The U.S. lab led the three-hour sortie on July 25 with test units at the Eglin Test and Training Complex in Florida. The flight followed two years of work and a partnership with Skyborg Vanguard, a team made up of personnel from the lab and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center with the intent of creating unmanned fighter aircraft.

“This sortie officially enables the ability to develop [artificial intelligence and machine learning] agents that will execute modern air-to-air and air-to-surface skills that are immediately transferrable to the CCA program,” said Col. Tucker Hamilton, the chief of AI test and operations with the Air Force. The CCA program, or collaborative combat aircraft, was designed to create combat drones that can operate with piloted aircraft.

The lab’s Autonomous Air Combat Operations team created algorithms for the flight that took millions of hours to mature in simulations, during sorties with the X-62 VISTA experimental aircraft, while working with the XQ-58A, and during ground test operations, according to the announcement.

Previous flights of the XQ-58A Valkyrie have supported the Air Force’s effort into loyal wingmen research. Kratos Defense and Security Solutions produces the drone.

The Air Force Research Lab is the service’s primary scientific research and development center responsible for the discovery, development and integration of cost-effective warfighting technologies for the country’s air, space and cyberspace forces.

“AI will be a critical element to future warfighting and the speed at which we’re going to have to understand the operational picture and make decisions,” Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, the lab’s commander, said in the announcement. “AI, Autonomous Operations, and Human-Machine Teaming continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace and we need the coordinated efforts of our government, academia, and industry partners to keep pace.”

“For years, VA and DoD have enforced discriminatory policies harming service members and veterans,” said Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, filing one lawsuit in Manhattan and one in Boston, together with the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic and the National Veterans Legal Services Program. “These members sacrificed for this country. They should not have to sacrifice their right to build a family.”

Currently, DoD and the VA healthcare policies state that service members and veterans can only receive access to IVF if they are legally married, have the ability to produce necessary sperm and eggs to build an embryo and their fertility is directly impacted by a severe injury, illness or service-connected disability.

The lawsuits claim that the current IVF treatment requirements are discriminatory and ask the court to declare the alleged discriminatory eligibility provisions unlawful. The lawsuits state that the current DoD and VA policies violate Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which grants due process and equal protection to everyone, alleging that the current policies discriminate against individuals on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, marital status and the cause of their infertility.

Ashley Sheffield filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston on behalf of a proposed class of veterans who are excluded from IVF access. Sheffield herself has been directly impacted by the IVF requirements in place by the VA. Due to injuries sustained during Sheffield’s service, she has developed issues that affect her fertility, qualifying her for the VA’s medical requirements, however, after seeking VA IVF services, she was denied due to being married to a woman.

“Like so many LGBTQ+ veterans, I honorably served in the Armed Forces, and I earned the health benefits that millions of veterans enjoy,” Sheffield said. “I’m shocked and disappointed that the VA is denying me and other veterans IVF benefits because we’re in same-sex marriages. We are entitled to equal treatment, and we should no longer be treated as second-class citizens.”

Sheffield’s case is not a singular experience, Lindsay Church, a non-binary NOW-NYC member, shared their experience in a statement at the press conference.

“My service came with severe injuries, leaving me disabled and unable to carry a child due to extensive damage to my ribs, sternum, spine, and torso,” Church wrote. “Despite my service-connected disability, my spouse and I do not have access to vital fertility treatments, such as IVF, because my disabilities are not to my reproductive system, and we are in a same-sex marriage.”

The VA only started providing IVF services in 2017, but with restrictions on who was covered delineated by Congress. Under pressure from rights advocates, VA has looked at loosening the rules but says Congress would have to enact the reforms. VA included such language in its 2023 budget plan, which would provide IVF to veterans who are single and in same-sex relationships, but the policy was not passed.

“We appreciate the VA’s proposal, but to our knowledge that budget proposal has not gone anywhere in this Congress,” said Yael Caplan, a representative from Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic. “So, if this Administration wants to stop unlawful discrimination, they can do so and stop enforcing these harmful conditions.”

NOW-NYC seeks revisions to this policy which include providing IVF services to same-sex couples, individuals who are single and access for individuals whose infertility has not been directly diagnosed as a result of military service.

The lawsuits specifically ask for the court to dismiss the requirements of marriage, the requirements to provide a sperm and an egg and the requirements that infertility be due to military services, citing these issues as discriminatory provisions.

