Four C-130 transports and about 170 airmen from Ramstein AB, Germany, concluded the 12-day Exercise Thracian Spring with the Bulgarian military April 6 at Bezmer Aviation Base, Bulgaria. The annual bilateral exercise allowed training and knowledge sharing between paratroopers, pilots, firefighters, security forces, aircraft and equipment maintainers, air traffic controllers, and medical, communications, and command and control personnel from both nations. “We see our interoperability improving more and more as we go, and that’s a major success of this exercise,” said Lt. Col. Mark August, operations officer from Ramstein’s 37th Airlift Squadron who was USAF’s mission commander for Thracian Spring. (USAF report by 1st Lt. Melissa J. Stevens)
Unit commanders are being told to separate service members who can’t shave their cheeks and chin for medical reasons for more than a year, according to new guidance from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
