An Air Force Reserve Command aircrew on Sept. 26 flew the C-141 Starlifter’s last combat mission—ferrying cargo to Europe, then patients out of Southwest Asia. AFRC’s 445th Airlift Wing, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the last operational C-141 wing in USAF, and it is now transitioning to the C-5 airlifter, with the first to arrive in early October. Since 2002, the 40-year-old C-141 has flown 70 percent of the sick and wounded from the SWA theater. The 445th will continue flying C-141s—within the US borders—until spring 2006.
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.