The 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Barksdale AFB, La., competing for the first time for the Phillips Award, presented to the best overall missile squadron, has taken the honor for 2009. The 625th STOS, now an Air Force Global Strike Command unit, has several missions, including ICBM targeting and targeting system operations, ballistic missile engineering and trajectory analysis, the Strategic Automated Command and Control system, and Airborne Launch Control System training, operations, testing, and evaluation. The squadron commander, Lt. Col Ronald Allen, credits his “exceptional personnel” and “world-class mission partners” for the squadron’s win. “We definitely have an all-star lineup of dedicated professionals; I’m truly honored to be on their team,” said Allen. (The Association of Air Force Missileers sponsors the award, named after the late Gen. Samuel C. Phillips.) (AFGSC report by Megan Orton)
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.