Air Education and Training Command is still striving to boost the number of total military training instructors at JBSA-Lackland, Tex., to 508, with 25 percent of all instructors female, said Gen. Edward Rice, head of Air Education and Training Command. Speaking to reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 21, Rice said he doesn’t expect the command to reach that number until December 2014. However, he said it’s possible “we may be able to accelerate that a little bit.” The goal is to boost the numbers at a “deliberate pace” because training capacity is limited and spacing out the assignments will ensure not all the MTIs leave Basic Military Training at the same time, said Rice. “We are building this up gradually at a pace I think is reasonable,” he said. The decision to rebalance the MTI corps came after a string of sexual misconduct cases by MTIs at Lackland rocked the command last year. So far there have been eight courts-martial; Rice said he fully expects more charges to come. He declined to say how many more, pending the completion of independent investigations.
The Air Force is shoring up its cyber defenses both on and off base for critical infrastructure such as water and electrical power, and industry experts are calling for more, even specialized, dedicated microgrids offsite to support USAF operations in case of a total blackout caused by cyberattacks.
