The Air Force reactivated the 479th Flying Training Group Oct. 2, this time at NAS Pensacola, Fla., where it will lead the service’s newly structured combat systems officer training starting next May. Per BRAC 2005, the Air Force is consolidating its navigator, electronic warfare officer, and weapons system officer training into the single CSO schoolhouse at Pensacola. Currently much of this training goes on at Randolph AFB, Tex. Construction of the 479th FTG’s operations and academic facilities at Pensacola will be complete by year’s end. When fully operational, the schoolhouse will graduate about 360 officers per year. The group had been inactive since July 2007 when its undergraduate pilot and introduction to fighter fundamentals training ended at Moody AFB, Ga., also as a result of BRAC 2005. (Pensacola report by Michael Briggs)
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.