“Ten years ago, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act because that heinous law treated same-sex marriages as invalid and dehumanized LGBTQ+ people,” said Michael Stefanilo Jr., a partner who leads the LGBTQ+ Civil Rights practice at the Boston location of Brody Hardoon, Perkins, & Kesten, LLP. “There is no excuse for the VA breathing new life into the bigotry that LGBTQ service members and veterans have faced for hundreds of years.”

Air Force 1st Lt. Micah Grissom was visiting Princess Beach near Destin, Florida, May 13 when he sprang into action to save the life of a distressed swimmer caught in one of those deadly currents.

When Grissom, assigned to the 96th Operations Support Squadron at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, and his wife of three months at the time, Lydia, arrived at Princess Beach, they saw a frantic scene playing out on the sandy shore. People were pointing out to the ocean, a woman was on the phone with 911, and a group of people were huddled by the water’s edge, looking out. As the 25-year-old Colorado native scanned the scene, he saw three swimmers who appeared to be in trouble approximately 20-30 yards away in the deeper water between sandbars.

The group of three included a couple who had been dragged into the rip current and a swimmer who had initially tried to help but got swept up in the rip current himself.

Grissom also noticed double red flags, meaning the water was closed to the public due to high surf and strong currents. At first, he was unsure if the swimmers were at risk or just enjoying the waves. After asking some onlookers about the situation, Grissom decided he wanted to investigate.

“I told my wife I wanted to go and check it out, just to see if something was wrong, because it can’t hurt to go and check on people and just ask if they are okay,” he said.

Springing into action, he entered the water and allowed the strong currents to pull him closer to the distressed swimmers. He reached them quickly, and it was clear they were not okay. The female swimmer had swallowed a lot of water and was semi-conscious, her limp body supported by the two male swimmers. Due to the severity of the situation and the difficulty the other two men were having, the group decided Grissom would try to save her.

Having aquatic-rescue experience himself from the Merchant Marine Academy prior to commissioning in the Air Force, Grissom started his rescue attempt, despite never having encountered a rip current before.

At first, he tried to use a side stroke to get himself and the female swimmer out of the rip current and safely to land, but the strength and force of the swiftly moving water made this task impossible.

“It’s very deceptive just looking at it from the shoreline,” Grissom said. “I mean you could see the waves crashing overhead, but you don’t realize just how strong the water is until you’re in it and you feel the pull of the ocean bringing you out to sea. So, when I was out there trying to swim against the rip current with her, it was just a big struggle — and it would have been, even if I was alone.

“It’s hard enough to attempt to swim against it by yourself, but then you add another person, and it’s nearly impossible,” Grissom said.

Switching tactics, Grissom decided that he had to use the waves to his advantage. As a wave broke, Grissom would launch the woman’s body forward with as much force as he could muster to get her closer to shore. But the depth of the water robbed him of the ability to push off the ocean floor as his feet could not reach it. He didn’t have enough power to move her very far.

Despite being a devoted scuba diver and snorkeler, the enormous pull of the rip tide proved to be a larger problem than he anticipated. After each toss of her body, Grissom would get pulled underwater and have to first get air himself before quickly swimming to keep her afloat, then restarting the entire process.

“Reality hit me and I thought, ‘dang, we’re not able to fight this.’ I did fear that [the rip current would win],” he said. “I think I knew that I’d be able to make it out, but with this woman, the clock’s just ticking because she had taken in a lot of water. … I knew we had to get her out, and that was terrifying to think about. I just became very desperate. I’m like. I have to get her out now.”

Throughout this whole ordeal, he and the female swimmer did not speak at all, he noted. She was just eerily calm and compliant with the entire situation; whether she had accepted her fate or was too tired to respond is unknown.

Rip currents are prevalent along the East, Gulf and West coasts of the U.S., as well as along the shores of the Great Lakes. According to the United States Lifesaving Association, over 100 deaths a year are due to rip currents in U.S. waters.

One young man was simply wading in knee-deep water at an Oregon beach May 12 when he was knocked over by a wave and pulled out into the Pacific Ocean by a rip current.

On the July 4th weekend, lifeguards were forced to pull almost 200 swimmers out of the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks due to powerful rip currents. These rescues followed at least 10 deaths in June due to rip currents in Alabama and Florida.

