Air Force officials broke ground Sept. 1 at Hurlburt Field, Fla., on the building expansion project for the 39th Information Operations Squadron, currently USAF’s only cyber and IO formal training unit. The project will add 4,500 sq. ft. to the unit’s existing 17,000 sq. ft. structure. The new facilities will accommodate four additional classrooms, an observation room, and a simulation room. “With the building addition, we are maximizing what we have as well as building for the future,” said 39th IOS Commander, Lt. Col. Dean Clothier. The 39th IOS is a detached component of the 688th Information Operations Wing at Lackland AFB, Tex. The wing was recently integrated into the newly established 24th Air Force, the numbered air force under Air Force Space Command that will lead the service’s cyber operations. (Hurlburt Field report by 2nd Lt. Mark Lazane)
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.