Schoomaker likes USAF’s push to create more Battlefield Airmen that travel with ground troops and help mesh air operations with ground operations. Schoomaker said he saw some of these airmen in Iraq working with forward Army units and was impressed by their effectiveness. “[Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.] John Jumper is committed to building a thousand more battlefield airmen to populate our brigades,” said Schoomaker. “I want a continued drive to achieve this kind of interdependence and interoperability.”
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.