AmmoTroops

Behind the plan to slash taxpayer support of commissaries is a concept Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his senior advisors have embraced that base grocery stores should operate as a business and not a benefit.

This shift is candidly revealed in budget documents released Tuesday and in a legislative packet for implementing the funding cuts drafted by the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA).

The documents make clear that individual stateside commissaries will survive only if they produce enough revenue to cover operating costs.

Hagel gave a softer summation to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

“We are not shutting down any commissaries.  We recommend gradually phasing out some subsidies but only for domestic commissaries that are not in remote locations,” the defense chief said.  Because stateside stores “will continue to operate tax-and-rent free, they will still be able to provide people with a very good deal.”

The Air Force Personnel Center has halted processing of early retirement and voluntary separation applications for both officers and enlisted.

In a message sent to major commands Tuesday that was obtained by Air Force Times, AFPC said it has delayed processing applications for Temporary Early Retirement Authority and voluntary separation pay “while sustainment requirements for projected force reductions are further reviewed by the Air Force.”

The message said AFPC expects to resume processing the applications “in the near future,” but has not yet set a firm date. AFPC said it will update commands once the review is finished and processing resumes.

The Afghan government has released 65 detainees from a former American prison despite protests from the U.S. military over concerns the "dangerous" fighters will return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces. 

Maj. Nimatullah Khaki, a spokesman for the Parwan Detention Facility at Bagram Air Base, said all 65 were freed on Thursday morning. He said they were laughing and smiling as they boarded a bus to leave the facility.  

President Hamid Karzai ordered their release several weeks ago from prison facility, drawing angry denunciations from the U.S. and straining relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops.  

The U.S. military strongly condemned Thursday's release, saying some of those set free were directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians. 

by Samuel King Jr.
Team Eglin Public Affairs

5/1/2013 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- A new lighter, mobile 30mm ammo linker system is set for delivery to Air Force Special Operations Command units in May.

The 89-pound apparatus that feeds 15 unattached 30mm rounds into MK-15 links via a crank system was created and designed by the Airmen of Eglin's Munitions Materiel Handling Equipment. The MMHE Focal Point, a section under the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Armament Directorate, specializes in developing locally manufactured equipment for the Air Force ammo and weapons communities.

"The MMHE receives taskings via the major commands as well as through customer support visits," said Chief Master Sgt. Dennis Tangney, the MMHE focal point chief. "Our Airmen and engineers visit ammo and weapons sections and talk with maintainers and weapons crews. We explain to them how we can develop support equipment and tools that could make their jobs easier."

Those ideas and concerns are defined and passed up the chain of command for approval. If the idea is feasible, cost-effective and to the benefit of the Air Force, a design team begins the creation process on the product.

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”. 

The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith. 

The Air Force still needs slightly more than 1,200 airmen to leave the service before Sept. 30, according to service officials.

As of April 11, more than 2,100 airmen have left the service — 1,678 under the service’s date-of-separation rollback program, which moves up the exit date of airmen who will not be retained when their enlistment term ends, and pays them half separation pay. Another 450 have left under voluntary separation programs, said Col. Emi Izawa, chief of the Air Force military force policy division, in an emailed response to questions.

The Air Force has restarted tuition assistance one month after shutting it down because of sequestration’s across-the-board budget cuts.

The service intends to pay 100 percent of tuition costs for qualified airmen through fiscal 2013, which ends Sept. 30, said Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley.

There will not be any restrictions on what courses airmen can take for the rest of the fiscal year, Tingley said.

The Air Force’s proposed budget for fiscal 2014 calls for cutting 2,640 airmen next year, but the budget could take a major hit if Congress allows steep cuts to defense spending to continue next fiscal year.

The proposed personnel cuts are far below what the Air Force proposed for this fiscal year, but the budget does not reflect the steep cuts to defense spending known as “sequestration” that took effect in March.

Since then, the Air Force has slashed flying hours, stood down squadrons and taken other extreme measures to have enough money to get through the next six months. Sequestration will last for 10 years unless lawmakers reach an agreement on taxes and spending.

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Tricare’s experiment with an overseas closed network opened to a rocky start this month for retirees in the Philippines.

Many beneficiaries said they were frustrated after being forced into the new health insurance system — a potential model for Tricare services elsewhere overseas — despite many unanswered questions about getting covered care from approved providers.

Tricare decided to test a closed-network model on about 11,000 retired military beneficiaries in the Philippines first because the system there has been one of the agency’s most troubled and has struggled for years with complaints of poor service, ballooning costs and fraud.

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