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  • Fly away with Space A

    Space Available, commonly known as Space A, is a program at many U.S. military installations around the world that allows military members, dependents, retirees, and certain civilians to ride an aircraft to a destination at either a very cheap price or no cost at all.

  • Pilot volunteers to transport, rescue dogs

    As a pilot in the Air Force, it seems only natural to desire to fly on one’s free time. However, owning and using a personal plane to fly dogs in need is a different story.

  • Partnerships drive 733rd AMS mission success

    The island of Okinawa, Japan, also referred to as the Keystone to the Pacific, is home to multiple U.S. military installations. Although they have many differences, the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps units on Okinawa have one shared interest: the need for rapid global mobility.

  • Bronze star presented to family of first OSI fallen hero

    The Air Force Office of Special Investigations headquarters presented the Bronze Star Medal to the brother of the first OSI fallen hero, nearly 50 years after he was killed in action. During its first Celebration of Life event May 22, 2017, OSI also remembered the lives and honored the legacies of

  • Air advising in retrospect

    What do you get when you combine Afghan maintainers, American advisors, contractors and Russian helicopters? One of the most rapidly advancing mission sustainment capabilities in Afghanistan."The overall quality of maintenance, training and Afghan motivation has greatly increased," said Master Sgt.

  • Where has the waste gone?

    Humans must relieve themselves multiple times throughout the day, but at 20,000 feet in the air in a C-17 Globemaster III where does it all go? Enter the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron fleet services Airmen here."What we do is important because people need to be able to use the restroom,"

  • The road to fitness: One Airman's drive to get fit, inspire others

    A photojournalist assigned to the 628th Air Base Wing public affairs office here has lost more than 60 pounds since he began his fitness journey a little more than a year ago.Senior Airman Jared Trimarchi's road to fitness has been paved with hard work and discipline, all to improve his health.

  • B-52 CONECT: A reboot for the Digital Age

    One thing is certain: it's not your father's B-52.The B-52 Stratofortress has been the Air Force's star long-range strategic heavy bomber and premier standoff weapon for more than 50 years. For generations, the B-52 has successfully executed missions all over the globe. But in the 21st century, the

  • Aircraft maintenance: It's just a phase

    Equipped a variety of conventional munitions, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is capable of performing complex missions around the globe. Airmen at the 442nd Maintenance Squadron phase crew are tasked to perform detailed inspections to make sure this complex jet remains air ready.These maintainers work

  • Doctor and technician team revive Afghan youth's vision

    "Providing children vision gives them a better chance at life in Afghanistan, "said Maj. Marcus Neuffer, an ophthalmologist assigned to the Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Here if children cannot see to perform normal daily tasks, there is a possibility they will be

  • Premature birth sends family, newborns around the world

    Having children for the first time can be one of the most exciting moments in a couple's life. Giving birth to twins in a foreign country, more than three months early, was not the excitement Airman 1st Class Travis Alton and his wife, Katie, said they were expecting. "I was 24 weeks pregnant,"

  • Andersen AFB aids research, helps students turn mulch into master's degrees

    Members of the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron Environmental Flight have been aiding a team at the University of Guam with a research project this year, strengthening the base's community ties from the ground up with something as simple as mulch.Mohammad Golabi, a UOG associate professor of soil and

  • Petroleum agency lab supports safe missions

    Aircrew members depend on several moving parts to ensure an aircraft is properly maintained and prepped for a safe mission. A part of this preparation is ensuring that the fuel and oxygen within the aircraft are safe and free of contaminates that could negatively affect the mission. Airman at the

  • Logistics Airmen provide battlefield medics with life-saving supplies

    Forward-deployed medical professionals are limited to the supplies they have on-hand to provide immediate care to casualties prior to medical evacuation. They are dependent on regular shipments of blood, plasma, cryoprecipitate and dry ice provided by the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group blood

  • Fly-away security teams stay vigilant for mission-critical assets

    Rifle at the ready, eyes watchful and wary, sweat beads form on their brows and trickle down their chins, exhaust fumes and gritty sand fills their noses, words can barely be heard over the whine of engines, yet the Airmen of the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron's Fly-Away Security Teams

  • Through Airmen's Eyes: Airman makes most of AF educational opportunities

    (This feature is part of the "Through Airmen's Eyes" series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.)Airmen have different reasons for answering the call to defend our nation. Some join to travel the world. Some join to honor a legacy. There are some who

  • When all else fails, egress prevails

    The ejection seat is the pilot's last option if something doesn't go according to plan. If it wasn't for a small group of specially-trained Airmen, pilots wouldn't be able to resort to this life-saving option. Deployed from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., Staff Sgt. Keith Billings, Senior Airman Garron

  • Air liaison controls sky, saves lives

    The lieutenant lowered a tactical vest over his head with practiced confidence; his face displayed the cool composure born of constant training. As he straps on his helmet, an aircraft circles overhead, preparing for the first strike of the day. Minutes later, ordnance begins raining down at the

  • Cadets teach biosand water filtration efforts in Mozambique

    Americans take drinking water for granted. We use it not only to drink and to cook but to water our plants, to bathe and even to flush our toilets.In other parts of the world, however, potable water is hard to come by. Without the infrastructure to treat and distribute water through plumbing, people

  • Sentry operators keep 'eyes in the sky'

    In the quiet darkness surrounding the flightline here, the awaiting aircraft roars to life with an escalated screech, and cool air rushes to fill the newly-lit cabin.As the chill meets the lingering humid air within the aircraft, a smoke-like fog diffuses into the nooks and crevices around the

  • System provides 24/7 perimeter security

    Motion detection, night-vision cameras and sensor zones may bring an action movie to mind, but they are also a few of the pieces that make up a Tactical Automated Security System.TASS is an intrusion detection system used to protect the perimeter and resources at the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.

