A Convoy Trainer of Its Own: The Air Force has just received its first Virtual Combat Convoy Trainer—the apparatus the Army has been using to train soldiers and airmen destined for convoy duty in Southwest Asia. Unlike its mobile Army and Marine Corps counterparts, this one will be a fixed-site trainer, and Lockheed Martin officials say it is the first such VCCT to be located at Camp Bullis, Tex., the main site for convoy training. The Air Force decided it needed to have a VCCT itself because of the increasing numbers of airmen that are deploying to fill “in lieu of” positions for the Army. USAF uses Camp Bullis for its Basic Combat Course for airmen.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…