Two 
expeditionary contingents, each comprising 12 F-22s and nearly 290 airmen, are back home at Holloman AFB, N.M., and Langley AFB, Va., after four-month tours in the Asia-Pacific theater. These overseas deployments—Holloman’s 7th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron to Kadena AB, Japan, and Langley’s 27th EFS to Andersen AFB, Guam—were part of a normal rotation of US combat forces to that region. Both represented a first: Holloman’s first-ever F-22 deployment to the western Pacific, and Langley’s maiden F-22 dispatch to Andersen, after several rotational deployments to Kadena over the past several years. During their time at Kadena, Holloman’s F-22s trained alongside USAF F-15s and KC-135 tankers and Marine Corps F/A-18s and flew to South Korea for training. Among their activities, Langley’s F-22s participated in US Pacific Command’s Valiant Shield joint training exercise. Both contingents returned to the US in early October. (Andersen report by SSgt. Beth Del Vecchio) (Holloman report by Arlan Ponder) (Langley report by A1C Jason J. Brown)
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.