The Air Force on Thursday confirmed that the eight US military personnel who died in Wednesday’s shooting incident at Kabul International Airport were airmen training and advising the Afghan air force. “The entire Air Force family is saddened by this loss and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of these brave airmen,” said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, and CMSAF James A. Roy in a joint release. They continued: “The pain the families feel is shared across the entire Air Force.” Service officials have not released the names of these airmen yet, pending notification of next of kin. Already officials at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, have announced that one of the airmen was assigned there. According to press reports, a veteran Afghan air force officer got into an argument with US air advisors during a meeting and subsequently began firing at them. The Afghan shooter also killed one US civilian contractor. (See ABC News report and Boston Herald report)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent direction that the military services return to a more old-school approach to basic training—with instructors "tossing bunks" and "putting their hands on recruits”—will likely require the Air Force to rewrite policies for military training instructors it has modified over time to cut down on such…
