The first KC-135 tanker aircraft with the 939th Air Refueling Wing to depart its home base at Portland, Ore., for the last time took wing July 14, marking the first step toward fulfillment of the unit’s BRAC 2005 obligation. The 939th ARW will lose all eight of its aircraft and 900 authorized positions, most by September 2007. The wing’s executive staff and mission support personnel are expected to remain in Portland until Sept. 30, 2010. Air Force Reserve Command plans to secure a new space mission for the 939th and move it to Vandenberg AFB, Calif., beginning in October 2010.
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,…