Col. Andrew J. Campbell, commander of the 374th Airlift Wing, declared a public health emergency at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Dec. 16, and rolled out an extensive set of mandatory COVID-19 mitigation measures for U.S. and host-nation personnel—including mandatory contact-tracing for U.S. troops, DOD ...
Airmen at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, and Scott Air Force Base, Ill., won’t have to take official physical fitness assessments until April 1, 2021. Air Force guidance issued earlier this year authorizes commanders to make these kinds of delays, Air ...
The Defense Department deployed dozens of medical personnel to two states and one territory to bolster civilian medical facilities battling COVID-19, and hundreds more remain on standby as the pandemic surges. Sixty-seven Air Force nurses and other personnel deployed to hospitals and long-term care facilities ...
A member of the Texas Air National Guard died of COVID-19-related issues, the first uniformed member of the Department of the Air Force and ninth service member overall to die of the disease. The Air National Guardsman has not been identified. The death was reported ...
The Defense Department “collected nearly 11,000 units” of COVID-19 convalescent plasma by the end of fiscal 2020—almost 3,000 units more than its original goal—Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced during an Oct. 15 Heritage Foundation event. Donations of blood plasma containing antibodies for the new ...
The military’s travel and other restrictions related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are likely to stick around for a while, until a vaccine is broadly available, which Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley said he expects to be a matter ...
A Pentagon effort to shutter or downsize the scope of services offered at 50 military hospitals and/or clinics across the country—12 of which are located on Air Force bases—has been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Defense Health Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place ...
An Air Force Instruction published earlier this month aims to ensure that Airmen who suffer miscarriages are given time to recover and get back into fighting shape before taking their next fitness assessment. These Airmen weren’t previously guaranteed a minimum grace period before they were ...
The Women’s Health Transition Training Program, a joint venture with the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, has shifted its trainings completely online through the end of July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program teaches woman Active-duty troops about Veterans Health Administration support ...
A coalition of military and veterans associations is urging lawmakers to reverse Pentagon plans to close or downsize military medical facilities as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads. In February, the Pentagon said it planned to close or downsize 50 medical clinics, including 12 on Air Force ...
While the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the nation and military to learn how to operate in a strange new world, it hasn’t diminished the force’s readiness, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. John Hyten said on May 21. According to ...
Military medical facilities across the globe can resume elective procedures as long as their communities meet criteria outlined in new guidance released May 20. The Pentagon in March directed a restriction on elective procedures as the COVID-19 outbreak spread and threatened to overwhelm the military ...