The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star medals to three Security Forces airmen at Misawa AB, Japan, for their actions in the war on terrorism. Maj. Scott Sanford deployed to Bagram AB, Afghanistan, where he commanded the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and led his unit in making force protection improvements. He also personally led a team that thwarted a suicide bomber. MSgt. Robert Briggs deployed to Iraq, where he led a joint team manning a Theater Internment Facility and served as the NCO in charge of a Quick Reaction Force that engaged an overwhelming force of detainees during 17 hostile situations. TSgt. Max Van Ausdal also served as NCO in charge of a QRF at an Iraq internment facility, where he managed more than 100 compound searches, finding hundreds of homemade weapons and thousands of items of intelligence value. He saved a detainee from death by his fellow inmates during a mass riot. (Misawa report by SrA. Laura McFarlane)
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.