Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne on his recent tour to Southwest Asia visited the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, which is one of two units in SWA supporting a Contingency Aerial Staging Facility medical evacuation operation. The Rock Slater base newspaper reports that he said the CASF and medevac are key to SWA operations. “The miracle of this engagement and this time is medevac,” asserted Wynne. If a wounded airman, soldier, sailor, or marine “can make it to the CASF here,” the survival rate is “above 96 percent,” said Wynne, adding, “This is unheard of in warfare.”
Lockheed Martin is withdrawing personnel who support Iraq’s F-16 fleet from a major operating base because of threats from militias in the region, a step that will likely limit the fleet’s operations. The move comes after contractors left Balad Air Base in recent months because of the threat from Iranian-backed…