A retired Bo
eing KC-135 aircraft, known as Speckled Trout, that was once used to transport the Air Force Chief of Staff was towed Feb. 15 through the streets of San Antonio from Kelly Field Annex, Tex. to its new home at the training annex of Lackland Air Force Base. There, the 344th Training Squadron will use it to train boom operators, airborne mission specialists, Air Force flight attendants, and loadmasters. “We’re going to use it indefinitely as a premier trainer for these career enlisted aviators,” said Lt. Col. Marc Caudill, commander of the training unit. Prior to the move, workers from Worldwide Recovery, a contractor from Omaha, Neb., spent about two weeks removing the aircraft’s engines, wings, and tail section. Roughly the same amount of time will be needed for reassembly. (Lackland report by Mike Joseph)
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.