The 2013 firefighting season was one of the busiest in more than four decades, said Col. Al Wimmer, director of operations for Continental US NORAD Region-1st Air Force, during an after action review held at Tyndall AFB, Fla. “This meeting is really needed because this is such an important mission,” said Lt. Gen. William Etter, region commander, in a base release. During the three-day meeting, which began Dec. 3, participants studied and discussed lessons learned from the recent season, including how the Air Force uses incident awareness and assessment assets and AFNORTH oeprational order, and training requirements, states the Dec. 18 release. This “review is a vital step in closing out the season for MAFFS,” said Wimmer.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
