An Air Force C-130 transport from the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, last week transported more than 17,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan. This was the second US relief flight, following a C-17 mission on May 16, in the wake of the floods and mudslides that devastated the Central Asian nation’s Kulyab district in early May. The C-130 carried five pallets of emergency medical supplies and hygiene kits during the May 21 mission. The C-17 brought in 13 pallets of tents to Kulyab to house thousands of displaced Tajik families. A third and final relief shipment containing more medical supplies was delivered May 23, but Air Force officials did not specify the platform that delivered that aid. (AFCENT report by MSgt. Kimberley Harrison)
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.