The Air Force wants to increase the flow of trained battlefield airmen like joint terminal attack controllers to the fight, since they are so vital to the success of operations. However, says Gen. Stephen Lorenz, head of Air Education and Training Command, the current training regiment is washing out a high percentage of these students, perhaps too many. “Our attrition rate in those courses is like 86 percent,” Lorenz told attendees Feb. 19 at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. Accordingly, AETC officials are looking at what can be done to increase the number of students who make it through successfully. “Is the course set up to graduate people or is it set up to eliminate people?” Lorenz asked. That’s what’s being pondered, he said.
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.