Airmen in Southwest Asia are exercising their esprit de corps in much the same way as past airmen, through artwork, but not on the noses of their aircraft. According to the Red Tail Flyer, the airmen at Balad AB, Iraq, have taken to “barrier art.” The Flyer reports that nearly every unit on base has painted murals on concrete barriers. One such recent addition is the artwork of the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group, which highlights the 332nd’s roots in the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame.
Lawmakers drafting the 2027 defense policy bill worry the Air Force is not moving fast enough to arm its tanker fleet with new protection systems capable of defeating incoming missile threats.