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A joint special forces team of U.S  Air Force combat controllers and U.S. Army pathfinders in a U.S. Navy HH-60 Seahawk helicopter conducted a drop zone survey here Jan. 24.  

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Military families now have free access to an online network of caregivers who can assist with everything from babysitting to dog walking.

Sittercity is the nation's largest online source for local babysitters, nannies, elder care providers, dog walkers, housekeepers and tutors, and contains more than 1 million caregiver profiles, officials said.

Military members and their families can activate their membership by going to http://www.sittercity.com/dod.
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Being fit to fight for the deployed mission takes more than running several miles a day or doing push-ups or sit-ups. That's the physical side. Being fit to fight also means being mentally fit, which is where Capt. (Dr.) Kieran Dhillon-Davis finds her niche as her deployed base's chief clinical psychologist.

Captain Dhillon-Davis, 380th Expeditionary Medical Group mental health chief, is deployed from the 82nd Medical Operations Squadron at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Her deployed duties require her to ensure mission readiness by providing mental health services to deployed Airmen and Soldiers.
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More than 1,000 people wound their way through the community center here Jan. 21 as part of a 55th Wing's point of distribution exercise.

The exercise, a new annual tasking for Air Force units, is designed to simulate the mass inoculation of military populations during a public health emergency.

Being able to quickly and efficiently process large numbers of people during a real-world public health emergency is critical, said James Jenkins, the medical readiness manager for the 55th Medical Group.
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The assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, together with the Air Force civil engineer, has selected Air Force Space Command to be the demonstration command for the Air Force's Enterprise-Wide Encroachment Management Initiative.

Two Air Force Space Command installations, Buckley Air Force Base, Colo., and Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., including Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, will be the initial beneficiaries of this effort to identify, communicate, manage and take action regarding encroachment issues ranging in scope from local to federal that impact the installations' missions.
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Chief Roy explained his belief that the three things that develop Airmen are training, education and experiences.

"One of the most important jobs of the Air Force is the training of our future leaders of the Air Force," Chief Roy said.

He said on-the-job training is an important step in preparing Airmen to excel in their career field. He encouraged the future staff sergeants in the class to properly train Airmen and become responsible as supervisors. He also talked about the education opportunities that would be open to them and how every task they accomplish helps make them a more well-rounded Airman.
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The chief master sergeant of the Air Force and his wife visited Columbus Air Force Base Jan. 25 and 26 to speak to Airmen and their answer questions while touring the base.

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Roy addressed key issues and challenges the Air Force is facing and offered advice and mentorship to Airmen of all ranks.

One issue the chief is currently addressing is how the Air Force develops its enlisted force. He said they're looking at a process called deliberate development to address this.
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When Tech. Sgt. Toma Ferguson received a phone call Jan. 15 putting him on alert for a flight to support Operation Unified Response, he was excited about being able to provide relief and support to the millions of Haitians impacted by the earthquake.

Since leaving Jan. 16 on his first flight, the Phoenix Raven assigned to the 628th Security Forces Squadron here has made two other trips on Jan. 18 and 20.

"The impact we have by bringing back the evacuees will have lifelong meaning to them," said Sergeant Ferguson a native of Cross, S.C. "You can see the suffering in their eyes and the despair in the kids as they get on the plane, but it's amazing they still laugh and smile as kids will always do."
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A U-2 launched from Beale Air Force Base Jan. 27 to provide critical imagery support in the ongoing humanitarian relief mission in Haiti.

The aircraft, temporarily flown out of Robins AFB, Ga., will be used to gather high-quality imagery, broad area shots, which will eliminate the need to patch together smaller images gathered by other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets currently operating in the Haiti.

"The capabilities of the U-2, with the optical bar camera provide superior imagery that is unsurpassed in many of the reconnaissance platforms flying today," said Maj. Lans Courtney from the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron. "It's also going to fill in the pieces that were not found earlier by other platforms."
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Coalition airpower integrated with ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan during operations Jan. 27, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.

Air Operations in Afghanistan:

Balocan
Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots provided armed overwatch for friendly forces. The pilots responded with strafing runs when friendly forces reported taking enemy small-arms fire. The enemy fire ceased immediately.
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