On Sunday, eight people were rescued from a rip current in Lake Michigan, near Park Township, Michigan. Three people were pulled out into the lake by rough waters, and the five people who tried to rescue them also had to be rescued.

Rip currents pose a dangerous threat even to athletes. On June 27, Ryan Mallett, a former NFL quarterback, died in a rip current near Destin.

The dangers that rip currents pose were not lost on Grissom’s wife and other bystanders who were watching fearfully on the shore as he struggled to save the woman’s life.

Eventually, Grissom was able to get his tiptoes to the sandy ocean floor and get firmer footing to propel the woman forward with his slow but productive tossing method. Once he was able to stand, he beelined towards the shore, holding her in his arms.

When they emerged from the water, friends of the couple trapped in the rip current descended upon the female swimmer and forced her to vomit up sea water and help her regain consciousness as medics arrived on the scene. Meanwhile, Lydia ran towards her husband to make sure he was okay.

With adrenaline seizing through his veins during the rescue, the aftermath — an utter lack of energy and fatigue — didn’t hit until Grissom was safely on dry land.

Because he was totally focused on the woman’s safety, Grissom doesn’t remember exactly how the two male swimmers made it back to shore, but they did. Afterward, they told Grissom that God had sent him to the beach to save them that day.

“I absolutely agree, because when we were heading to the beach, we weren’t even planning to go to that beach,” Grissom said. The only reason Lydia and he ended up at Princess Beach was because they had noticed some available nearby parking.

Although the beginning of Grissom’s day at the beach turned into a harrowing ordeal, his heroic actions saved at least one life, possibly more. He was then able to to enjoy the rest of his beach day in peace with Lydia.

“The threat environment facing us today is no longer dominated by terrorists or violent extremist organizations,” said Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, AFCENT commander and head of the Combined Forces Air Component for U.S. Central Command. “But there are other threats in this region, and we must be ready to face them as well. The ETSG represents a critical evolution in AFCENT’s warfighting capabilities to address these emerging threats.”

During a meeting with reporters earlier this year, Grynkewich said his focus had shifted from extremist groups — although that remains a concern — to deterring Iran’s nuclear program and thwarting the proxy groups that receive advanced conventional weapons and training from Iran. Tehran has turned its attention to attacking U.S. and coalition forces in Syria, and possibly mounting offensives at sea and on the region’s oil infrastructure, he added.

Ar a July 3 event at Al Udeid to celebrate the creation of the ETSG and to commemorate a change of command, Grynkewich said these threats required a new and innovative approach, and a “way to ensure we could generate airpower whenever and wherever needed.”

The ETSG will advance U.S. goals in the region by combining elements of AFCENT’s existing logistics, sustainment and engineering units to provide a more agile and responsive support capability, he said. Since its creation in March, it has already successfully conducted missions across 12 bases in eight countries.

The unit, which Grynkewich described as an echelon above wing support capability, includes airmen from 19 different Air Force Specialty Codes.

During the July 3 event, Col. Glenn Cameron took command of the ETSG from Col. Anthony Figiera, who oversaw its formation.

“The ETSG is an organization that will help us fight the next war,” Figiera said. “It’s about agile combat employment. This group is focused on campaigning — setting the theater, providing capabilities and resources — but can swiftly transition from theater campaigning into operations execution.”

The ETSG’s ability to make swift use of vital capabilities where they are in high demand will crucially impact the Air Force’s mission.

“This will be vital tomorrow as the ETSG works to ensure our theater is set for any future contingency operations,” Grynkewich said. “It will be essential in wartime, allowing us to execute agile combat employment by ensuring those locations have the logistics, engineering and communications infrastructure in place.”

Cameron, the unit’s new cmmander, “has the exact right background for this new and impactful command, and I’m excited to see what he and his team do next,” Grynkewich said.

Around 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. troops are deployed across CENTCOM, largely at military hubs in Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

Roughly 2,500 Americans remain in Iraq to advise and assist local troops in keeping the Islamic State at bay — a job that often falls to the Iraqi air force.

Cope Thunder is a bilateral exercise that aims to improve the interoperability of the United States and the Philippines through fighter training. The exercise will allow the two countries to swap tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Cope Thunder was first held in 1976 in the Philippines. However, in 1992, it was moved to Eielson Air Force Base and overtime renamed Red Flag Alaska. This will mark the first time Cope Thunder has been held in the Philippines since 1990.

