CMSAF Bass’ Top Priorities For Keeping Talented Airmen, Part 2

CMSAF Bass’ Top Priorities For Keeping Talented Airmen, Part 2

July 24, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series about Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass’ efforts to help build the Air Force of the future. Part 1 is available here.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has made some big waves recently, releasing a memo last month exhorting Airmen to recommit themselves to the service’s professional standards and posting a photo on Facebook last week outlining her top “Things to Get After” to improve life for enlisted personnel.

As Bass nears the fourth and likely last year of her tenure as CMSAF, her list of priorities is long. But six in particular were highlighted in that Facebook photo:

  • Reforming developmental special duties
  • Increasing commissioning opportunities for enlisted Airmen
  • Retaining technical competencies
  • Setting up continuation boards
  • Improving the Air Force’s assignment policies
  • Digitizing the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) test

In an exclusive interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Bass said she highlighted those six in hopes that “we can cause some really strong momentum and get after them, probably quicker than some of the other ones.”

Now, as Bass prepares to put the finishing touches on her legacy, “we have to be deliberately focused on the force of the future,” she said.

cmsaf bass
On July 18, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass posted this image on Facebook of ideas to build the future Air Force. (Photo via Facebook, CMSAF JoAnne S. Bass)

Continuation Board

Bass wants Airmen to have more reasons to stay in the Air Force, but she also wants to make sure the right Airmen are staying in the Air Force. One method could be a continuation board for some enlisted Airmen. Across the services, continuation boards help determine how long an individual officer can stay in uniform without promoting. Other branches maintain some form of this for some enlisted service members, but not the Air Force, Bass said. This fall, the service will try out a continuation board pilot program for Airmen at the highest enlisted rank: chief master sergeant.

“Wearing this uniform is a privilege, it’s not a right,” Bass said.

The pilot will help evaluate how the system would work with enlisted Airmen and whether it might apply to lower ranks.

“This is not like paperwork and it’s also not anything disciplinary,” the chief explained. “It’s just a matter of evaluating whether or not continued service is the best thing for that Airman and for the Air Force.”

Bass hopes the program will “hold ourselves accountable as senior enlisted leaders to make sure that we are providing our best to our Airmen and the Air Force.”

Assignment Working Group Recommendations

Last year, Bass chartered an assignment working group where Airmen across ranks and career fields took a holistic look at the branch’s policies and processes for assigning Airmen to duty locations. The group came up with recommendations to modernize the system.

“If we’re going to retain the talent that we need for the force of the future, it’s not because of policies that were created in 1993, when I came in,” she said. “We’ve got to modernize the way we do assignments, and to some degree we have to modernize all people functions, so this is just one step in that direction.”

The recommendations were not published in an official Air Force announcement, but Bass shared a few of them at the 2022 AFA Air, Space & Cyber Conference. They included giving base of preference to DSD Airmen, removing time-on-station requirements for expedited transfers, and ensuring service members returning from a deployment have time to recover and reset before moving to a new assignment. Bass also mentioned that the Air Force could use an assignment policy for dual-military couples who serve in different components, such as Active Duty and the Air National Guard.

“There will be joint spouse recommendations as well as what the future of base preference might look like,” she said.

Bass did not have a specific timeline for when concrete steps might be taken on implementing those recommendations, but she hoped to make “some positive movement” later this fall.

Changing policy takes time. When asked if she felt frustration over the pace of change, Bass said that the Air Force must “be really careful that we don’t allow the bureaucracy … or whatever the challenge is, keep us from being able to press forward.”

Bass also mentioned Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s Action Order B: Bureaucracy, calling on the service “to speed up its decision-making progress.” 

“That was really in an effort to help us accelerate these much-needed changes to our force,” Bass said.

dual military
U.S. Air Force Maj. Meagan Bowman, assistant director of operations and evaluator pilot for the KC-135 Stratotanker with the 91st Air Refueling Squadron, and her husband, Maj. Woody Bowman, joint operational planner at U.S. Central Command, poses for a photo on the flight line at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, July 18, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Lauren Cobin

WAPS Testing

The last priority involves digitizing the Weighted Airman Promotion System, the standardized test which helps the service identify Airmen worthy of promotion. Air Force leaders have pursued this goal for years, with Bass even saying in 2022 that “if we can’t get out of taking a No. 2 pencil into promotion tests, something is wrong.”

