Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt, Air National Guard director, said last week he “can’t wholeheartedly endorse” the plan put forward by Adjutant Generals in the states of California, Oregon, Louisiana, Florida, and Massachusetts to acquire F-22s for their respective Air National Guard wings that serve in the air sovereignty alert role. This idea is known as the “Five Corner Initiative,” and Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Rees, the AG of the Oregon National Guard, has been a leading proponent of it, having discussed it last month with the Daily Report. (See Ask the States) But for Wyatt, the ASA issue involves more than just those five corners. “My concern is 18 ‘corners,’” he said July 29 in Washington D.C., referring to the 18 ASA sites spread across the US, 16 of which are Air Guard run and two operated by the Air Force Reserve. Wyatt said he has spoken to Rees about this topic and what Rees advocates is certainly “a viable option” to field new capability for ASA, but it’s only one potential approach. “From the standpoint where he is advocating that we get the capability … we are on the same page,” Wyatt said of Rees. Wyatt continued, “When we get down into details as to which units should get F-35s, which ones should fly Golden Eagles [upgraded F-15s], which ones should fly F-22s—if any come to the Guard—we may not be seeing quite eye to eye.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.