New privatized housing units at Columbus AFB, Miss., will be available to members of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, as well as perhaps civil servants and service retirees, when they become available in October. Columbus’ Commercial Dispatch reported June 5 that, until now, housing at the base has been reserved for full-time, active-duty Air Force personnel and their families. However, the new privatized homes will be open to the ANG and AFR members if contractor Pinnacle Housing is unable to fill the units with active duty members, the newspaper reported, citing a base spokesman. If there is still space after that, then the homes, consisting of some duplexes and some single-family units, would be opened up to civil service members and then retired personnel. The base held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new homes on May 20, and some families have already moved in. But the bulk of the homes are scheduled to open in October.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
