The Missouri Air National Guard’s 139th Airlift Wing at Rosecrans Memorial Airport received two newer C-130 Hercules tactical transports last week, bringing the unit’s total now to 10 aircraft, reports the St. Joseph News-Press. “These two additional C-130s will allow us to seek new missions, expand, and continue our 60-plus years of excellence,” said Col. Stephen Cotter, 139th AW commander. The Missouri wing used to have 12 Herks, but BRAC 2005 mandated it drop to 10 overall. It replaced a couple of older Herks with these two aircraft from the Idaho ANG’s 124th Wing, which lost all its C-130s under BRAC 2005. The two are C-130H2.5 variants with an upgraded flight instrument package, and they are also slightly younger—1991 models rather than the 139th AW’s 1986 models. The Idaho Statesman reports that the 124th Wing’s 189th Airlift Squadron flew its “fini” flight” last week, ready to disperse the rest of its transports. The newspaper reports that many of the 189th personnel have gone to other Air Guard C-130 units or are staying on to switch to working with the wing’s A-10 Warthogs.
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.