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  • Heart Link links hearts and minds of military spouses

    The words "Heart Link" may evoke a mental image of animated cartoon hearts holding hands or perhaps the infamous paper heart chain that has become a staple around school houses during Valentine's Day. Sometimes spouses may feel like that flimsy chain of paper hearts, vulnerable and alone. Heart Link

  • SERE Instructors ensure safety of aircrews in the Pacific

    When jumping out of a plane, just having a parachute is one thing, but knowing how to use it is another. That's where Tech Sgt. Sherwood Brown and Staff Sgt. Anthony Bittman come in. They are survival, evasion, resistance, escape, or SERE, instructors for the 15th Airlift Wing here. Emergency

  • Airman pulls passengers from Continental Airlines wreckage

    On Dec. 20, 2008, Lt. Col. Rich Lowe got the airplane ride of his life. And before it was over, he saved several others. The Continental Airlines pilot and Reserve instructor pilot with the 12th Flying Training Wing was hitching a ride on Continental Flight 1404 from Denver to Houston. The colonel

  • Kirtland sergeant gives kidney to fellow Airman

    On April 30, 2008, Staff Sgt. Andrew Jones became what some would call the "ultimate wingman." Sergeant Jones, a senior controller in the Maintenance Operations Center of the 58th Maintenance Operations Squadron, gave one of his kidneys to Tech. Sgt. Adam Johnson, a fellow controller, who had been

  • The shirt that binds a unit together

    "The (first sergeant) is the glue that binds a unit together," said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley in "The Enlisted Perspective" published May 5, 2008. In that same document, the service's top enlisted member touched on this career field's dwindling numbers. "Currently, the

  • Airman's road to success began with weight-loss journey

    "I would get out of breath just walking up the stairs from my room to the living room. That's when I knew I needed a change." The change came as Airman 1st Class Steven Childers decided to join the Air Force. He wanted to join the Air Force like his father, a retired master sergeant, but there was

  • Premature twin's fight for life leaves lasting legacy

    Eric LeVon Frazier II, one of two premature twins born Sept. 6 to Tech. Sgt. Barry Frazier and his wife Mandy, died Dec. 10 at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in England, but his fight for life left a lasting legacy that will stay with the family forever. With a due date of Jan. 1, Eric and

  • Airmen foster community relations in International Zone

    Large walls encircle blocks of buildings and barriers control the flow of traffic. Armored military vehicles roll along the sides of cars and trucks as they move through this ancient city. Colorful signs and green trees brighten the bleak apartment complex. A small store selling fresh fruits and

  • Airman experiences fire, stokes hot preparation topics

    "Fire!  Fire!  Fire! Help!" North Charleston apartment residents weren't dreaming when they heard Tech. Sgt. Michael Donaldson yell those words of distress from his third-floor apartment in the early morning of Jan. 5. With thoughts of the cause, severity and how to escape the fire racing in his

  • Airmen advise Iraqis on border security

    Iraqi servicemembers are now charged to protect more than 2,268 miles of Iraq's border, including a 36-mile coastline, to prevent illegal entry of contraband, weapons and insurgents. To assist them, American Airmen in joint expeditionary tasking, known as JET, positions advise and support the Iraq

  • Air Force amputee returns to Southwest Asia

    The walls of the sand-colored structures echoed an off-beat sound through the still Christmas Eve morning at this air base in Southwest Asia. A steady one-two reverberated through the blanket of fog. It is a runner, one would assume, but the sound was not exactly the recurring beat one might expect

  • TARS pod brings picture into focus

    High above Iraq, Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcons fly over suspected terrorist areas, taking high-resolution images with a sophisticated photographic system contained inside a Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System, or TARS, pod. Ground commanders use the imagery from these 332nd Air

  • Many faiths, many holidays

    Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Pagans all observe major holy days in December.  Air Force chaplains here spent much of the month making sure everyone in the diverse Joint Base Balad community had an opportunity to worship according to his or her beliefs. For the first December

