When maintenance and support personnel from the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, deployed earlier this month to Bezmer AB, Bulgaria, to participate in Exercise Reunion, they essentially had to be prepared to support from scratch the A-10s that flew in from the wing’s 81st Fighter Squadron for the event. “This is the first time a [US Air Forces in Europe] fighter squadron has deployed to this location, so setting up the operations and maintenance facilities to handle A-10 operations was pretty much from the ground up,” said Maj. Benjamin Griffith, an 81st FS pilot. But these airmen rose to the challenge. Using a cleared-out SU-25 hangar provided by their Bulgarian hosts, the airmen set up their maintenance hub with the equipment and spare parts they had brought. “Everyone has really pulled together helping each other out,” said MSgt. Kevin LeBlanc, 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron NCO in charge of sortie support. The exercise concluded on Tuesday. (Bezmer report by TSgt. Tammie Moore)
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.