The search and rescue airmen of the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing at Kulis ANG Base are handling rescue missions in the Interior Alaska normally covered by the Alaska Army National Guard’s Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic unit, reports the News-Miner. According to the newspaper, the Army’s MAST, which has deployed to Afghanistan for 12 months, supported Alaska State Troopers when they fell short of resources or lacked the right equipment.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…