The Air Force has awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross to A-10 pilot Maj. Keith Wolak, who participated in the 2005 combat-search-and-rescue effort to retrieve a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan, reports the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. Wolak, who currently serves as assistant director of operations with the 74th Fighter Squadron at Pope AFB, N.C., was part of a joint CSAR task force. His initial role was to coordinate the 17 participating aircraft, but he had to join in attacks on the Taliban forces closing in on the SEAL team and put down the infrared marking for the rescue helicopter.
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.