The Federal Aviation Administration overturned its decision to shutter the air traffic control tower at Kingsley Field, Ore., according to officials with the state Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing, the F-15 unit that operates there. The tower was on FAA’s chopping block due to budget sequestration, according to the wing’s April 5 release. However, Rep. Greg Walden (R), in whose congressional district the installation falls, came to the tower’s defense, urging the FAA to reconsider its plan since, he asserted, closing the tower posed “a risk to both public safety and national defense.” Local civic leaders and wing leadership also drafted a petition to keep the control tower open. In late March, the FAA released a list of the towers that would be spared from closing due to national security concerns, and Kingsley’s tower was one of them, states the release. “For once, common sense prevailed,” said Walden. (Kingsley Field report by TSgt. Jefferson Thompson)
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.