The Air Force announced Feb. 9 that the remains of Maj. Kenneth Bourland, 37, of Birmingham, Ala., were found Feb. 7 at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he had traveled on official business for US Southern Command on Jan. 12, the day the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck, collapsing the hotel among other widespread damage. The brief announcement noted Bourland in June 2009 had been selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel, and USAF was processing a posthumous promotion. (Also read Birmingham News report; CBS42 TV report)
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…