Defense Secretary Robert Gates has nominated Maj. Gen. Brooks Bash as well as Maj. Gen. Stephen Hoog and Maj. Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas for their third star for their new assignments. Bash, currently Pacific Air Forces vice commander at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is moving to his new position as director of logistics on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Hoog, who’s presently 9th Air Force commander at Shaw AFB, S.C., has the new assignment to lead 11th Air Force at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Jouas is shifting from being PACAF’s director of operations, plans, requirements, and programs to commanding 7th Air Force at Osan AB, South Korea. (DOD release)
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.