AFRC: An F-35A Lightning II with 457th Fighter Squadron markings assigned to the 301st Fighter Wing flew for the first time Oct. 15, and is one of the first F-35s assigned to the Air Force Reserve. Previously, all F-35s were assigned to active-duty US Air Force and Air National Guard. The 301st Fighter Wing is also slated to become the first unit to operate the F-35A independently, without an active-duty association. The Wing is estimated to have a total fleet of 26 F-35As by 2026. 

AFSOC: AFSOC Airmen are testing headbands that can measure and report vital signs. The headbands could save the lives of High-Altitude, Low-Opening parachutists, who are at risk of hypothermia and hypoxia due to the thin atmosphere at high altitudes. The device looks just like a regular headband, since the sensors are integrated in a distributed way within the fabric. Tracy Frost, director of the Defense Department's Manufacturing Technology Program, called the headbands the product of "a beautiful marriage" between the DoD and the private sector. 

ANG: 

• Over 11,000 National Guard Airmen and Soldiers were conducting Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene relief missions in the Southeast Sunday, helping first responders and victims by air, land and water. Disaster relief operations were centered in the hardest-hit areas of Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. As of Oct. 13, over 7,600 Guardsmen from 19 states were mobilized in response to the severe damage caused by Hurricane Milton. They rescued hundreds of people threatened by flooding, cleared roads, distributed food, water and other vital supplies, provide security, directed traffic – even provided much-needed hugs to residents reeling from the damage caused by the storms.