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  • Amputee Airman overcomes cancer, maintains athletic lifestyle

    In 2005, he ran the New York City Marathon and skied down the Rockies. The fact he has one leg isn’t slowing him down. Tech. Sgt. Matthew Profitt is an active sportsman -- the 38-year-old reservist plays racquetball, bobsleds, canoes, cycles and runs. But, three years ago the 512th Aircraft

  • When needs arise in Central Asia, C-17 crews deliver

    The C-17 Globemaster III crewmembers start their day around noon. It will end in about 18 hours, around 5 or 6 tomorrow morning. Today they will fly to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, and back twice, taking one group of passengers a step closer to home and another to the first day of their year long

  • Airman recovering from bomb blast hopes to continue to serve

    He stirs every few minutes as he sits talking in the living room of his base housing unit. He doesn’t show it with any grimace on his face, but he has not yet healed from the wounds he received in combat less than three months ago. All the while, he talks frankly, pulling his 4-year-old daughter

  • Loadmasters heart of C-130 operations

    Tech. Sgt. Kristy Decker knows no flight in this region is predictable. With nearly two decades of flying under her belt, the Reserve loadmaster is serving her first tour of duty with the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in Southwest Asia. To date, she has flown into Iraq, Afghanistan and the

  • Tuskegee Airman visits former unit at Randolph

    A man stood silent, captivated by the hundreds of images on the wall before him. The memories of one of the most pivotal times in his life and American military history surfaced with every square foot. The sepia images of pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance crews and support personnel are

  • Musicians produce one-of-a-kind sound

    The Heritage of the Air Force Band’s newest ensemble can be described as unique. The five Heritage Aire Celtic Ensemble members are the only musicians assigned to the Air Force band who are dedicated to Celtic music. They are the first Airmen authorized to wear the Billy Mitchell tartan since the

  • Joint STARS Airman plays bagpipes on off-time

    The E-8C Joint STARS crew had been flying for hours -- their first combat mission in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The sky was dark and unknowing. As they crossed into Iraqi air space, the aircraft suddenly filled with a sound the crew will probably never forget. “I was piping the troops into battle --

  • Two chiefs find acceptance, opportunity in Air Force

    He grew up in the South when segregation was the law of the land. He remembers seeing “Whites only” signs and attending George Washington Carver School, an all-black school, until desegregation was enforced in 1969 and he was bused to the “white school.” His family also had a cross burned in their

  • Security forces Airmen maintain ops tempo long after sundown

    Things are sometimes uncommonly quiet around here at night. But the calm is likely a welcome relief for the wing’s twilight guardians -- the 52nd Security Forces Squadron Airmen who are well-acquainted with 12-hour-plus graveyard shifts. The responsibility to protect people and aircraft can be even

  • The business of saving lives: airlifting wounded warriors

    It was Capt. Tracy Shamburger’s first flight with a new crew from the 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. The Air Force Reservist, who teaches nursing at the University of South Alabama, had served as a medical crew director before and she clearly knew the ropes. Her five-person