Last week the Air Force activated the 911th Air Refueling Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., where the new unit’s active duty airmen will share operation and maintenance of KC-135 aircraft “owned” by Air Force Reserve Command’s 916th Air Refueling Wing. The 911th ARS is the first active associate tanker unit in the service’s Total Force Integration plan. Last summer, the service shut down the 911th ARS at its former home at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., which has to give up its KC-135s under BRAC 2005.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…