Air Force News

Troops offered deals for Memorial Day
Here are some ideas for fun this weekend that won't crush your budget:

Bill would require mental health checkup every 6 months for deployed troops
Troops would be required to get a mental health checkup once every six months when deployed to contingency operations under a draft version of the 2014 defense bill approved by the House Armed Services Committee's personnel panel.

DoD school director to retire in August
The director of the Defense Department schools that educate military children will retire Aug. 31.

Senators: Limit recruits' athletic shoe choices to U.S.-made footwear
Athletic shoe vouchers for Army, Navy and Air Force recruits could be used to purchase only American-made footwear under a bill introduced Thursday by two senators from Maine.

DoD seeks to reprogram '13 budget to improve readiness
The Defense Department's request to reprogram its budget for the rest of the fiscal year could return some combat squadrons to full readiness, but likely will not get grounded squadrons back in the air.

From boyhood to battlefield: Long war takes its toll
When the terrorists struck on 9/11, Barrett Austin was in Mrs. Spearman's second-grade class here. Weeks later, he'd wear a Ninja costume with a red headband for Halloween.

Pentagon: F-35 program costs fell $4.5 billion last year
No Nunn-McCurdy breach in Selected Acquisition Report

Lawmakers want DoD to study whether Tricare may cover horse therapy
The family of Kaitlyn Samuels, 16, and many other family memnbers with special needs were hoping Congress would pass a law requiring Tricare to cover hippotherapy - physical therapy conducted on horseback.

Tricare approves waivers for beneficiaries in tornado-affected Oklahoma
Tricare is waiving required referrals for specialty care and emergency prescription refills for its beneficiaries in Oklahoma affected by the May 20 tornado.

Ceremony to honor airmen killed in Vietnam plane crash
Olive Branch resident Paul Clever was 6 when his father went down in a spy plane over Laos during the Vietnam War.

Bush hosts bike ride for combat veterans
Former President George W. Bush is hosting a 100-kilometer mountain bike ride at his Central Texas ranch for military members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brewers team up on beer to help military families
Craft breweries from around the country are toasting the troops with a beer aged with a unique ingredient that symbolizes America's pastime - baseball bats.

Panel rejects Pentagon's request for base closings
A new round of military base closings is going nowhere in Congress.

Obama sees narrower terror threat, defends drones
President Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S.

Master sergeant promotion list released
The Air Force released its master sergeant promotion list today. Of the 20,528 eligible technical sergeants, 3,841 were selected for promotion to master sergeant, for a promotion rate of 18.71 percent.

Lawmakers make pre-Memorial Day calls to fix vet claims backlog
In a pre-Memorial Day push to show their concern about the backlog of veterans' disability claims, House Republicans are calling for an independent task force to recommend a solution while House Democrats pushed the idea of providing temporary benefits to

Pentagon goes it alone on electronic health records
The Defense Department is abandoning its plans to build a single, joint electronic health record system with the Veterans Affairs Department in favor of developing its own system using commercial software.

Obama to address drones, Gitmo in security speech
President Obama is set to at least partially bring out into the open some of the U.S.-directed drone program, a key component of counterterrorism strategy, as he outlines the contours of the continuing threat to American security.

Battleground soil given place of honor in Atlanta
It seemed like a mission impossible, but Richard A. Lester believed it could be done.

Jet from Whiteman AFB clips power lines
A low-flying military jet from a western Missouri Air Force base clipped several power lines, but officials said no injuries were reported.

Tinker airman, family narrowly escaped Okla. storm
Picking through the debris of his tornado-demolished home Wednesday in Moore, Okla., Valparaiso native Jacob Schroeder hoped he might find things such as baby books, the computer with the family's stored pictures or his daughter's favorite stuffed toy.

Surplus military trucks get new lives
They've served their country well. Getting parked in a nondescript dirt lot sure doesn't seem like much of a final resting place.

Volunteers take over for grounded Thunderbirds
The signature flyover of the Air Force Academy graduation May 29 will be a little more historical this year.

Nixon library hosts 40th reunion for Vietnam POWs
Navy Lt. Mike McGrath was just 27 years old, with a wife and two toddler sons in the U.S., when he was shot down and taken prisoner on his 179th bombing mission during the Vietnam War.

Soldier was target of brutal attack in London
The British government's emergency committee met Thursday after two attackers butchered a British soldier in a daylight attack in London that raised fears terrorism had returned to the capital.

Pakistan arrested American who was killed by drone
Pakistani authorities once arrested an American citizen now known to have been killed in a U.S. drone strike in the country, but he escaped after being released on bail.

4 leg exercises with little or no equipment
You really can do leg exercises without the isolation-style or massive leg press machines found in most gyms. No more leg extension or leg curl machines. No need to find a leg abductor/adductor combo or hoist a 45-pound Olympic bar.

McConnell, Pease and Altus chosen to host KC-46A tanker
The two bases will be the first of 10 main operating bases for the new tanker

Lawmakers: Keep flying Global Hawk Block 30 through 2016
Lawmakers want the Air Force to keep flying the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 for another three years, despite the service's contention that the manned U-2 is better suited for intelligence gathering.

Stolen Valor Act on the way to White House
The Stolen Valor Act that makes it a federal crime to profit from falsely claiming to have received a military medal for valor is on its way to the White House for President Obama's signature, thanks to the efforts of two Nevadans.

Holder says 4 U.S. citizens killed in drone strikes
Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged Wednesday that four U.S. citizens had been killed in counter-terrorism drone strikes since 2009.

Float driver: Train seemed still before deadly crash
The driver of a parade float involved in a train wreck that killed four war veterans in West Texas told investigators the oncoming train appeared to be stationary, and that he didn't notice anything was wrong until he saw people jumping from the float, ac

New chapter begins for 79th Medical Wing
The surgeon general of the Air Force is no stranger to the Malcolm Grow Medical Clinic and Surgery Center at Joint Base Andrews, Md. It's the first stop for ill and injured troops returning from Europe and Afghanistan.

Fort Hood suspect wants to represent himself
The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood attack wants to represent himself at his upcoming murder trial, which means he could question the nearly three dozen soldiers he's accused of wounding in the shooting rampage.

Special victims counsel 'a huge step forward'
The judge advocate gave one victim of sexual assault the courage to take the stand at trial, to remain professional when it would have been easier not to, to get through one more day.

WikiLeaks case file fight moves to federal court
The WikiLeaks organization and a handful of journalists are asking a federal judge in Baltimore to order greater transparency in the court-martial of an Army private who has acknowledged sending reams of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

DoDEA schools will soon decide furlough schedules
Defense Department schools are deciding which days their schools will be closed for the required furloughs this fall and should start posting the information on their websites next week, said Marilee Fitzgerald, director of the Department of Defense Educa

First wounded warrior to graduate CCAF
It may have taken Staff Sgt. Jason Ellis about nine years to receive his degree from the Community College of the Air Force, but he had good reason. Ten years ago, combat injuries severely wounded Ellis while he was on deployment in Iraq.

VA clears 34,000 old claims under new initiative
A Veterans Affairs Department effort to spend six months concentrating on its oldest benefits claims is having some success, but lawmakers are concerned that the improvements might be temporary.

DoD's request for 1% military pay raise, Tricare fee hikes rejected by House panel
A key House panel rejected the idea that budget cuts must mean pain for service members, retirees and their families.