The 455th Air Expeditionary Wing has opened a new aircraft parking ramp at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, one that greatly enhances the base’s capacity to support coalition operations in the Central Asian nation. Air Force and Army officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 4 to celebrate the conclusion of the construction project, which features an 18-acre parking area with five in-the-ground fueling points. “It took a whole team of people to get this done and to get it done ahead of schedule so we can bring more combat air power to the airfield,” said Col. Christopher Pike, commander of Bagram’s 455th Expeditionary Mission Support Group. The ramp is one of several major military construction projects either underway or now completed to expand Bagram, which is already the busiest coalition air hub inside Afghanistan. (Bagram report by SSgt. Richard Williams)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.