More than 400 airmen from the 335th Fighter Squadron, an F-15E unit, and the 4th Maintenance Group departed Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., last week on a four-month combat rotation to Bagram AB, Afghanistan. From Bagram, they will provide close air support for coalition grounds forces in Afghanistan, which is about the size of Texas. These airmen relieved a contingent of airmen from Seymour Johnson’s 336th FS. An aircrew from the 336th FS recently flew a mission that eclipsed 8,000 combat flight hours for the Air Force’s F-15E fleet. (Seymour Johnson report)
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.