Airmen have deployed to locales around the world recently to provide support to local residents, including medical aid and training and civil engineering work. The Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Wing has sent mainly civil engineers to Bosnia to help upgrade a school and repair a memorial dedicated to three American diplomats who died during peacekeeping operations in that country in 1995, reports the Baltimore Sun. Three Air Force Reserve Command airmen from the 434th Aerospace Medicine Squadron at Grissom ARB, Ind., joined a 60-member team to provide medical, dental, and optometry care in Cambodia, where many patients walked for miles to get treated by the US medics. (Grissom report by SSgt. Ben Mota) In Mali, a multi-national medical training exercise (MEDFLAG 08) led by US Air Forces in Europe, with medical specialists from Aviano AB, Italy, and RAF Lakenheath, Britain, among others, trained Mali personnel in emergency medical procedures and provided medical and surgical care to remote communities. (Report one, two, and three by SrA. Justin Weaver) Air Force medics from Eglin AFB, Fla., and Keesler AFB, Miss., earlier this month were among US and Panamanian health professionals that treated some 3,100 patients in rural areas of Panama, where they had been exposed to pesticides years ago and were showing a variety of ailments. (Panama report by Capt Ben Sakrisson)
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.