Digitizing WAPS should reduce frustration for Airmen and eliminate the possibility of losing paper tests in the mail, which has been known to happen. Though 2022 came and went, Bass attributed the delay in part to not all locations across the branch having the systems in place to perform digital WAPS testing. Now in 2023, Bass does not see any friction points that would keep the service from fully digitizing WAPS in 2024.

“We are finally going to move into the 21st century as it relates to WAPS testing,” she said.

Having started in 2020, Bass is nearing the end of her time as the Air Force’s chief enlisted leader. The highlighted items on her Facebook post were just six of many changes that Bass hopes will help improve the lives of Airmen. When asked if she would want any particular item checked off, Bass said “it would be all of them.”

“We will continue to put the pedal to the metal on every single thing,” she said. “The important takeaway is that quality of life and quality of service initiatives directly impact our ability to build the force of the future. This is all important stuff that impacts recruitment and retention, and we owe our force the very best.”  

CMSAF Bass’ Top Priorities For Keeping Talented Airmen, Part 1

CMSAF Bass’ Top Priorities For Keeping Talented Airmen, Part 1

July 21, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series about Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass’ efforts to help build the Air Force of the future. Part 2 is now available here.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has a long list of ideas to help the Air Force better retain its enlisted talent—but six of them in particular may be in line for action sooner rather than later.

In a July 18 social media post, Bass shared a list of “Things to Get After” ahead of engagements with Congress in which she and Air Force leadership share their priorities and goals with lawmakers.

The document was extensive, covering more than 20 different lines of effort, and generated plenty of discussion from Airmen. But six in particular were highlighted:

  • Reforming developmental special duties
  • Increasing commissioning opportunities for enlisted Airmen
  • Retaining technical competencies
  • Setting up continuation boards
  • Improving the Air Force’s assignment policies
  • Digitizing the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) test

“We have to be deliberately focused on the force of the future,” Bass told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an exclusive interview, saying she highlighted those six in hopes that “we can cause some really strong momentum and get after them, probably quicker than some of the other ones.”

Now, as Bass nears the fourth and likely last year of her tenure as CMSAF, she offered insight into some of her top priorities.

cmsaf bass
On July 18, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass posted this image on Facebook of ideas to build the future Air Force. (Photo via Facebook, CMSAF JoAnne S. Bass)

Developmental Special Duty Reform

Developmental Special Duties (DSD) are positions in the Air Force that play a key role in training and educating recruits and Airmen, such as recruiters, military training instructors, and professional military education instructors. While the positions are crucial in developing personnel, they can be a lateral career move or even a step back for the Airmen who take them on. 

For example, a maintenance Airman may have to take time away from maintenance work during a DSD as a military training instructor while their peers continue to advance. Bass wants to make sure the Airmen who serve in DSD feel well-taken care of, which will hopefully make it less of a sacrifice to perform DSD and have a positive effect on the work they do developing current and future Airmen.

“We need to make sure that we show as an Air Force that we value our DSDs,” she said. For example, “we ought to make sure that, while you’re serving as a military training instructor, that it is competitive, that it is challenging, that it is growing you but we’re also taking care of you while you’re serving in that position.”

Specifically, Bass mentioned providing base of preference to DSD Airmen at the end of their special duties. She also mentioned giving DSD Airmen a better chance to compete for promotion during their special duty, rather than afterwards as is typically the case.

“I think we can do better than that,” the chief said. “If the folks that we’re selecting into these special duties are truly the best of the best, then we have an opportunity to compete them against their peers from their career [Air Force Specialty Codes].”

Bass also called for taking a close look at the list of positions that count as DSDs. 

“If we have too many special duties, then there’s nothing special about them,” she said. “Over time we’ve put more special duties under the umbrella of DSD and to some degree we’ve watered it down. We’ve got to get back to the core special duties that we believe are foundational to our institution.”

