The 914th Airlift Wing at Niagara Falls ARS, N.Y., recently became the latest Air Force Reserve Command unit to stand up a development and training flight to prepare new accessions for basic military training. “As soon as a member enlists [until] the time they leave for basic training, they come in and drill on the Saturday of the unit training assembly,” said TSgt. Alexander Pacheco, non-commissioned officer in charge of the new flight, in the wing’s Oct. 18 release. AFRC last year pioneered the program at a handful of bases to give enlistees a background in everything from customs and courtesy to dress standards. “I think that is going to cut back on the [delayed enlistment program] discharges and cut down on the people who aren’t making it through basic and tech school,” noted Pacheco. (Niagara report by SSgt. Andrew Caya)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…