  • America's shield and sword on Christmas Day

    'Twas the night before Christmas, as America still slept, the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing stood combat ready, to protect freedom at a moment's notice. When all through the base not a creature was stirring except, force protection, aircraft maintainers, pilots, air traffic controllers, medical

  • Flight of the 'Question Mark'

    On Jan. 1, 1929, a tri-engined Fokker C-2 aircraft with a crew of five climbed into the southern California sky. This aircraft, dubbed the "Question Mark," was not history's first air refueling mission, but it played a crucial role in the beginning of air refueling efforts and the development of the

  • Airmen fuel the flight

    Almost a million gallons of fuel will be delivered today to aircraft delivering supplies and troops and to warfighters hunting the bad guys. "Business as usual," said a fuels distribution Airman. The 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants Flight conducts a

  • Healthier through helping: Volunteerism adds to life

    There's nothing selfish about self-care. Exercise, a balanced diet, yoga, meditation, and holistic living are activities pursued by individuals hoping to prolong life, to make existence more comfortable, or to flesh out inner needs for fulfillment. But there's more than one way to crack the

  • Stay on nutrition bandwagon during holidays

    Halloween candy, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas ham and cookies, not to mention cold air blowing can lead to nutrition and exercise going out the window. "When people travel for the holidays they are forced to dine out and tempted to order unhealthy food," said Seth Jenny, the 39th Medical

  • Airlift delivers for warfighters

    Massive cargo jets rumble onto austere landing strips at forward operating bases throughout Southwest Asia. Aircrews unload the life sustaining supplies efficiently that thousands of servicemembers rely on, and then take off as quickly as possible. This happens multiple times a day, every day, to

  • Predators on patrol in Afghanistan

    As the demand for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance assets in Afghanistan increases, a small group of Airmen at a base in the southern region of the country are working to meet the demand. Members of the 62nd Electronic Reconnaissance Squadron maintain and operate the MQ-1 Predator, an

  • BIMAAs ensure readiness of Air Force's strategic reserve

    As the Air Force's operations tempo changes, so does the role of Air Force Reserve individual mobilization augmentees. Today, these Airmen called IMAs, are the Air Force's strategic reserve. They serve whenever, in whatever capacity necessary to complete the Air Force mission. At times, IMAs

  • Teen gets to be pilot for a day

    Andrew Allen is your typical 14-year-old boy. He likes video games and racquetball. He watches "Dirty Jobs" and he likes airplanes. However, one startling difference between Andrew and most teenage boys is that Andrew has been living with Crohn's disease since he was 12. Andrew, who at one point was

  • Beale reservist designs ornament for White House Christmas tree

    A reservist with the 940th Air Refueling Wing was selected by California's second district congressman and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing commander to design an ornament for the White House Christmas tree. The theme for this year's White House Christmas celebration is "Red, White and Blue Christmas"

  • Lackland chaplain selected as monsignor

    Growing up in a Roman Catholic household and attending Catholic schools, little did Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Michael Butler know what was in his future. The love of his church and fellow man, his tireless efforts in Catholic vocation and his appreciation of the military have taken the humble Roman

  • Religious support teams help heal invisible wounds

    The Air Force Theater Hospital here looks and sounds like any other hospital in a major U.S. city. Doctors, nurses and other medics move along and treat various patients while an overhead announcement calls for a doctor. Wounds start to mend here. Some are easy to see, while others hide below the

  • Airmen combat explosive threats in Afghanistan

    The phone rings. A three-man team grabs their prepacked gear and jumps in a truck or a waiting helicopter. These Airmen don't always know where they are going, how long they will be gone, or exactly what they will encounter -- all they know is there is an explosive device somewhere and they need to

  • The heart of giving

    Dr. Samindin Shabyraliey, a senior cardiac surgeon at the Institution of Cardiac Surgery and Organ Transplantation in the Kyrgyz Republic capital of Bishkek, performed two open heart surgeries saving the lives of two children in December. What made the surgeries possible was direct contributions

