Some 16 Air Force medics deployed to El Salvador for a US Southern Command medical readiness exercise that ended Dec. 13 treated 7,300 patients on the country’s southeastern coast. They got translation assistance from Peace Corp volunteers and spouses of US military members on embassy duty. SOUTHCOM plans to run 64 similar exercises in 17 Caribbean, Central, and South American countries through September 2008.
The $4.26 billion Small Business Innovation Research contracting program widely used by the Air Force went into hibernation as the government shut down Oct. 1, but unless lawmakers strike a deal on reforms, the program could reach an abrupt end.
