The Air Force will conduct a “full and independent review” of its military justice system, looking at racial disparities in discipline and ways to improve the diversity of the service’s highest ranks as civil unrest continues to spread across the country. Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright, in a lengthy, personal letter posted to his Facebook page, said he, and “so many others in our ranks” reacted with outrage watching George Floyd, a black man, die at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on Memorial Day. “What happens all too often in this country to Black men who are subjected to police brutality that ends in death … could happen to me,” Wright wrote. “As shocking as that may sound to some of you … I hope you realize that racism/discrimination/exclusion does not care much about position, titles, or stature … So yes, it could happen to you, or one of your friends, or your Airmen, or your NCOIC, your Flight Chief, your Squadron Commander, or even your Wing Commander. This, my friends, is my greatest fear, not that I will be killed by a white police officer, … but that I will wake up to a report that one of our Black Airmen has died at the hands of a white police officer.”
Two Active-duty Airmen assigned to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., are dead following an early morning shooting at the base, according to an Air Force statement.
Top Air Force leaders will discuss an overhaul of the Air and Space Expeditionary Force model at this week's Corona meeting, the first to be held all virtually. The new AEF model, which may still get some revision before it is rolled out, will seek to standardize the way forces are grouped and presented to combatant commanders. It will have to dovetail with an emerging plan of flexible deployment, where small forces will detach to austere operating locations to operate for a time and then shift to new spot. The new AEF will probably roll out during the tenure of USAF's new Chief of Staff.
President Donald Trump announced June 1 that he would mobilize “all available federal resources, civilian and military” to end the civil unrest sweeping the country since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after being arrested by a white police officer in Minneapolis a week earlier. Trump said he “strongly recommended” that governors deploy sufficient National Guard forces to occupy the streets and stop violent protests. Earlier in the day, the number of Guard troops called up to quell violence had swelled beyond 17,000 in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Among them are at least 375 Air Guard members.
A top space operations official outlined how America’s foray into commercial space travel could shape the military’s work, on the heels of SpaceX’s successful Crew Dragon launch to the International Space Station on May 30. NASA and SpaceX launched two astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil for the first time since 2011, but Maj. Gen. John Shaw, the Space Force’s space operations commander, noted three significant differences from the space shuttle era: the bureaucracy, spacecraft, and technology.
As the SpaceX Crew Dragon rocketed into orbit carrying American astronauts on May 30, a team of USAF aircraft circled the airspace to ensure it was safe and rescue crews stood alert in case the mission did not go safely. “We all recognized the historical significance of the mission,” said Capt. Nathan Foltz, an instructor pilot with the 50th Aerial Refueling Squadron who flew a KC-135 in support of the launch. “We were all pretty excited about the opportunity to participate.” The Stratotanker refueled F-15s from the Florida Air National Guard that protected the air space around NASA's Kennedy Space Center. At the same time, Airmen with the 45th Operations Group-Detachment 3 stood alert in an operations center at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.; along with Airmen and aircraft standing by at Joint Base Charleston, S.C.; and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. The detachment’s pararescuemen, combat rescue officers, aircrew flight equipment specialists, and HH-60 Pave Hawks, HC-130Js, and C-17s were ready if the astronauts needed to be rescued.
F-35s and Airmen from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, deployed to the Middle East recently for the third time in 12 months. The aircraft and Airmen from the 421st Fighter Squadron touched down at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, on May 30, according to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. The deployed squadron includes pilots and maintainers from both the Active-duty 421st and Reserve 466th Fighter Squadrons and Aircraft Maintenance Units. “The 421st Fighter Squadron completed their stand up in December and now they’re our latest squadron heading into the fight,” 388th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Steven Behmer said in a release.
