According to Joint Forces Command officials, a program they created a year ago to place military members with a service different from their own at the three-star warfighting component level is paying off. In fact, they claim it has gotten “rave reviews.” JFCOM manpower official Charles Ridley explains that if USAF’s 12th Air Force needs an intelligence officer, the Joint Manpower Exchange Program may send the Southern Command component a Navy officer. So far, JMEP has 30 positions to work with and has filled 28. Officials expect to fill the last two slots by early October.
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.
