The Department of Defense on April 10 identified TSgt. Anthony L. Capra, 31, of Hanford, Calif., as the airman who died April 9 of wounds suffered when he encountered an improvised explosive device while supporting combat operations near Golden Hills, Iraq. According to a release from Eglin AFB, Fla., Capra was an explosive ordnance disposal craftsman deployed to Balad AB, Iraq, from Det. 63, 688th Armament Systems Squadron, at Indian Head City, Md. The detachment, part of the Air Armament Center at Eglin, serves as the Air Force approval authority for EOD-specific tools and equipment and EOD tactics and techniques. Capra had previously served with the EOD flight at Eglin. (Eglin report by Lois Walsh)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…