The exact plan for implementing these steps is yet to be determined. For now, Bass said there is a working group studying the DSD program to produce recommendations for modernizing it. She expects to have updates on the effort “within the next few months.”

“These are the folks who are bringing people into the Air Force and training, developing and educating them,” she said. “It should be a highly-competitive process … how are we making sure that we’re managing the talent within those special duties?”

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tavis Bell, 321st Training Squadron military training instructor, gives a command of movement to a group of new Air Force trainees from flight 248 on proper drill movements at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, Mar. 7, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Brian Boisvert)

Increasing Commissioning Opportunities for Enlisted Airmen

The Air Force needs talented officers, and Bass said the best talent pool can be found in the service’s enlisted corps. There are a number of pathways for enlisted Airmen to commission, including Officer Training School, the Air Force ROTC enlisted commissioning program, and the senior enlisted commissioning programs, which have pathways for Airmen with and without a bachelor’s degree.

However, the number of Air Force officers with prior enlisted service is still fairly small: 9,744 out of around 60,000, split relatively equally among those with one to four years of experience in the enlisted ranks, those with five to eight years enlisted time, and those with eight years or more, according to data provided by Bass’ office. The chief hopes to bump up the number of enlisted Airmen who pursue the commissioned route.

“We have such a strong talent pool within the enlisted force,” she said. “My intent is really to just increase the opportunities and raise the percentages of those who already have prior enlisted experience.”

In the past, the Air Force has tried to encourage more enlisted Airmen to commission by allowing older Airmen to do so and by establishing a pipeline for enlisted Airmen to become commissioned pilots. Bass did not mention specific ideas for new pathways or new methods of encouraging more enlisted Airmen to compete for a commission, but she mentioned feedback that every year, the number of enlisted Airmen who can compete for a commission is affected by the number of civilians who direct commission into the service.

“That’s some of the feedback that I hear and that’s what we’re trying to get after,” she said. “As we look at what kind of [company and field grade officers] we need leading our force in the future, that talent pool is within that enlisted force.”

Retain Technical Competencies

Bass also said she does not want to give enlisted Airmen who are experts in their field a reason to leave the service. 

“We cannot afford to lose technical competency out of our Air Force, especially as it relates to future conflict and in the information domain and the cyber domain,” she said. “In order to do that, analysis needs to be done on managing our talent.”

The chief said external think tanks and working groups in the Air Force are studying how to retain Airmen in technical career fields, specifically in cyber and information. The branch has been working on the problem for years—in September, it offered more reenlistment bonuses for cyber Airmen even while cutting the incentive pay for other non-tech jobs. In 2021, the Air Force also reclassified cyber enlisted Airmen as an operational role rather than as a communications support role. The move was meant in part to “provide manpower to support the Air Force cyber mission,” according to a press release at the time.

“We’ve got to have subject matter experts who stay technical only and not necessarily have to go, for instance, a leadership route,” Bass said. “That’s what we’re looking at.”

The chief said the working groups are taking a close look at different models for retaining technical experts. She mentioned that the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps have warrant officer or limited duty officer roles, which help retain subject matter experts without pushing them into strictly leadership or administrative positions. In the Marine Corps, master sergeants and master gunnery sergeants also “provide technical leadership as occupational specialists in their specific [military occupational specialty],” according to the Marine Corps website.

“I think the Air Force has to, as we’re developing our broader talent management model, make sure that we have a pathway to be able to retain our technical expertise,” she said. 

When asked if the Air Force ought to implement a warrant officer system, Bass said she was “definitely not opposed to the suggestion of that. We just have to do the analysis to make sure that is what is best for the U.S. Air Force.”

Like with some of the other measures, there are no concrete next steps laid out yet, but the chief said she hopes to have progress updates within the next few months. With all six of the priorities, her Facebook post was meant in part to help light a fire for faster movement.

“That’s kind of why I have them highlighted,” she said. “We’ve got to create some momentum and start to drive toward that faster. … Our competitors are modernizing fast and time is not on our side.”

