'AOR Week in Photos' highlights deployed Airmen in Southwest Asia Published June 8, 2009 By Master Sgt. Mikal Canfield AFCENT Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- A new product is highlighting Air Force equipment, weapons systems and Airmen deployed to Southwest Asia. "AOR Week in Photos" features photos of Airmen deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other bases in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Created weekly by the staff of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center public affairs office, the photos are a compilation of the best pictures taken by Air Force public affairs photographers. "The 'AOR Week in Photos' is a great way to highlight the efforts of our deployed Airmen while showing off the work of our talented photographers," said Chief Master Sgt. Lemuel Casillas, U.S. Air Forces Central superintendent and theater imagery manager. Photos featured have varied between aircraft being refueled over Afghanistan to Airmen working on construction projects in Iraq. JET, or Joint Expeditionary Tasking, Airmen deployed to forward operating bases also are frequently featured. "A lot of people don't realize just how many Airmen we have deployed to JET positions working with provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan," said Col. August Schalkham, USAFCENT director of public affairs. "Including these images in the 'AOR Week in Photos' is just one of the ways we're ensuring folks back home remember the Air Force is playing a big role in the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism." The idea for the "AOR Week in Photos" came from the daily slide show of photos known as ComCam Daily that is compiled and released by the Joint Combat Camera team at the Multi-National Core - Iraq headquarters. "We were aware of the ComCam Daily photo slide show and thought it would be great if we could come up with something similar, focused on specifically highlighting deployed Airmen," said Chief Casillas. Public affairs staffs in the AOR each submit their top photo for consideration. Photos taken by the U.S. Air Forces Central Combat Camera teams and other deployed photographers also are considered. According to Chief Casillas, photos are intended to be a good mix of operational activities and other activities such as commander's events. After the photos are selected, the images and captions are compiled in a slide show. The slide show is typically between 12-15 slides, but can be longer if the quality and variety of photos dictates including additional images, he said. Once the slide show is complete, it is turned into a short movie file and posted on the AFCENT Web site at www.afcent.af.mil. Music from the free downloads section of the U.S. Air Force Band Web site, www.usafband.af.mil/recordings, is added to the movie file. A different song is used each week. People also are able to subscribe to "AOR Week in Photos" and receive an e-mail link to the movie file each week by sending an e-mail to join-afcent_weekinphotos@lyris.dmasa.dma.mil. "We encourage people to subscribe to the 'AOR Week in Photos' if for no other reason than to be able to see what kind of hard work is being done by our Airmen in the field," said Colonel Schalkham. "The slide show can be a weekly reminder of the progress being made in the fight against terrorism and efforts of our Airmen to bring peace and security to this region."