Airmen of the 60th Security Forces Squadron at Travis AFB, Calif., held a memorial late last month for military working dog Arko, who had deployed six times over a period of three years to support the war on terror, according to a Feb. 20 release. The eight-year-old dog, who died from natural causes, served in the Air Force for seven years as an explosive detector and patrol dog. Lt. Col. Travis Harsha, 60th SFS commander, said Arko “served with distinction.”
Fixing the Air Force’s chronic combat pilot shortage will require more aircraft in the fleet, more flying hours to squadron operations, and retaining more pilots within Reserve components, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.