US Central Command Air Forces, known in Pentagon parlance by its acronym CENTAF, formally changed its name March 1 to US Air Forces Central, or “AFCENT.” The redesignation is part of the command’s activities to implement a Chief of Staff directive to establish an Air Force component organization that is structured to operate and train every day in its wartime configuration. Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of AFCENT, hosted a ceremony Monday at Shaw AFB, S.C., the command’s headquarters, to mark the change and inactivate units under their old names and then reactivate them with new designations under the new structure. AFCENT, like its predecessor, is responsible for air operations in US Central Command’s 27-nation area of responsibility that includes Afghanistan and Iraq.
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.