Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley held a meeting last week to begin work to extend advanced survival, evasion, resistance, and escape training to all airmen. Moseley expressed concern that the Air Force may not have prepared its airmen to cope with the changing nature of today’s battlefields, in which the “capture of military personnel has the potential of exploding into a larger strategic event.” According to a service release, all airmen currently receive basic SERE training, but the service had reserved more advanced training for aircrews—those traditionally with a higher risk of capture—and its growing force of battlefield airmen. CMSgt. John Myers, SERE career field manager, was at the SERE meeting. He believes, “This is a great day” because now the service wants to prepare all airmen with the training “to deal with the increasing threat of isolation and capture” to which more are exposed.
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.