Members of the 728th Air Control Squadron, the “Demons,” held the unit’s inactivation ceremony at Eglin AFB, Fla., according to a base release. The standdown took place on May 17, following the Air Force’s decision last year to reduce the number of US-based control and reporting centers from three to two. “This does not mean the end of the 728th ACS or its legacy,” said Col. Alexander Koven, commander of the 552nd Air Control Group, the squadron’s parent organization, in the May 20 release. “The Demons on active duty will move to other squadrons where they can take the spirited skills they received here and apply them to new locations,” he said. The squadron’s 240 remaining members are slated to leave Eglin by year’s end, states the release. Until then, they will function as a detachment of the 552nd ACG, which is based at Tinker AFB, Okla. The squadron, which traces its history back to 1950, was among the first units to operate radar in the Air Force, states the release. (Eglin report by Chrissy Cuttita)
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.