SrA. Raymond Jones, a plans and programming projects manager with the 332nd Expeditionary Communications Squadron at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, on Oct, 3 established a wounded warrior program at the base to ease the transition of wounded servicemembers through the medical evacuation process there. Jones, who deployed from McChord AFB, Wash., decided to start the Balad Wounded Warrior Program based on his firsthand experiences with the medevac process after he dislocated his knee and had to be transferred to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for treatment. “It was a confusing time for me,” he explained. He said he told himself then that, if given the chance to redeploy, he would start the wounded warriors program in addition to executing his primary mission. (Balad report by SrA. Andria J. Allmond)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.