AirForceDad.com

This week's photo highlights feature 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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Air Force leaders discussed the service's fiscal 2012 budget request and their concerns about operating under a continuing resolution with members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees during hearings here March 30 and 31.

In the March 30 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said a decision to extend the continuing resolution at fiscal 2010 budget levels through the remainder of this year would have a significant effect on the Air Force.
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I've decided to run my first half-marathon. As race day approaches, I become increasingly anxious, but not because I haven't been training or I don't feel prepared. In fact, I'm in the best physical condition that I've ever been in. I'm anxious because I will lose a part of my focus.

Initially, my goal was to improve my Air Force Fitness Assessment score. I've made myself promises in the past and generally fall short by a few seconds or a few sit-ups. This year was going to be different. I was going to focus on something bigger than the Air Force fitness test. I was going to focus on running 13.1 miles in 10 short weeks. As I began the training regimen, I realized that running long distances is a mentally daunting task. While running along a winding country road a few weeks ago it all clicked. I needed to run with a purpose.
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As NATO officials assumed command of coalition operations in Libya this morning, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the House Armed Services Committee that U.S. forces will "significantly ramp down" their commitment in the operation.

Gates said U.S. efforts in Libya will provide the capabilities other nations don't have in kind and scale.

During the first phase of Operation Odyssey Dawn, U.S. forces provided the bulk of military assets and firepower, logistical support, and overall command and control, Gates told the lawmakers. The U.S. focus as the operation continues will be electronic attack, aerial refueling, lift, search and rescue, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, he said.
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A team of female Airmen made history here March 30 when the F-15E Strike Eagles of "Dudette 07" blazed down the runway to provide close air support for coalition and Afghan ground forces.

The two-ship formation consisted of all females, two pilots and two weapons system officers, but more importantly, it marked the first combat mission flown from Bagram to be planned, maintained and flown entirely by females.

This mission represents the first combat sortie on record to involve only female Airmen from the pilots and weapons officers to the mission planners and maintainers, said Lt. Col. Kenneth Tilley, the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing historian.
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Commissaries in Japan are partnering with U.S. installations there to provide whatever support possible in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and other subsequent events affecting service members and their families.

The Defense Commissary Agency has 15 stores in Japan -- 11 on the Japanese mainland and four on Okinawa. Within hours of the natural disaster, all of the stores opened and began working with their local military commander to adjust operating hours as needed and meet the needs of the military community.
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Improving housing and child care, giving better access to health care and education, and intervening earlier in high-risk behavior are areas the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are focused on to maintain a high quality of life for service members and their families, the services' most-senior enlisted leaders told Congress members March 31.

"The quality of life Airmen and their families receive is an overwhelming factor in how long they will serve," Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Roy told the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee during the hearing about quality of life in the military.
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Hundreds of Airmen have arrived here to support Operation Odyssey Dawn, and they are all hungry.

The dining facility has progressed from serving 450 meals a day to 1,600 since the start of the operation to enforce a no-fly zone to protect civilians in Libya.

To support this increase, a team of nine Airmen deployed from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

Staff Sgt. Patricia Harvey, the NCO in charge of the flight kitchen, said when the team arrived, they found the meals being served out of the base club, as the main dining facility is under renovation.
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Air Force Network Integration Center officials welcomed the family and friends of Lt. Gen. Harold W. Grant here March 28 to learn more about the late general's legacy and see firsthand the building named in his honor.

Grant is recognized as a communications pioneer who avidly worked to ensure Air Force operators had the best communications support possible. Throughout his more than 35-year Air Force career he held numerous communications and leadership positions. He was the first commander of the Air Force Communications Service, an early predecessor of AFNIC, from 1961-1962. Under his leadership, the command's more than 50,000 Airmen provided airways communications, air traffic control, much of the long-haul and some base-level communications.
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They served their country in uniform -- many on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. And now that they've returned home and rejoined civilian life, an alarming number of veterans have found themselves on the streets and living under bridges.

Veterans Affairs Department officials are making progress on their commitment to end homelessness among veterans, Deputy VA Secretary W. Scott Gould told American Forces Press Service, striving to achieve that goal ahead of its original 2015 timetable.
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