The Air Force’s only forensic toxicology drug testing laboratory recently opened its doors at Lackland AFB, Tex., a part of Joint Base San Antonio. The new Headquarters Air Force Drug Testing Laboratory, a 22,000-square-foot building, is one of just six such labs in the Defense Department. Its mission is to deter illicit drug use in the service. Per BRAC 2005, the lab moved into the new facility at Lackland from Brooks City-Base, also in Texas. “The project is the closest thing I have ever experienced to building an airplane, in the air, with passengers on board, while flight attendants serve coffee,” said Lt. Col. Kabrena Rodda, the lab’s commander. The building came in $3.5 million under budget and went online on June 30, a month ahead of schedule. (Lackland report by Maj. Travis Herbelin)
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.