The
Pentagon announced Wednesday that two airmen died May 26 of wounds received from an improvised explosive device near Bagram AB, Afghanistan. Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II, 39, had deployed from the Joint Staff at the Pentagon to Afghanistan, where he had been serving as commander of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team, according to an April 8 American Forces Press Service article . SrA. Ashton L. M. Goodman, 21, of Indianapolis had deployed to Afghanistan from the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron at Pope AFB, N.C. According to an Air Force News Service article Goodman wrote, she also was serving with the Panjshir PRT. (A Pope Air Force Base release notes that she is the fourth airman from that base to die in action since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Mobile Press-Register reports that Stratton grew up in Foley, Ala., leaving in 1987 to attend Texas A&M University.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.