Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, paid a visit recently to the Norfolk, Va., headquarters of US Joint Forces Command to see just what the command leading the Pentagon’s transformation effort is doing. Skelton got the complete dog and pony round of briefings and demonstrations. He marveled at the “new age in warfare,” saying “futurist information-type thinking” must receive “additional attention and additional resources.” The veteran lawmaker said, “We don’t get much of this advanced jointness in our hearings back in Washington.”
Airmen and Guardians in the Active and Reserve component, as well as civilian employees, in “mission critical and high-risk populations” are now required to receive influenza vaccinations annually to “preserve force readiness,” according to a recent Department of the Air Force memo.