The exercise is a valuable opportunity for the United States and the Philippines to improve their military cooperation and exchange helpful tactics and will feature C-130 Hercules, A-10 Warthogs, and F-22 Raptors, taken from multiple participating units for the exercise.

The aircraft on display include, but are not limited to those, and showcased a Philippine Air Force FA-50 performing a touch-and-go on July 5. On the same day, a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor from the Hawaiian Raptors Squadron, which is made up of the 19th and 199th Fighter Squadrons, landed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines to participate in exercise Cope Thunder 23-2.

The overall goal of this exercise is to heighten our countries’ shared interests and strengthen the two nation’s military bonds. By working together and providing well-trained and equipped troops, the nation dissuades aggressors by demonstrating the military’s commitment to working together to ensure regional stability.

In the announcement, it was stated that Simmons, who is currently assigned as command senior enlisted leader of the Space Operations Command in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, will replace Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Scott H. Stalker as command senior enlisted leader for U.S. Space Command in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.

In a moderated discussion on Agile Combat Employment and Enlisted Leadership back in October 2022, Simmons discussed the complexities space brings to missions and the unforeseeable climate space imposes.

“You continue to hear that space is congested, contested, [and] competitive, I’ll add that it’s complex. It is extremely complex in space,” Simmons said. “Space is ubiquitous. It is persistently present. It is involved in every mission, it is involved in every capability and it must be intertwined as such… Space is no longer peaceful, permissive or predictable. That is a new condition we find ourselves in.”

Simmons continued on to highlight the present dangers space holds and the importance of exploring the terrain in informed, updated ways.

“Space is a ballistic battlefield. And what I mean by that is things move in space at 17,000 plus miles per hour and with over 50,000 objects in space or nearly 50,000 objects in space, each of those have the potential of colliding at an instant and creating a cascade of long lived shrapnel,” Simmons said. “That is a battlefield that just doesn’t stop. It doesn’t rest. Space is a technical and a tactical terrain. We have to get after a new set of threats and we have to understand what the new thresholds are.”

Simmons emphasized our responsibility to understand and battle space with new, inventive solutions.

“We have to look at getting after things, not only in an innovative way, but being able to iterate those things and integrate them into the fight faster and further in than what’s ever been asked from space before,” Simmons said.

By giving Simmons a new assignment, hopefully his background and extensive knowledge of space can help the U.S. Space Command advance their journey into space and continue to fight on such an incalculable terrain.

“We have to empower at the edges with the authorities to be able to execute at speed,” Simmons said. “That means we have to be able to trust those leaders at the very front end, the very front edge of the space fight.”

With Simmons as one of those leaders at the front of the space fight, the ever-evolving fight in space continues with a new leader.

More than 150 aircraft will take part, in all 50 states, to pay tribute to the first successful air refueling on June 27, 1923, 20 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, according to the National Museum of the Air Force. On that day, Army Air Service 1st Lts. Virgil Hine and Frank Seifert, flying a DH-4B — a two-seat, single-engine World War I biplane observation and bomber aircraft — passed gasoline through a gravity hose to another DH-4B piloted by Capt. Lowell H. Smith and 1st Lt. John P. Richter, accomplishing the first aerial refueling.

While the original mission of air refueling remains the same today, it is now done on a global scale. The flyovers Tuesday are one piece of the Air Mobility Command’s “100 Years of Air Refueling” campaign, created to educate the public about the vital role that AMC and air refueling plays in supporting the U.S. military.

“Air refueling propels our Nation’s air power across the skies, unleashing its full potential,” said Gen. Mike Minihan, the head of Air Mobility Command. “It connects our strategic vision with operational reality, ensuring we can reach any corner of the globe with unwavering speed and precision. Air refueling embodies our resolve to defend freedom and project power, leaving an indelible mark on aviation history.”

In the Chicago area, at least two KC-135 Stratotankers from the Illinois Air National Guard’s 126th Air Refueling Wing and the Air Force’s 906th Air Refueling Squadron will fly over parts of the state beginning with a scheduled 10:22 a.m. flyover in Springfield.

They will then head to Gurnee’s Six Flags Great America, Evanston’s Baha’i House of Worship and Northwestern University, and Chicago’s Navy Pier between 11:04 and 11:13 a.m.

