Air Force Rese
rve Command’s 556th RED HORSE Squadron officially moved Oct. 1 from Lackland AFB, Tex., to its new home at Hurlburt Field, Fla. There, the unit is partnering with Hurlburt’s active duty 823rd RHS under a total force integration initiative. “I think this will provide us opportunities of more and better training,” said Lt. Col. Marty Hughes, 556th RHS, Det. 1 commander and a full-time Reservist. He continued, “Also, because the 823rd RHS is on such a harsh deployment cycle, having the 556th here in the same compound allows us to assume more roles.” The Reserve unit expects to be ready by next summer to support RED HORSE missions. As a result of the move, it is losing about 150 members who don’t want to or are unable to relocate, but has already recruited about 30 new members, Hughes said. In a related development, AFRC’s 315th Civil Engineer Squadron at Charleston AFB, S.C., is now authorized to stand up a new RED HORSE squadron, the 560th RHS, by early next year. The new unit, which will be made up of 209 Reservists, will partner with active duty civil engineers of Charleston’s host 437th Airlift Wing. The 560th RHS is one of the two new RED HORSE units that AFRC is establishing; the second will be based at Seymour-Johnson AFB, N.C. (Charleston report by Maj. Bill Walsh and Hurlburt report by SSgt. Mareshah Haynes)
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.