More than 330 Iraqi air force recruits marched in a parade before beginning their initial basic military course Dec. 28, at Camp Taji, Iraq.
Normally recruits attend the 12-week BMT course at the Iraqi Army Regional Training Center prior to reporting to the air force training school on Camp Taji for a course called BMT Top Off. However, the RTC did not have the capacity to house the recruits until January 2010.
Instead of sending the recruits home, Master Sgt. Paula Gaffney, a BMT instructor and Air Force advisor, suggested they have the BMT Top Off first, according to Maj. Bill Holl, the 821st Expeditionary Training Squadron chief of Professional Military Training.
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As Americans gather together this season for thanksgiving, fellowship and families, many servicemembers will not be at home. They will be at work providing humanitarian aid to others less fortunate. One of the first major milestones for the newly-independent Air Force was the "birth" of the humanitarian mission -- the Berlin Airlift. The airlift of food and supplies lasted 462 days and sustained a population encircled by communist forces. From November to December, this season usually invokes the spirit of giving throughout the decades; however, the Air Force has been involved in humanitarian relief to help others who need assistance every month of the year, not just the holidays.
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Maj. Tobin Griffeth, a legal officer from Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, was featured recently in the San Antonio Express-News for a goodwill mission he helped foster while deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
Major Griffeth, a University of Texas graduate, along with Capt. Katie Illingworth, an Oklahoma University graduate, started a good-natured rivalry that brought boxes and boxes of blankets, coats, shoes and other items to Bagram to be distributed to Afghans.
You can read the full story, authored by Express-News reporter Scott Huddleston by clicking here:
Airman sees Christmas spirit in Afghanistan.
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Coalition airpower integrated with ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan during operations Dec. 28 according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
Air Operations in Afghanistan:
Asadabad
Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons provided armed overwatch for friendly forces. When enemy forces attacked the friendly forces while the aircraft refueled, a request to deter the enemy was made. Precision-guided munitions were released near the enemy fighting position which terminated the threat to friendly forces.
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Pilots and crew prepare A-10 Thunderbolts II for flight at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 27, 2009. The A-10 is specifically designed to provide close air support for U.S. and coalition ground forces.
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Thirty years ago today, Dec. 29, my father forever changed my life, as well as the lives of his other family members. He took a shotgun and shot himself in the head. His death certificate reads, "Self-inflicted gunshot wound."
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people joke about something being so bad, "that I should just shoot myself."
As I hear songs like "Butterfly Kisses" and "Daddy's Hands," as I watch a movie like "Father of the Bride," that phrase, "self-inflicted gunshot wound," echoes in my mind.
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If it weren't for restrictions on where first year cadets can and can't wander, one a cappella group might not exist; at least not with their current name.
"In the Stairwell" was born when members of the U.S. Air Force Academy's Class of 2007 had to find a location for freshmen who enjoyed singing together. The name came from where the group met for rehearsals. Word of the group has spread across the Academy and beyond its gates, including performances in the Mile High Vocal Jam in Denver earlier in the semester.
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The cost of freedom cannot and should not be measured in mere dollars, or even in millions or billions of dollars. Today's large military budgets are spent on equipment, buildings, airframes, maintenance, personnel and training. These are the items that are most commonly thought of when people consider the cost of the freedoms we enjoy.
These costs are also paid by countries that have large military forces, but little or no freedom. The true costs of freedom are not found in a balance sheet or in the pages of a budget document.
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Georgia Air National Guardsmen assigned to the 165th Air Support Operations Squadron have teamed up with 48th Infantry Brigade Soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.
The Airmen are assigned to several joint terminal attack controller units that will call in combat-air support for the 48th's fighters, said Capt. Roger Brooks IV, the commander of the Georgia JTACs.
Captain Brooks describes his team as an "in-case-of-emergency-break-glass" option.
The controllers serve with the advancing infantry, he said, assessing the situation alongside the combat troops and calling in air support if the situation dictates.
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The past year has been a busy one for Tricare officials with the introduction of a new Web-based counseling program and major enhancements to several other Tricare benefits.
Introduced Aug. 1, the Tricare Assistance Program uses today's constantly evolving Web-based technologies to bring short-term professional counseling assistance closer to the people who often need it most: service members and veterans recently returned from overseas and their families who have persevered through the deployment.
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