More than 30 military personnel and civil servants from the United States and nine partner nations attended Air Force Special Operations Command’s Building Partner Aviation Capacity Course at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The 12-day course concluded on Dec. 14, according to a Hurlburt release from the same day. The course is designed to create, nurture, and deepen partnerships with foreign militaries. During it, participants from Afghanistan, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Mauritius, Paraguay, Rwanda, and Zambia embedded with US students from across the joint aviation community, states the release. “I learned that sometimes leaders use aviation to develop things that don’t have anything to do with the military or even aviation,” said Lt. Col. Gabriel Medina, Dominican Republic Air Force Academy vice commander, of his course experience. He added, “For example, aviation can be used as a tool to build tourism, which is the largest source of revenue in my country.” (Hurlburt report by SrA. Melanie Holochwost)
President-elect Donald Trump has said he will nominate Pete Hegseth, a Fox News personality, as Secretary of Defense for Trump's second term. The choice rounds out most of the national security selections for the new administration.