  • Performance program strengthens battlefield Airmen

    "Humans are more important than hardware" is a saying heard continuously throughout the special operations community. One special tactics squadron has a facility that turns these words into action.The 320th Special Tactics Squadron's Human Performance Training Center here offers battlefield Airmen

  • Military training instructors shape next generation of officers

    Dating back to September 1947, Air Force military training instructors have represented one of the most visible special-duty career fields in the service. From the original group of "flight marchers" to today's MTIs, the need to train new Airmen has remained constant. Today, 500 Airmen in the grades

  • 'Compass Call'ing: Are you listening?

    Even high in the air, they have their ears close to the ground.Linguists from the 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron, are trained in the art of employing electronic attack for the purpose of denying, degrading and disrupting enemy communications from aboard the EC-130 Compass Call."We're

  • Airman returns to flying status after having part of leg amputated

    When Senior Airman Justus Bosquez walks down a narrow hallway in his airman battle uniform, he looks no different than his peers. Like many of them, he can do salsa, merengue and two-step dances. He can run a marathon wearing a 30-pound rucksack and he can perform his flying duties on an E-3 Sentry.

  • Air Force Reserve colonel hits high notes in traveling quartet

    By the time Air Force Reserve Col. Michelle Barrett attended her first barbershop singing performance, she didn't even realize women had long since made their mark in the genre.Four years ago, the Reserve Advisor to the deputy assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Reserve Affairs attended a

  • After The Battle: The flying ICU

    Three critically injured patients need immediate transfer to a medical facility outside of Afghanistan. One has a shot to the head, the other has missing limbs and the last has an open abdominal wound. Without a mobile intensive care unit, these patients will not make the flight out.For members of

  • Air Guard spouse sets bar as national powerlifter

    Knees tightly bandaged and a thick weightlifting belt bracing her waist, she lowers herself into a tense squat.The weight on her shoulder equals almost three times her own body weight, but she is not giving up.Holding her breath and tightening every muscle, she struggles against gravity to put the

  • Combat Ops Space Cell: Defending critical satellite links

    More than 22,000 miles away, spinning silently through the vacuum of space, is one of the most critical components to air, space and cyberspace superiority today; a satellite.The mission to defend and protect the operability of that satellite rests a little closer to home, at the U.S. Air Forces

  • Afghan medics train at Bagram

    Even in the midst of conflict, it is important to keep an eye toward the future.To that end, the staff members at Craig Joint Theater Hospital here have trained more than 40 Afghan doctors and nurses as part of the Afghan Trauma Mentorship Program."The goal is to train Afghan health care providers

  • Airman revisits recovery with Lt. Dan

    Lt. Dan, as Forrest Gump film actor Gary Sinise is affectionately known, may not actually be a member of the military, but he treats each service member he meets with the deep-seated respect that should be given to a brother-in-arms. For Hurlburt Field's Tech. Sgt. Christofer Curtis, a CV-22 flight

  • POW recalls 'hidden treasure' in lessons learned

    A prisoner of war held in the "Hanoi Hilton" for five and a half years shared his compelling story of imprisonment and success with U.S. Air  cadets Feb. 21-22 during the 2013 National Character and Leadership Symposium here.Like Sen. John McCain and others, retired Col. Lee Ellis was held captive

  • Bagram bodybuilders push it to the limit

    Bodybuilding is not a sprint, it's a marathon.Airmen got a chance to show off their hard work and dedication to fitness as they participated in a bodybuilding competition open to all service members and civilians on Bagram Airfield.The arena was packed with spectators as the bodybuilders prepared

  • Welcome to the jungle: forecaster supports counterdrug operations

    He didn't know where it was to or what it was for, but when Charleston, S.C., native Tech. Sgt. Adrian Jackson heard about a short-notice tasking to deploy, he volunteered immediately.Jackson volunteered he having only been on-station two months."Because he was new to base, he was ineligible to

  • Cadet's research aims to bust spice users

    A senior cadet's summer research, which earned her recognition from Air Force Chief Scientist Dr. Mark Maybury at an awards ceremony Feb. 1, will help catch users of spice and similar products several weeks after they've ingested the substance.Cadet 1st Class Alexa Gingras, working with two doctors

  • Tracker Airmen protect Bagram

    A group of Airmen from the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron is combining the old school skills of tracking with modern technology to bring a new capability to the fight."It stemmed from a lot of research in preparation for our deployment," Staff Sgt. Benjamin DeSantiago said, a 455th

  • Altus AFB, local community partner to 'grow' mechanics

     Altus, Okla., is known for its agricultural community and an Air Force base. Together, they are not only growing crops, they are "growing" mechanics through the Grow Your Own Mechanic program.The GYOM program is an aircraft maintenance technician internship program. It was developed in 1999 under