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The U.S. Air Force Academy Falcons women's volleyball team finished their season in a game against Utah in Clune Arena here Nov. 21, 2009.  The Falcons lost the three-set decision, 25-18, 25-16, and 27-25.

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Members of the Joint Hometown News Service here recently posted more than 8,000 holiday greetings from servicemembers and their families stationed around the world on its Web site.

To see the holiday greetings, family members, servicemembers and their families can visit at http://www1.dmasa.dma.mil/hometown/webpages/holidaygreetings.htm to see their greetings.

The greetings are categorized by state and then servicemembers are listed alphabetically.
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Firefighting may be near the top of the Defense Department's list of high-risk occupations, but there's a move afoot to make it safer.

According to reports, Defense Department firefighter injuries -- more than 1,000 new incidents each year -- have cost the department nearly $30 million a year.

When the members of the Defense Safety Oversight Council realized more than a year ago that firefighters' injury-related lost time rates were higher than any other civilian occupation within the department, they sought help in turning the situation around.
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Susan and Joseph Kosek are thankful for many things.

This Thanksgiving they're especially thankful for tourniquets, helicopters, "battle buddies" and scores of doctors and medics across the globe. They're also thankful for the mine resistant ambush protected vehicle that absorbed most of the blast from a 35-pound improvised explosive device meant to kill their daughter.

"Wendy called me a few hours after she was brought to the Green Zone and said, 'I want to talk to Dad,'" Mrs. Kosek said. "We didn't' know the extent of the injuries and neither did she."
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How do you plan Thanksgiving dinner for 180,000 people more than 6,000 miles away? If you're a food buyer at the Defense Logistics Agency, you start by making a shopping list in April for meals to be served to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Providing superb meals to our U.S. troops is a critical mission of the Defense Logistics Agency, and one we put a great deal of effort into," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Scott D. Chambers commander of the DLA Philadelphia field activity, which provides all the food for U.S. military personnel worldwide, 365 days a year.
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The Air Force's top civilian leader delivered a key note speech regarding the service's future with special attention to the space mission at the 2009 Air Force Association Global Warfare Symposium here Nov. 20.

At the conclusion of the two-day summit, Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley outlined the service's space accomplishments during the last year, which included 65 space launch missions from nine ranges, examined the increasing role of space in the strategic environment, and the challenges and changes that lay ahead.
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A new module in the virtual Military Personnel Flight that will simplify the process of transferring Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits to dependents is set to launch this month.

The new vMPF module will check an Airman's eligibility and allow him or her to fill out, sign and send the required statement of understanding to the Automated Records Management System virtually.

Airmen will continue to use the Department of Defense Transfer Education Benefits Web site to complete their application. The vMPF module will simplify the process by allowing Airmen to see if they are eligible to apply and to complete their statement of understanding form online.
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Because distance often separates extended and even immediate families in military life, gift cards are a popular choice for holiday gift-giving. After all, one size fits all, and the recipients can get exactly what they want from a retailer or restaurant.

But the Federal Trade Commission advises servicemembers and their families, as well as Defense Department civilians and contractors to think before they buy holiday gift cards this season, and buy from sources they know and trust.
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For more than 230 years, our great nation has celebrated Thanksgiving as a time to recognize the many priceless gifts we enjoy as Americans. It's a time to appreciate and celebrate our families and our friends; a time to reflect on how privileged we are to live in such a great land of opportunity.

For those of us who are fortunate to be home, this is also a time to pause and count our blessings. It's an opportunity to dial down the busyness of our lives and share a meal with family and friends while reflecting on the many things we who serve in our nation's Air Force have to be thankful for. Not the least of which is the gift of freedom you secure by making the military a way of life so people everywhere can enjoy liberty's bounty.
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Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sends Thanksgiving Day greetings:

"On behalf of the Mullen family, I wish all of you serving in uniform today, as well as your families, a very safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

"We certainly have much for which to be grateful. Today, due in no small measure to your dedication, our nation, indeed the world, is a safer place to live. All around the globe and in all manner of ways, you stand a vigilant watch. From Afghanistan to Iraq and a thousand places in between, you help ensure peace and stability in places that have historically known neither. Giving hope to those in need and pause to those who threaten us, you make sure the fight remains on the enemy's doorstep and that lives torn asunder by war and natural disaster are restored and renewed.
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