Joint Task Force Alaska and 17th Coast Guard District officials signed a memorandum of understanding June 23 here to facilitate coordination of the missions under the auspices of JTF-Alaska with those performed by U.S. Coast Guard District 17.
The memorandum signals a common understanding between Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, Commander, the JTF-Alaska commander; and Coast Coast Rear Adm. Gene Brooks, the 17th Coast Guard District commander; for heightened emphasis on alignment of the two organizations in support of a unified approach to the security and defense of Alaska.
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An international air show united aviators, air forces and Hondurans to share their love of flying to help save lives at a local hospital June 20 and 21 here.
More than 30 U.S. Air Forces Southern Airmen, a KC-135 Stratotanker, two F-16 Fighting Falcons and an F-16 demonstration team deployed to the Honduran Armando Escalon Air Base to participate in the show, which raised more than $35,000 for Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital here.
The show marked the third year of U.S. Air Force participation and donation of the proceeds to the hospital.
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Mesut Dikel, an Ebru art instructor, teaches the 15th century art form to students at the Arts and Crafts Center here. Ebru, or paper marbling, uses all-natural products from the brushes to the paints. Mr. Dikel has been creating Ebru designs for 24 years.
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learning Turkish art slideshow.
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Air Education and Training Command officials here announced June 25 projected Air Force ROTC detachment commander and instructor vacancies for summer 2010 and opened vacant 2009 instructor positions to air Reserve component officers.
Lieutenant colonels may apply for the detachment commander positions, while first lieutenants, (with one year time in grade by Oct. 31, 2009) captains and majors can apply for instructor positions.
Interested active-duty officers must complete a statement of intent and receive release approval from their assignments team before applying. AFPC officials will notify each officer of release status by the end of July.
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The 1,376 members of the U.S. Air Force Academy's Class of 2013 arrived here June 25 to begin basic cadet training.
Overall, the Academy received 9,897 applications for admission into the class, with 1,667 being offered appointments.
As of June 24, 1,376 had accepted appointments, including 1,097 men and 279 women. The class includes 312 minority members, or 23 percent of the class.
Among the cadets accepted into the Class of 2013:
-- 41 are prior-enlisted members
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An international rescue effort is underway June 26 to a ship in the Atlantic approximately 700 miles off the west coast of Ireland as a crewmember on board the container ship "Pascha" has fallen seriously ill and needs urgent medical attention.
The ship's distance from land makes it impossible for the traditional sea rescue operations to reach, and England's Rescue Coordination Center requested the assistance of the U.S. military forces based in England.
A Royal Air Force Nimrod maritime surveillance aircraft launching from RAF Kinloss in Scotland will provide coordination for the airborne effort that will include a total of four different aircraft platforms.
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Commanders from around the world gathered for the Executive Multinational Airborne Early Warning Commanders' Conference June 16 and 17 at Tinker Air Force Base.
The EMACC is an annual event where air force leaders from nations that operate AWACS or similar airborne early warning and control aircraft get together to discuss ways to advance airborne surveillance and command and control capabilities across the globe, irrespective of owning nation.
"EMACC attendees work on interoperability of the different platforms that each country owns," said Master Sgt. Christopher Fry, the 552nd Air Control Wing Protocol superintendent.
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This week's photo highlights cover Airmen around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.
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Week in Photos slideshow.
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Overseas ground and flight testing on a NATO Airborne Warning and Control System recently demonstrated that a prototype waveform designed to better distinguish friendly forces from foes did not interfere with European civilian air traffic control.
This paves the way for 635th Electronic Systems Squadron officials to continue developing the capability without having to modify the current design and implementation.
The prototype, referred to as the Mode 5-capable UPX 40, would replace the current Mode 4 capability and has been designed specifically to interfere less with U.S. and international civil air traffic control functions.
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Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations June 25, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
In Afghanistan, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs strafed anti-Afghan forces personnel in a Surkhabad orchard with their 30 mm cannons. The enemy had opened fire on an Afghan and coalition ground unit with rocket-propelled grenades.
In the vicinity of Lashkar Gah, a coalition aircraft and a Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet employed guided bomb unit-12 and -38 munitions to target enemy forces engaging Afghan and coalition military personnel. The strikes destroyed enemy fighting positions in a compound and in a tree line, ending RPG and automatic weapons fire coming from those spots. Later, a coalition aircraft flew a show of force over a friendly convoy to prevent it from being attacked.
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