The commander of the DOD Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command recently touted the organization’s work to identify remains of Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Leo Mustonen—known as the “glacier airman.” The JPAC recently confirmed identification of remains that were spotted last year in a glacier in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Army Brig. Gen. Michael C. Flowers told American Forces Press Service’s Donna Miles that the effort demonstrates DOD’s commitment to ensuring a full accounting of all missing personnel. Flowers urged families of missing servicemembers to ensure they have provided DNA samples to help the identification process, because sampling and other technologies are helping experts make positive identifications—as with Mustonen, 64 years later—that were once not possible.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
