Roger That: AMC to award Abilene Trophy to St. Louis regional leaders Wednesday
For second time in three years, the Air Mobility Command is set to present the coveted Abilene Trophy to St. Louis area leaders in recognition of the region’s support for AMC units at Scott Air Force Base.
The presentation and celebration are set to take place from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, 9656 Air Terminal Drive, Mascoutah.
The St. Louis region last won the trophy in 2012. Four other communities have won the Abilene two or more times: Grand Forks (1998 and 2004); Dover (1999 and 2008); Spokane (2000, 2006, 2013); and Little Rock (2009 and 2011).
☆
Transgender troops may now serve openly in the U.S. military, according to a pair of directives that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter issued Monday, USA Today reports.
What’s more, Pentagon leaders are finalizing plans aimed at lifting the ban on transgender individuals in the military, with the goal of formally ending one of the last gender- or sexuality-based barriers to military service, senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press, via the Huffington Post.
☆
In a sharp break from a precedent set 116 years ago, the U.S. Army is considering the use of hollow point bullets — projectiles that can expand and break up when striking a target. The potential use of hollow point ammunition has already raised concerns that doing so would violate international law.
The Army recently reviewed the use of “special purpose ammunition” and determined the army could look into enabling its next-generation XM-17 pistol to use various kinds, including hollow point bullets. Currently, only ball or full metal jacket ammunition is used in the army, according to the Army Times,
The difference is that while ball ammunition penetrates deeper into enemy targets when they are struck, hollow point bullets can break apart once they hit an individual, destroying a larger swath of tissue and becoming harder to treat medically. As a result, they are more lethal.
The other difference is that, unlike ball ammunition, expanding bullets were banned under the 1899 Hague Convention. The bullets are not used by NATO members, either.
☆
Desperate to counter an epidemic of American casualties in Iraq caused by improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the Pentagon a decade ago created a special task force, the Joint IED Defeat Organization to find and neutralize IEDs.
Now the task force will have a new name, the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency, or JIDA, along with a new home and a bigger mission, according to DefenseOne.com.
Pentagon of late has also been using JIDA know-how to stop new weapons and tactics, like the tunnel bombs employed by Islamic State militants to attack Iraqi Security Forces and civilians. And the organization has also begun developing new tools for friendly use, such as ways to advise Iraqi forces through video chat.
Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@bnd.com or 618-239-2533.
This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Roger That: AMC to award Abilene Trophy to St. Louis regional leaders Wednesday."