Air Force engineers with the 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron in Iraq are teaching former Iraqi insurgents in the town of Hawr Rajab, a former al Qaeda stronghold, basic construction skills so that they may rebuild their communities and learn a trade that offers them a chance of a promising future. The airmen are part of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq village of hope program that provides these Iraqis “another form of technical training to help them get jobs in the community as carpenters, electricians, and plumbers,” said Capt. Michael Askegren from Hurlburt Field, Fla., the site officer in charge of nearby Patrol Base Stone. So far, 210 students have enrolled in the program, 133 of whom have already completed the course. (Hawr Rajab report by SMSgt. Trish Freeland)
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.