Two years after Hurricane Katrina left $950 million in damage at Keesler AFB, Miss., the base’s five-year recovery plan has “exceeded all expectations,” Brig. Gen. Paul Capasso, 81st Training Wing commander, said last week. The base’s training mission “never went away entirely—training was going on in base shelters at the height of the storm,” and that, according to Capasso, kept Keesler on the move. Air Force journalist Susan Griggs reports that the base has cleared more than 4,000 trees damaged in the hurricane; begun work this year on 1,028 new homes, the first to be ready next spring and the last two years later; and started work on a $78.6 million shopping complex to replace the main exchange and commissary destroyed by Katrina.
The "Air Force One" replacement will be two to three years late due to pandemic issues, testing, and the loss of a subcontractor on the interior, USAF officials reported at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. They were also warned that some HASC members will insist on a competition for…