F-16 With Three Air-to-Air Kills Flying Missions to Deter Iran

F-16 With Three Air-to-Air Kills Flying Missions to Deter Iran

July 21, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

There was something different about one of the U.S. fighters that flew over the Strait of Hormuz this past week to deter Iran from seizing oil tankers.

Three green stars are plainly visible on an F-16, tail 2137, in newly released Department of Defense photos of the aircraft over the Strait and at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. The F-16 is forward deployed to CENTCOM from Aviano Air Base, Italy, as part of the 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.

The F-16s are joined by A-10s and U.S. ships are patrolling the area to deter Iran from seizing commercial vessels, and the Pentagon is sending F-35s, the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, and Marines to the region in the coming weeks.

But the kill markings on tail 2137 in particular denote one of the most impressive feats of air combat in recent decades: a single-mission triple kill during a NATO 1994 mission over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the Air Force, the mission in 1994 was the first single-mission triple kill by a U.S. Air Force pilot since the Korean War.

“I can confirm that the 555 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (Triple Nickel) has tail 2137, which is the specific F-16 that has 3x Air-to-Air kills over Bosnia,” Air Forces Central (AFCENT) spokesman Col. Mike Andrews told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

A U.S. Air Force pilot assigned to the 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron prepares to disembark an F-16 Fighting Falcon after arriving at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, July 17, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Alex Fox Echols III

The hat trick of kills took place February 28, 1994, when then-Capt. Robert Gordon “Wilbur” Wright was flying the aircraft as part of Operation Deny Flight, a NATO operation to enforce a U.N no-fly zone during the conflict in the Balkans.

Six Serbian J-21 Jastreb fighters were spotted attacking a factory and two Air Force F-16s of the 526th Fighter Squadron operating out of Aviano engaged them in what came to be known as the Banja Luka incident.

A fourth J-21 was shot down the same day by another F-16, piloted by Capt. Stephen L. “Yogi” Allen. A fifth Serbian J-21 was lost, but the U.S. does not record that as a kill for a U.S. fighter. The incident was the first-ever combat action in NATO history, according to the alliance. Wright downed the planes in minutes using an AIM-120 AMRAAM and two AIM-9 Sidewinders, per the USAF.

Bob Wright, retired United States Air Force F-16 pilot, poses for a photo. After retirement his son Jett followed in his footsteps, becoming an F-16 pilot and getting the chance to fly the same aircraft. U.S. Air Force courtesy photo

In historical photos released by the Air Force, tail 2137 previously had three kill markings that appear to be a double-headed eagle, the Serbian coat of arms. But those markings have since been replaced by green stars. “Wilbur” Wright’s son, Air Force Capt. Jett Wright, piloted the same aircraft while on Active-duty last year, according to Aviano Air Base public affairs.

Having an aircraft in the active inventory with an air-to-air kill is rare in the U.S. military. The last American air-to-air kill of a manned enemy aircraft was in 2017 over Syria, when a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet shot down a Su-22 Syrian fighter the U.S. said was dropping bombs on its Kurdish partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces. At the time, the Pentagon said it was the first time U.S. pilots shot down a manned aircraft since 1999.

Air Force Reinstates PCS Moves Through September, Bonuses

July 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Starting next week, the Air Force will begin to reinstate bonus programs and process orders for some permanent change-of-station moves that had been paused due to a lack of personnel funds. 

The Selective Retention Bonus, Aviation Bonus, Assignment Incentive Pay, and Foreign Language Proficiency Pay programs will all be reinstated, according to a service release. 

Additionally, PCS orders for Airmen with a departure date before the end of the fiscal year—Sept. 30—will be processed and approved, with the goal of every Airman having their orders 30 days before their departure date. That will cover the busy summer months known as “PCS season.” 

Some moves remain delayed or pending; the Air Force statement said the service will be in touch with Airmen whose departure dates are after Oct. 1. And Airmen on long tours overseas, such as those accompanied by their families, whose “Date Estimated Return From Overseas” (DEROS) fell between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 will still be delayed until January-March 2024. 

But the announcement largely reverses changes that had caused widespread concern among troops since they were announced July 10. Air Force officials said they were reviewing all pending PCS orders with a departure date starting Aug. 1 and not accepting new entrants into several bonus programs because the service was in danger of “exhausting funds” in its military personnel account. 

Officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine the shortfall was caused by higher-than-expected PCS costs, a result of inflation, and higher retention and recruiting bonuses. The service had submitted requests to Congress to shift funds around, but the “reprogramming” requests were not promptly approved. 

The holdup in Congress was the result of a political fight over the permanent home of U.S. Space Command. Colorado Democrats accused House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) of holding up the reprogramming request to force a basing decision on the headquarters for U.S. Space Command, which is under review by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall after years of controversy. 

On July 19, Rogers approved personnel-related reprogramming requests, a spokeswoman told Air & Space Forces Magazine, clearing the way for the Air Force to reinstate PCS moves and bonuses. 

Space Force Holds First-Ever Forum with Japan to Build Next Steps for Cooperation

Space Force Holds First-Ever Forum with Japan to Build Next Steps for Cooperation

July 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S. and Japan held their first-ever Space Engagement Talks last week—a key step in identifying and developing ways by which the two countries can work together in space.

Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, and requirements; and Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Mastalir, commander of U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific, led the U.S. in the July 13 talks, according to a Space Force release. 

The U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command have had top-level engagements with the Japanese before—then-Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond visited Japan and spoke with top defense officials in October 2022, and SPACECOM boss Gen. James Dickinson did the same in March 2022. 

But the Space Engagement Talk (SET) represented a more formal dialogue with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. A Pacific Air Forces spokesman told Air & Space Forces Magazine it was a “senior leader level engagement intended to facilitate unity of effort across both organizations.”  

“Topics included discussions on space domain awareness, space intelligence, training and education, workforce buildout, capability development, and Space Forces Indo-Pacific coordination,” the spokesman said. “Following the SET, the teams conducted working-level Space Working Group discussions to dive deeper into the SET topics and to identify actionable next steps proceeding the event.” 

The Space Force has previously held SETs with Israel, Brazil, Australia, and South Korea.

This most recent engagement with Japan comes six months after the two countries’ top diplomatic and defense ministers met for a “2+2” meeting in which they issued a joint statement saying they had “renewed their commitment to deepening cooperation on space capabilities to strengthen mission assurance, interoperability, and operational cooperation” and pledging to defend each other if attacked in space. Representatives from both countries also signed a Joint Framework for collaborating in peaceful space exploration. 

The Space Engagement Talk “is an excellent mechanism to drive new collaborative efforts with allies and partners, and to ensure we preserve security, stability, and long-term sustainability of space for the INDOPACOM region,” Mastalir said in a statement. 

The Space Force, like the rest of the Pentagon, has increasingly prioritized the Indo-Pacific region as it looks to combat the influence and growing military power of China. Space Forces Indo-Pacific was the first component command the USSF stood up after its component within Space Command. 

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force, meanwhile, has been bolstering its space capabilities. The JASDF Space Operations Squadron stood up in May 2020, then a larger Space Operations Group followed in March 2022. The Japanese government is building up a Space Situational Awareness system as well. 

Editor’s Note: This story was updated July 24 to clarify additional SETs that took place with Australia and South Korea.

Air Force Nominee to Lead NSA and CYBERCOM Says They Should Keep Sharing One Leader

Air Force Nominee to Lead NSA and CYBERCOM Says They Should Keep Sharing One Leader

July 20, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Testifying before the Senate on July 20, the Air Force general nominated to head both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command offered a full-throated endorsement of the “dual-hat” arrangement in which the same official leads both organizations.

“The signals intelligence and the cyber environments are overlapping,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who has been tapped to pin a fourth star and become the first Airman to lead CYBERCOM since its establishment in 2010.

“Having a single leader with the ability to align the capabilities of NSA and Cyber Command gives us greater speed and agility,” he added. “It also allows us to, at the beginning of planning, be very considerate of how do we protect intelligence sources while still being able to position to produce the outcomes.”