  • Airman saves lives 1 frequency at a time

    Today, many Airmen fill joint service solution taskings. Master Sgt. John Blackburn is one of those Airmen. As an electronic warfare officer assigned to the 732nd Expeditionary Support Squadron and attached to the Army's 142nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Sergeant Blackburn and Army Staff

  • Major returns to eradicate explosives that nearly killed him

    It's just after 5 on a weekday evening at Maj. Matthew Conlan's home in a leafy Northern Virginia subdivision. Major Conlan's son, Cameron, is home from college for the summer and playing with their dog in the three-story townhouse. Major Conlan's wife, Becky, just got home from work and is on the

  • Weather flight forecasts ensure mission efficiency

    As the thunder rolls and the lightning strikes in the distance, aircrews at an air base in Southwest Asia stand by eagerly waiting on the seemingly clairvoyant counsel of Airmen in a specialized unit there. Weathermen in the 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron Weather Flight here provide

  • Manas Airmen open base to Kyrgyz college students

    Looking for ways to strengthen ties with the local Kyrgyz people, Manas Air Base Airmen hosted 15 students and faculty from the American Central University of Central Asia here Nov. 5. The AUCA students' first stop was to the wing headquarters building where they were welcomed by Col. Christopher

  • Altus community members spend time in sky

    Several weeks after local farmers and businesspeople gave Airmen here a glimpse of their lives in the Oklahoma panhandle neighborhood, the base members returned the favor with a glimpse of the Altus community from a different, elevated level. By way of the Farm-City Program, a community outreach

  • Brooks lab offers last-ditch effort to identify remains

    As U.S. military recovery teams scour the jungles, mountains, woods and fields around the world looking for missing servicemembers from past wars, they hope to find enough remains to identify and return to their families for a proper burial. A jawbone with some teeth intact or a piece of a thigh

  • Airman honored, awarded wings posthumously

    Just about every parent whose child is participating in one of the Air Force's undergraduate pilot training programs envisions the day they can witness their son or daughter walking the stage, shaking hands and earning their prize -- their wings. The graduation of Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training

  • Airmen train to start warrior care on the battlefield

    "Nine minutes to evacuation," a Soldier yelled to other combat lifesaver students, who were huddled around several simulated wounded Soldiers, to advise them of incoming medical evacuation helicopters. Each small group patched up simulated injuries made of Hollywood like special effects. Some work

  • Purple Heart recipient back into the fight after injury

    Wounded in a convoy operation, one NCO couldn't wait to get back into the fight. Seven weeks after almost losing a leg in a mortar attack during an Operation Iraqi Freedom mission, Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baker not only returned to duty but also volunteered to stay in the area of operations for an

  • Expeditionary Center adding 'SPICE' to its curriculum

    The Mobility Operations School continues to feast on new challenges to train warfighting Airmen. The latest course in its buffet of training is some added SPICE. In February 2009, the SPICE, or Small Package Initial Communications Element, Course will begin a 25-day training regimen for select

  • Volunteers form critical link in hospital's 'care chain'

    Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters descend on the Patient Administration and Disposition landing zone Joint Base Balad, Iraq, their blades kicking up dust as they blow air outward at speeds of 50 mph or more. Noise from the Black Hawks' rotors drowns out any attempts at conversation, so the helicopter

  • Airmen play goodwill role at Camp Bucca

    In seven years and four deployments around the world, Staff Sgt. Omar Thompson has never promoted peace. Even when he was deployed three years ago working in the Theater Internment Facility where detainees in the war on terrorism are held at Camp Bucca, he never had the chance to play the part of

  • DOD civilian drops 120 pounds with Air Force's help

    Tipping the scale at 365 pounds, a 5-foot-10-inch male began working for the Air Force in 2003 as a civilian, but today he is 120 pounds lighter with the help of base policies and Airmen.Dominick Ward, a forklift operator assigned to the 437th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Charleston Air Force