"I want to slit the captain's throat," is not what passengers want to hear an irate man, pacing up and down the aisles on an airline flight, shout over and over again. However, in the face of this peril on an international commercial flight to Italy, this is what one Dover mechanic discovered - and he came to the rescue.
Though Senior Airman Nicholas Barker, 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, looked like the many other passengers on the June 9 Italy-bound craft, by the end of the flight it was apparent he was different - he was a hero.
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Members of the 97th Maintenance Directorate here give great attention to the smallest details everyday, and more recently as the maintainers prepare for the 2009 Air Mobility Command Airlift Rodeo.
Larry Melton, KC-135 rodeo team chief, has his crew working diligently to prepare aircraft for the flying competitions and the inspections teams endure during rodeo. Mr. Melton is relying on his team's expertise and his experience from participating in two previous rodeo competitions to excel during this year's event.
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Representatives from nations throughout the Asia-Pacific region are meeting here to discuss multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations June 23 through 27 here.
The talks are part of the 2009 Pacific Rim Airpower Symposium, co-hosted this year by the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the U.S. Air Force.
The annual symposium encourages relationship building and enhances cooperation among the air forces of Asia-Pacific nations. This year's symposium theme, "Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations--Managing the Seams," aims to help participants better understand the varying approaches to disaster response by civilian and military agencies, different nations, and the military branches.
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Gen. Douglas M. Fraser became the first-ever Air Force officer to lead U.S. Southern Command during a change-of-command ceremony June 25 at the command's headquarters here.
More than 300 invited guests and military leaders attended the event, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Vice Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright as General Fraser relieved Navy Adm. James Stavridis for the top SOUTHCOM position.
General Fraser comes to SOUTHCOM from U.S. Pacific Command, headquartered in Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, where he served as the deputy commander. As SOUTHCOM's commander, he is now responsible for overseeing all U.S. military operations in Latin America and Caribbean.
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Civil Air Patrol-U. S.Air Force realigned under the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development in a ceremony held at the center's Leadership Hall June 11.
Lt. Gen. Allen Peck, Air University commander, said the realignment is part of the evolution of Air University and falls under the category of an organization change request, or OCR. He said it could have been done with "a simple signature on a piece of paper," but he felt it should be done with a ceremony.
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The 96th Bomb Squadron from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., deployed here for exercise Northern Edge 2009 to practice mission planning and war-time procedures.
The 96th BS brought three B-52H Stratofortress long-range bombers to train in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex and over the Gulf of Alaska with other Air Force units along with the Navy, Marines and Army.
The B-52 is an aircraft that can fly long distances and has the capability of holding large amounts of munitions, which is important in global deterrence.
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Beginning in January 2010, Airmen will see some changes to the current physical training program including having two tests per year, a different waist measurement standard and a new score chart.
These changes are being implemented in order to promote better fitness standards among Airmen.
"The status quo is only as good as today, and we need to grow as a force both in terms of capability and capacity and that all starts with fitness," said Chief Master Sgt. Steve Sullens, the Air Combat Command command chief. "This is an opportunity to help ourselves through good old fashioned attitude, personal investment and discipline."
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Members of the 505th Command and Control Wing may not be known for conducting search and rescue missions, but when a litter of kittens was trapped in a wall June 22 here, wing members knew just what to do.
Bruce Chappell heard a cat early June 22 as he sat at his desk in Building 90005, but he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from.
"My first thought was it was a cell phone ringer or screen saver," Mr. Chappell said. "Then I asked others and they heard it, too."
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The bright pink soccer ball was clearly out of place on the flightline here June 22; however, it was in just the right place to begin the healing process for a 9-year-old girl atop a stretcher being carried on board a Turkish air force C-130 to be aeromedically evacuated to Ankara, Turkey.
She was the first of the 11 litter patients in all who were moved from ambulances up the ramp into the cargo aircraft.
Overall, U.S. and Turkish airmen, U.S. State Department officials at the Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team, and Turkish Red Crescent Society medical responders helped coordinate and facilitate the flight for the injured victims of a June 20 suicide truck bombing in Taza District, south of Kirkuk city.
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The 2009A Line of the Air Force, Biomedical Science Corps and Nurse Corps Central Selection boards selected 466 lieutenant colonels, 92 majors and 271 captains for promotion June 24 here.
The boards considered 4,156 lieutenant colonels, 729 majors and 407 captains for promotion.
The results of the boards for colonel are as follows:
-- Selection statistics for in-the-promotion zone for line of the Air Force were 372 selected from 846 considered for a 44 percent selection rate.
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