US Central Command Air Forces released additional information on the Nov. 14 precision air strikes against insurgents near the porous Iraq-Syria border. Coalition aircraft were aiding Operation Steel Curtain, and, according to CENTAF, air strikes accounted for most of the 80 terrorists killed since the operation began on Nov. 5. In Monday’s action, USAF F-15s, deployed from RAF Lakenheath, Britain, unleashed precision-guided munitions to strike enemy forces in a grove of trees near Karabilah and Ubaydi. A USAF Predator unmanned aerial vehicle fired a Hellfire missile, driving insurgents from their firing position in a building. Later in the day, Air Force Reserve Command F-16s, deployed from NAS JRB Forth Worth, Tex., provided close air support in the same area, and a Predator launched a Hellfire missile at insurgents in a tree line.
Suicide rates in the Air Force are starting to drop after back-to-back years of exceptionally high rates as the department enacts new policies to address the problem. There were more than 100 suicides in the Air Force in both 2019 and 2020, causing leaders to order a “tactical pause” to…