The Air Force on Aug. 5 announced the formal separation of 9th Air Force and Air Forces Central, in what services leaders had told Congress will be a temporary split to enable AFCENT to focus exclusively on the on-going operations in Southwest Asia, particularly as things ramp up in Afghanistan. The stateside 9th AF, still based at Shaw AFB, S.C., will continue to provide management oversight for six wings and one direct reporting unit and be led by Maj. Gen. William Holland. AFCENT, which will have about 50 personnel on its headquarters staff and will be forward deployed in the US Central Command area of responsibility, is now led by Lt. Gen. Gilmary Hostage III. According to the Aug. 5 announcement, the service temporarily redesignated 9th AF/AFCENT as AFCENT and activated a new 9th AF.
The Air Force’s study of possible links to elevated rates of cancer among personnel who worked on intercontinental continental ballistic missiles has begun, the commander in charge of the U.S. ICBM fleet confirmed March 28. The initial phase of that study will mine cancer registries for information and compile a…