The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall AFB, Fla., responds to multiple calls for help around the country “on any given day” as the inland search and rescue coordinator for the entire US, according to Lt. Col. Clifton Hicks, AFRCC director of operations. On July 10, for instance, the center handled three rescue operations, one each in Colorado, Utah, and Washington, working with local and state agencies that contacted the center for assistance. In many cases, the AFRCC turns to the Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol to conduct on-the-spot airborne searches. Last year alone, CAP helped save 91 people. The AFRCC, part of US Northern Command, operates 24/7 with “some of the sharpest SAR coordinators the military has to offer,” said Hicks. (Tyndall report by 1st Lt. Jared Scott)
Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for…