The safety investigation board looking into last week’s fatal C-17 crash convened Monday at JB Elmendorf, Alaska, to begin its inquiry, base spokesman Bob Hall told the Daily Report. The C-17 went down shortly after takeoff from Elmendorf on a training flight July 28, killing the four airmen aboard. The aircraft was assigned to Elmendorf’s 3rd Wing. News of the safety investigation’s beginning came as base officials released photos of the C-17’s wreckage. (See Elmendorf report by SrA. Cynthia Spalding)
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.