Mobility airmen from California, Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey, and North Carolina, together with airmen from Belgium and Canada, are now participating in the joint readiness training center exercise that began Monday and runs through Aug. 25 at Ft. Polk, La. They are supporting 5,000 Army troops engaged in a training scenario in an austere environment by airlifting and airdropping supplies, carrying out aeromedical evacuations, and executing bare-base setup and operations tasks. The goal of the exercise is to give these airmen “their first five combat missions in as realistic an environment as possible, before their first deployment,” said Lt. Col. Derek Waterman, director of operations for the 34th Combat Training Squadron from Little Rock AFB, Ark. This unit is supporting the exercise. (Scott report by Bekah Clark)
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.