Eighteen Maine Air National Guardsmen—dressed in red, white, and blue cycling outfits—bicycled from Bangor to Portland from Aug. 18 to 20, stopping along the way to promote the 60th anniversary of the Air National Guard. TSgt. Mike Smith reports that the 170-mile ride was part of Air Force Week New England, which consists of special events in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. The Air Guard bikers are members of the 101st Air Refueling Wing, 243rd Engineering Installation Squadron, 256th Combat Communications Squadron, and Maine’s Joint Force Headquarters. As part of the excursion, they visited the Maine Veterans Home in Augusta, where they met a founding Maine Air Guardsman. “He was just so proud and happy that we stopped in to see him,” said Col. Don McCormick, JFHQ chief of staff.
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.