The new boss of Pacific Air Forces, Gen. Howie Chandler is telling his airmen that the “fairly austere” 2007 budget environment forced the Air Force to do “some things we didn’t necessarily want to do.” He believes the budget situation has improved somewhat, such that airmen will see “leadership going back to look at some of the things we did in 2007 and correcting some of those things.” Speaking recently at a stopover at Kadena AB, Japan, Chandler expressed concern about keeping the morale of the volunteer force high. He said, “The airmen and their families have my pledge that as we balance readiness and ability to fight, we will do our absolute best to ensure airmen have the conditions they need both on and off the job.” (Kadena report by SSgt. Christopher Marasky)
No sooner had the Defense Intelligence Agency issued its North Korean Military Power report, in which it predicted Pyongyang would resume ballistic missile tests, than North Korea did exactly that, lofting a submarine-launched ballistic missile Oct. 19. The test, in which an SLBM launched from the port of Sinpo into…