Schoomaker likes USAF’s push to create more Battlefield Airmen that travel with ground troops and help mesh air operations with ground operations. Schoomaker said he saw some of these airmen in Iraq working with forward Army units and was impressed by their effectiveness. “[Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.] John Jumper is committed to building a thousand more battlefield airmen to populate our brigades,” said Schoomaker. “I want a continued drive to achieve this kind of interdependence and interoperability.”
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.