Lawmakers earlier this month questioned service officials on whether mashing together the service medical forces is advisable. The Army said yes, while the Air Force and Navy were hesitant, citing the potential to lose expertise in service-specific care—aeromedical evacuation for USAF and sea-going medics for the Navy. The outgoing Air Force Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. George Peach Taylor Jr., also said that the Air Force would have the hardest time shifting to such an operation because its medical services are decentralized. Notwithstanding those caveats, DOD officials are formulating options for presentation to senior leaders later this year. They say that an implementation plan would surface with the 2008 budget request.
On Oct. 1, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual rollout of its latest policy paper "Understanding the Promise of Skyborg and Low-Cost Attritable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" by retired USAF Col. Mark Gunzinger, the think tank's director of future Concepts and capability assessments, and…