Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, on a visit to Arnold AFB, Tenn., one of three potential sites for USAF’s new Common Battlefield Airman Training center, said he expects the environmental impact surveys of all three sites to be completed in January or February, reports the Times-Gazette. The other two contenders are Barksdale AFB, La., and Moody AFB, Ga. Once the surveys are done, service officials will rank order the bases, including consideration of the cost at each location, before presenting a list to Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley. According to The Huntsville Times, the Tennessee contingent is getting some help from Alabama lawmakers. Apparently the Volunteer State got behind shifts of defense workers from the Washington, D.C., area to Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal—a move that also benefited workers in Tennessee—during BRAC 2005, so Alabama is reciprocating.
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.