Air Force Special Operations Command and Air Force Reserve Command leaders met last week to discuss a new arrangement for AFRC’s 919th Special Operations Wing that should provide some relief for Reservists who have “stepped up to the plate” for numerous deployments, said Col. Max Maxwell, Reserve advisor to the AFSOC commander. Denise Boyd reports that the two commands are proposing to put Reservists with the Duke Field, Fla. unit in flight training duties, leaving them mission-capable to deploy but in a volunteer status. The Reservists would augment training units for the U-28, the AC-130U, and aviation foreign internal defense at a new Air Force Special Operations Training Center to be located at Hurlburt Field, Fla. AFSOC and AFRC are also developing an air operations center associate unit.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.