The USAF pilot killed in the Feb. 19 T-38C Talon crash near Montgomery, Ala., is 1st Lt. Scot Ames Jr., 23, the Air Force said Feb. 22. Ames and a student pilot from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force were killed when the Talon crashed near Dannelly Field as part of a multi-leg training mission originating from Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. The JASDF has not identified the student pilot yet, and the name will be provided “according to Japan’s established process,” the 14th Flying Training Wing said in a statement. Ames was an instructor pilot with the 50th Flying Training Squadron at Columbus. He was from Pekin, Ind.
Air Combat Command is pursuing four lines of effort to enhance diversity and inclusion among its force, according to an excerpt from its newly issued Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, obtained by Air Force Magazine on Feb. 19. The plan, which has not been publicly released, was issued the same day. “These lines of effort provide the framework for advancing diversity and inclusion and for building measures of accountability to ensure the enterprise attracts and leverages elite talent from diverse communities to compete and win for the nation,” the excerpt stated. The LOEs are also meant to give the command’s D&I professionals “a strategic outlook” to help them devise future operational plans and quantify the command’s progress and performance, it added.
As of the morning of Feb. 19, the Air National Guard had recorded 13 breaches—including attempted and successful intrusions—at its installations since the start of 2021, ANG Director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh told Air Force Magazine in an interview that day. However, ANG declined to disclose the locations of the breaches due to operational security concerns.
The 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., launched an investigation after a 19th Security Forces Squadron Airman discharged their weapon into a classroom wall during a Feb. 14 “dry-fire training,” wing spokesperson 1st Lt. Jessica M. Cicchetto wrote in a Feb. 19 email to Air Force Magazine. “During this training event, a live round was discharged and traveled into a wall,” she wrote. “There were no injuries or fatalities reported.”
In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.
