force journalist MSgt. Jack Braden that typical military training facilities lacked the actual urban density needed for realistic training and Louisiana has “a very friendly populace” that was “more than willing to cooperate.”
Top Lawmakers Want 15 Percent Pay Raise for Enlisted Troops
April 19, 2024
A new law introduced by Congress would raise the pay rate 15 percent for junior enlisted troops and seek improvements on a range of quality of life issues, such as pay and compensation, child care, housing, health care access, and military spouse employment.