Bold leadership will allow the Air Force to “fully integrate all components” of the Total Force, including Active Duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve, said service Secretary Deborah Lee James on Monday. “Determining the right mix of these components will be key to our success in the future,” said James in her keynote address at AFA’s Air & Space Conference outside of Washington, D.C. Air Force leadership has committed to completing by year’s end an 80-percent mission-by-mission analysis to determine if the service can “put more missions into the National Guard and Reserve,” she said. It will also provide a full report to the Air Force Structure Commission by February 2015, she said. Just as the individual strands of blue combine to form the Air Force uniform, said James, so do all Air Force personnel, whether they be Active Duty, Air Guard, Reserve, or civilian, “contribute to the fabric of our Air Force.”
The U.S. thwarted a drone attack on U.S. forces at Al Asad air base in western Iraq on April 22, marking the first time that American troops have been targeted since February, U.S. officials said. “We can confirm it was an attack on Al Asad,” a defense official told Air & Space…