The Air Force medics deployed to Manas AB, Kyrgz Republic, a facility that serves as a major way station for aircraft and personnel headed toward operations in Southwest Asia, now have a hard-walled hospital. For the past seven years, since operations began in Afghanistan, the medics have worked in a tent facility to treat some 600 patients each month. The 376th Expeditionary Medical Group initiated the project nearly six years ago. Following a ribbon cutting July 17, the first patient received treatment in the new hospital on July 19, kicking off “a future of first class health care at Manas,” said Col. Christopher Bence, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing commander. (Manas report by A1C Ruth Holcomb)
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.