The aircraft will then head south along the Mississippi River, reaching St. Louis’ Gateway Arch at approximately 12:10 p.m.

In New York and New Jersey, the flyover will begin with one KC-135, 8 KC-46s and 6 C-17s departing from the 305th Air Mobility Wing out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The route of flight will be visible from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania landmarks. There will be two formations flying the route, approximately 20 minutes apart.

New York

• Ithaca, 1:23 p.m.
• Buffalo, 1:43 p.m.
• Niagara, 1:51 p.m.
• Rochester, 2:01 p.m.
• Syracuse, 2:14 p.m.
• Albany, 2:34 p.m.

New Jersey

• Asbury Park, 1:03 p.m.
• Barnegat Light, 1:10 p.m.
• Atlantic City, 1:17 p.m.
• Cape May, 1:25 p.m.
• Philadelphia Airport, 1:42 p.m.

In Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, the flyovers will begin at Key Field Air National Guard Base in Meridian, Mississippi.

• Threefoot Hotel in Meridian, 9:15 a.m.
• Pascagoula, 9:45 a.m
• Waveland, 10:00 a.m
• The Vidalia Bridge, 10:30 a.m.
• Vicksburg National Military Park, 10:40 a.m.
• Mississippi State Capitol, 10:50 a.m.
• Arkansas Razorback Stadium, 11:55 a.m.
• Fort Smith, 12:10 p.m.
• Arkansas State Capitol, 12:30 p.m
• USS Kidd in Baton Rouge, 1:40 p.m.
• The Super Dome/Jackson Square, 1:55 p.m.

In Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. the 6th and 927th Air Refueling Wings will fly out of MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa.

Florida

• Cape Coral Bridge, Fort Meyers, 11:15 a.m.
• Tallahassee, 11:30 a.m.
• Key West, 11:45 a.m.
• Miami Beach, 12:20 p.m.
• South Palm Beach, 12:30 p.m.
• Tidal Cove Beach, Sebastian, 12:50 p.m.
• Interstate 4/Hwy 98 Intersection, Lakeland, 1:10 p.m.
• Skyway Bridge, St. Petersburg, 1:25 p.m.
• University of Florida Stadium, Gainesville, 2:40 p.m.
• Ocala, 2:45 p.m.
• Busch Gardens, Tampa, 3:00 p.m.

Georgia

• Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta, 12:30 p.m.
• Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, 1:00 p.m.

South Carolina

• South Carolina Capitol, Columbia, 1:15 p.m.
• Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, Charleston, 1:40 p.m.

In Alaska, the Air National Guard’s 168th Wing, will conduct KC-135 Stratotanker flyovers across the state starting at approximately 10:30 a.m. Times are listed on the wing’s Facebook Page.

The Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing will be flying over Sioux City at 9:50 a.m., West Lake Okoboji at 12:35 p.m. and Jack Trice Stadium in Ames at 12:55 p.m.

Iowa’s guard will also be flying over South Dakota and North Dakota. For South Dakota, check out the state capitol in Pierre at 10:25 a.m., the Badlands at 9:40 a.m., Mount Rushmore at 9:50 a.m. and Sioux Falls at 12:20 p.m.

For North Dakota, be at Theodore Roosevelt National Park at 10:20 a.m. and the state capitol in Bismarck at 11:40 a.m.

In Michigan, aircraft of the 127th Wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Bse will be participating. The approximate times:

• Blue Water Bridge, Port Huron, 10:20 a.m.
• Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center and downtown Alpena, 10:40 a.m.
• Mackinac Bridge and Mackinaw City, 10:50 a.m.
• Sleeping Bear Dunes area near Maple City, 11:15 a.m.
• Downtown Grand Rapids, 11:45 a.m.
• Battle Creek Air National Guard Base and Battle Creek, 11:55 a.m.
• The Michigan State Capitol and downtown Lansing, 12:05 p.m.
• The Detroit River, 12:30 p.m.
• Selfridge Air National Guard Base, 12:35 p.m.

The Utah Air National Guard will perform flyovers across Utah, starting with an appearance over Utah State University at 9:40 a.m. and ending over Park City at 12:09 p.m.

For more details, check out your local news outlets or the Facebook pages of nearby Air Force and Air National Guard bases.

Citizens are encouraged to come out, watch and enjoy the show.