Starting today, the Air Force is realigning its headquarters staff into what it terms the “A-staff” construct to more easily communicate with sister services and the joint staff. Brig. Gen. Marshall Sabol, USAF’s director of manpower and organization, told reporters at the Pentagon on Jan. 31, that USAF functions will mirror the numerical organization of the Joint staff, that is J1 for manpower and personnel, J2 for intelligence, J3 for operations. Only the Air Force will replace the “J” with an “A.” Air Force major commands and warfighting headquarters will implement the new structure by May 1.
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.