Airmen who previously had limited deployment availability due to medical issues may find themselves tapped for additional stateside taskings. Based on a recent decision, the 602nd Training Group (Provisional) at Keesler AFB, Miss., has begun accepting airmen with restrictive deployment availability codes to work in its operations center and at its training detachments. The provisional group supports airmen who are attending Army combat skills training, combat airmen skills training, and the Basic Combat Convoy course. “The overarching intent is to support 2nd Air Force without reducing the Air Force’s ability to meet combatant commander requirements,” said Col. Henry Polczer, director of Air and Space Expeditionary Force and personnel operations at the Air Force Personnel Center at JB San Antonio, Tex. He added, “We will accomplish this by sourcing to a name those airmen who would otherwise not be able to deploy.” (Randolph report by Jon Hansen)
The Air Force has spent more than two years studying cancer risks to Airmen who work with the service's intercontinental ballistic missiles. Now lawmakers in Congress are placing fresh scrutiny on the issue and have prepared legislation that would direct the service to clean silos and launch facilities.