Airmen permanently assigned to Creech AFB, Nev., will continue to receive assignment incentive pay through 2011 under a one-year extension that the Office of the Secretary of Defense has granted. Creech is a major USAF remotely piloted aircraft hub, with airmen there able to control MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper RPA that fly over Afghanistan and Iraq via satellite communications links. The AIP has been in effect for airmen at Creech since July 2008 to offset the base’s high operations tempo, austere location, and lack of quality-of-life facilities. AIP will be $300 per month for airmen in their first 36 months at Creech and $750 monthly thereafter. (Creech release)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.