For years now, experts, lawmakers, and intelligence and defense officials have debated splitting leadership of the two organizations. Proponents of the move say the NSA, a government spy agency that is part of the Department of Defense, and U.S. Cyber Command, which runs military cyber operations, are too big and important to be led by one person. They also claim tying the two together risks exposing NSA’s intelligence-gathering tools and operations.

Those in favor of the “dual-hat” arrangement like Haugh point to overlapping mission sets and close collaboration between the two. Originally, CYBERCOM also needed the NSA’s technical expertise and infrastructure as it developed.

Over time, Cyber Command has carved out a bigger role for itself. Originally part of U.S. Strategic Command, it became an independent combatant command in 2018. While the NSA focuses on gathering and analyzing signals intelligence, Cyber Command has stepped up its offensive operations, especially to safeguard U.S. elections under current head Gen. Paul Nakasone.  

That approach has been dubbed the so-called “defend forward” in which the U.S. has defended itself by taking on U.S. adversaries, particularly Russian troll farms. Described as a “campaign plan” to reporters in late 2022 by Nakasone, the hunt-forward plan was used to protect U.S. elections in 2018, 2020, and 2022 and to safeguard U.S. allies.

Given Cyber Command’s growing mission, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines commissioned a report in 2021 to look into the dual-hat arrangement, led by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. That report found “substantial benefits that present compelling evidence for retaining the existing structure.”

Nakasone has voiced his support for that finding, and Haugh, who currently serves as his deputy, echoed his boss. Prior to his current role, Haugh served as commander of the 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber). 

He also previously served as commander of the Cyber National Mission Force at CYBERCOM, its “action arm” at Fort George G. Meade, Md. 

When asked if he foresaw a future in which cyber operations would evolve to the point where the NSA and Cyber Command should have separate leaders, Haugh said he expects the current arrangement to remain mutually beneficial.

“I’ve now worked in each side of these organizations,” Haugh told SASC ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) “How we partner and be able to take the guidance from a single leader becomes effective in our response.”

“I think that would be very difficult to replicate in a different configuration,” Haugh added.

No C2, No Problem: Aeromedical Evacuation Crews Train for Comms Failure in Pacific Exercise

No C2, No Problem: Aeromedical Evacuation Crews Train for Comms Failure in Pacific Exercise

July 20, 2023 | By David Roza

Aeromedical evacuation Airmen practiced operating with degraded or denied communications as part of Mobility Guardian 23, a joint, multinational training exercise involving 70 aircraft and 3,000 personnel currently ongoing across the Indo-Pacific.

As described in a July 20 release, two aeromedical evacuation teams operated aboard a C-130 transport and moved 48 simulated patients on six “unregulated” missions, meaning the Airmen had to respond quickly and with little prior information on the patients’ conditions. Unlike in the past, the Airmen on these missions were attached to an expeditionary airlift squadron, which allowed them to provide medical care “immediately rather than waiting for a crew to be tasked and aircraft to be found to support the mission request,” the release stated.

One aeromedical evacuation Airman told Air & Space Forces Magazine that typically when an AE mission arises, an aircraft from an airlift squadron must be found and put on the mission, which can delay the response time. In this new concept, AE crews are embedded with those squadrons, which “accelerates getting the medical professional to the patient without having to route through the tasking organization,” said the Airman, who requested anonymity.

For example, if a transport aircraft is already flying a cargo mission with one or two AE Airmen aboard, the AE Airmen can help load cargo and be on hand to care for patients if a medical mission arises.

aeromedical evacuation
U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command Aircrew members assigned to the Training and Operations Branch, perform lifesaving treatments on moulage (mock injury) patients during a Joint Force Aeromedical Evacuation training at Yokota Air Base, Japan on July 16, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Todd Olsson

The Air Force operated in such a manner during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, when just one AE Airman often provided medical care aboard transport aircraft carrying hundreds of evacuees. Those Passenger Medical Augmentation Personnel often only had a small bag of supplies on hand, but they saved lives and delivered babies because they were on the scene when it mattered most. 

Besides faster response times, the embedded system also helps avoid possible roadblocks that might occur from delayed or degraded communications. 

