Not too many people assume an Airman Basic can identify the components of an M-16, field-strip, clean, and reassemble the standard rifle with ease. Yet that’s exactly what’s about to happen with basic training graduates. Air Education and Training Command plans to issue every basic trainee, beginning in November, a training replica M-16 on his or her first day at Lackland AFB, Tex. It’s just one more step the service is taking to better prepare new airmen for expeditionary force deployments. Already, says MSgt. Janice Allen, the 321st TRS section superintendent, “We are seeing airmen with a better skill set and capacity to deploy.”
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.