Lt. Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas, 7th Air Force commander, accepted South Korea’s Presidential Unit Citation from South Korean President Park Geun-hye during a ceremony at Seoul Air Base. At the Oct. 1 ceremony, Park recognized 7th AF for longstanding achievement in operational readiness and force employment, states a 7th AF release from Oct. 3. Park also honored South Korean military units at the event. Jouas, who as 7th AF commander oversees Air Force units on the Korean Peninsula, said he accepted the citation on behalf of all the members of the number air force. “They, along with all the members of our combined and joint airpower team, made this recognition possible,” he said. The South Korean citation is outside of normal Defense Department decoration channels due to its rarity, so 7th AF is working with the Air Force Personnel Center to determine the criteria for proper wear of the award, according to the release. This is the first time since 2011 that a US unit has received the South Korean citation. The Army’s 2nd Infantry Division was the previous US recipient. (Osan report by TSgt. Thomas J. Doscher)
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…