The 354th Force Support Squadron will become official today (April 29) during a ceremony at Eielson AFB, Alaska. The Air Force selected Eielson in January 2007 as one of six bases at which to test the force-shaping initiative of merging mission support and service units into a single consolidated force support squadron. A provisional FSS stood up at Eielson last July during the test period. The Air Force approved the new permanent FSS structure April 1. The base’s new FSS includes five flights: force development, manpower and personnel, airman and family services, sustainment services, and community services. On April 4, Holloman AFB, N.M., got its own FSS with the standup of the 49th Force Support Squadron. (Includes Eielson report by A1C Nora Anton)
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.