“Patient movement cannot be delayed due to the inability to reach back to a [command and control] node,” Master Sgt. Todd Olsson, command training manager for Air Mobility Command’s aircrew training and operations branch, said in the release. “We are challenging our AE [crew members] to be prepared and proficient to respond quickly and efficiently, wherever and whenever they are needed.”

One of the most important elements of working in a comms-degraded environment is being able to make difficult decisions on the ground. Over the past 20 years, the anonymous AE Airman explained, crews have had relatively stable communications and procedures with which to contact supervisors or higher-level care for medical guidance. But in the future, they may have to take on more risk and possibly work out of regulations to get the job done, which is a mindset that takes getting used to.

“You’re asking crews to make smart decisions with the limited information they have,” he said. “It’s a change in thought process for the guy at the end of the rope actually performing the mission.”

Many of these decisions could mean life or death. Transport aircraft have only so much room for patients, and AE crews may have to decide which ones get evacuated and which stay behind.

“We have to wrap our heads around that and be OK with it,” the Airman said.

aeromedical evacuation
U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command Aircrew members assigned to the Training and Operations Branch, perform lifesaving treatments on moulage (mock injury) patients during a Joint Force Aeromedical Evacuation training at Yokota Air Base, Japan on July 16, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Todd Olsson

Maj. Weber Munsayac, command nurse evaluator for Air Mobility Command’s AE Standardization and Evaluation Branch, made a similar point.

“We must utilize our expertise, anticipate transport time, and make informed decisions while understanding the philosophy of the greatest good for the greatest number,” Munsayac said in the release. “Our resources need to be allocated to address severely wounded patients with the highest probability of survival.”

Attaching small AE crews to airlift squadrons may help them respond faster to patients, but it may also limit the number of supplies and experienced hands available to treat those patients. The anonymous AE Airman said crews may have to ask loadmasters or less-injured patients to apply tourniquets or perform other basic first aid tasks midflight. Despite the limited tools and personnel, the Airman emphasized that AE crews will do everything they can to move patients to higher care.

“On the airplane, you’re just a conduit, you’re just getting them there, with as much care as possible to make them better than they were when you picked them up,” he said.

SASC Approves Brown’s Nomination to Be Chairman. Full Senate Vote Is Next.

SASC Approves Brown’s Nomination to Be Chairman. Full Senate Vote Is Next.

July 20, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to forward the nomination of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sending it to the Senate for action. Just how long that might take is unclear.  

Brown’s was among 2,699 military nominations approved by the SASC as a bloc in a quick voice vote July 20. The Air Chief garnered bipartisan praise and faces no serious opposition in the Senate, his nomination joins more than 100 others for general and flag officers that have been approved in committee only to be held up on the floor. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has had a legislative hold on all general and flag officer nominations since March 8, preventing the Senate from approving them all at once by voice vote. Tuberville placed his hold to protest a Pentagon policy to provide paid leave and travel funds for troops requiring reproductive services, including abortions, who are based in states where those services are not available.  

Under pressure from fellow lawmakers and current and former Department of Defense officials, Tuberville has kept his hold in place as more than 250 general and flag officer nominations have been sent to the Senate. About 100 have moved past the committee and awaiting final votes. Tuberville has said he will only lift the hold if the Pentagon cancels the policy, which he considers unlawful, or if Democrats can pass legislation codifying the policy as legal—something Democrats have thus far been unwilling to do. 

The Senate could hold roll-call votes on individual nominees, but the Democrats in the majority have declined to do so, saying it would take months of floor time to vote on all of them, and would encourage further blockades by other lawmakers unhappy over policy matters.  

Signs of progress toward a resolution are few. Tuberville and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III have spoken twice in the past week after months of minimal contact, and DOD officials briefed members of Congress on the policy on July 19. 

Meanwhile, members of the House and Senate have offered amendments to the National Defense Authorization bill that would repeal the Pentagon policy. The House version of the bill includes that measure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said July 19 he would allow a vote on repealing the policy, saying he was confident it would not pass. 

Tuberville says the policy violates the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for most abortions. The Justice Department’s legal justification interpreted that the limit only applies “to funds directly expended for abortion procedures,” arguing that “the Hyde Amendment is best interpreted as not prohibiting indirect expenditures.”

