Now showing: Dec. 23 edition of Air Force Television News

  • Published
The Dec. 23 edition of Air Force Television News is the first of four special productions of the program to be seen in December, January and February. This first of the four is the annual "Year in Review" edition, and is dedicated to the men and women of the Air Force and the job they do both on and off duty.

Staff Sgt. Michael Noel examines the contribution being made by the Reserve and Air National Guard during one of the heaviest periods of operations tempo in recent memory. The program also reprises a story produced by Staff Sgt. Eric Kerr that focused on an emergency medical team from Wilford Hall Medical Center in Texas saving the life of an infant on the Japanese island of Okinawa. StaffSgt. Marty Rush illustrates how all components of the Air Force lend a helping hand to those less fortunate by accompanying a Reserve unit on a humanitarian mission to Latin America.

Two stories in the program deal with donations. Staff Sgt. Pachari Lutke goes inside two operating rooms in Alabama to chronicle the donation of a kidney to the wife of senior master sergeant by an Air Force captain. Master Sgt. Chris Beckwith highlights the first meeting of a bone marrow recipient with the Air Force major who saved his life with a bone-marrow donation.

Other stories include Staff Sgt. Joe Wallace's profile of airmen tutoring middle school students at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; Tech. Sgt. Paul Firman tells the story of an airman undertaking a grueling bike ride through Europe to raise money for AIDS research; and Tech. Sgt. Rusty Barfield has story on an Air Force family in Texas who gives new meaning to the word "adoption."

The next three editions of the program will consist of three extended interviews with the chief master sergeant of the Air Force, the commander of Air Force Reserve Command and the director of the Air National Guard. The next regular edition of Air Force Television News will be released in mid-February.

Air Force Television News is a biweekly production of Air Force News Service. It is distributed on videotape to more than 3,000 military and civilian outlets worldwide, and is seen on more than 700 cable television outlets nationwide. It is also available on the Internet at www.af.mil and can also been seen on The Pentagon Channel. The program is the only military production offered with closed captioning. Viewers can comment on the program by sending e-mail to aftvnews@afnews.af.mil.