Ninety four airmen from the 507th Air Refueling Wing at Tinker AFB, Okla., deployed in December to Incirlik AB, Turkey. The group will fly KC-135 refueling missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The deployment, one of the largest this year from Tinker, will last two months and will be followed by another from the 507th ARW, expected sometime in the summer of 2017, according to an Air Force Reserve Command release. The two-month deployment is shorter than previous Reserve unit deployments, and is designed to keep maintenance and operations teams together both in this assignment and for home station training, the release states.
As Congress looks to delay passage of a new federal funding package until after the November elections, the Air Force is warning that even a three-month gap would harm national defense. “[Continuing resolutions] immediately disrupt major exercises and training events, affect readiness and maintenance, curtail hiring and recruitment actions, and…