That argument is subject to challenge in court, but thus far no one has challenged the policy on legal grounds.

Tuberville has said he does not want to address the issue through the annual authorization bill, arguing that it is a violation of current law and that unless Democrats vote to codify the policy, it has no legal basis. He said it’s not right to put the onus on Republicans to block the policy, which Democrats in the Senate would not approve, anyway. 

The White House insists the policy is legal and necessary. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the former Pentagon press secretary, called reproductive care “a foundational sacred obligation of military leaders” on July 17. Officials have have accused Tuberville of damaging military readiness by forcing the military to keep vacant key leadership positions while awaiting confirmed replacements. Tuberville disputes the assessment.

In the meantime, Brown’s nomination, along with those for two other service chiefs—the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith and the Army’s Gen. Randy George—remain in limbo. Current Chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley’s term is up Oct. 1, giving Congress less than two and a half months to resolve the issue before the nation’s top military job is vacant. In fact, however, that time is short: The Senate is scheduled to recess from July 31-Sept. 4shortening that timeline. The annual defense authorization also must be passed in that time. 

If and when Tuberville’s hold is lifted, Brown is likely to be confirmed quickly. Not a single member of the SASC objected to reporting favorably on the bloc of nominations that included him—including Tuberville, who is a member of the committee. 

So Long, JSTARS: One of the Last E-8s Hits the Highway for its Final Destination

So Long, JSTARS: One of the Last E-8s Hits the Highway for its Final Destination

July 20, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

An unusual vehicle made its way down Georgia State Highway 247 on July 16—an E-8C JSTARS aircraft. 

Airmen from the 116th and 461st Air Control Wings helped tow the airframe, tail number 2000, four miles down the road from Robins Air Force Base, Ga., to the local Museum of Aviation, where it will remain on display. The targeting, battle management, and command and control jet was retired in May, a spokesperson for the 78th Air Base Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

Images shared on social media and with Air & Space Forces Magazine show Airmen working with Georgia Department of Transportation workers and the Houston County Sheriff’s Office to maneuver the 171,000-pound jet past traffic lights and other obstructions.

One image particular shows the aircraft’s nose art and nickname, “The Watchman,” with Col. Christopher Dunlap, commander of the Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th Air Control Wing, and other Airmen involved in the operation. 

The move marks yet another milestone for Robins as it goes through the process of transitioning away from the E-8 and standing up four new missions. In June 2021, the Air Force first announced plans to cut the JSTARS from Robins, which has hosted the aircraft since 1996. 

In its place, Robins is getting a Battle Management Control squadron, an E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN) squadron, a Spectrum Warfare group, and support units focused on the Advanced Battle Management System. 

The first E-8 departed Robins in February 2022. A month later, the service announced its intent to divest 12 of 16 aircraft in fiscal 2023 and 2024, and Congress expedited the move by repealing a previous law requiring the Air Force to maintain at least six E-8s. 

This past March, the Air Force budget request revealed a plan to accelerate the divestment plan, with the entire fleet retiring by the end of fiscal 2024. Lawmakers have not signaled any interest in blocking those retirements. 

Robins, meanwhile, is winding down its E-8 mission. The 16th Airborne Command and Control Squadron, one of two JSTARS squadrons under the 461st Air Control Wing, was inactivated in February, and the 129th and 330th Combat Training Squadrons flew their final flights the same month. 

Exactly how many E-8s are still in the fleet is unclear. In December, the 78th Air Base Wing said in a release that six had been divested, but a spokesperson declined to offer an exact number this week, citing operational security. With at least one more gone in tail number 2000, though, things are clearly winding down, and the spokesperson confirmed the final retirements are still planned for “early fiscal year 2024,” which starts Oct. 1, 2023. 

The 12th Airborne Command and Control Squadron, the last flying unit left in the 461st Air Control Wing, made its final operational flight July 12. 

Meanwhile, the 18th Airborne Command and Control Squadron and the 728th Battle Control Management Squadron both stood up in February, and the base’s first E-11 Battlefield Airborne Communications Node arrived in April.