The Air Force plans to send a team to 10 bases to study the strains airmen face in working at a constant high pace with limited resources. “We are at war and [operations] tempo is very high,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Newton III, head of manpower and personnel on the Air Staff, in a July 31 release. He added that the team from his staff would “gain vital perspective” to develop “viable solutions for the field,” such as streamlining unit programs and administrative processes. The bases to be visited are: Andrews in Maryland; Hickam in Hawaii; Kunsan in South Korea; RAF Mildenhall in Britain; Nellis in Nevada; Peterson in Colorado; Spangdahlem and Ramstein in Germany; Travis in California; and Yokota in Japan.
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.