AirForceDad.com

AOR Week in Photos
By Master Sgt Mikal Canfield

I am deployed here [Combined Air Operations Center] from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, doing Media Outreach for the Public Affairs office in Southwest Asia. My job is to market print and broadcast stories and photos to media outlets around the world, highlighting the men and women of the U.S. Air Force.

One of the best things about my job is knowing that our products might have an impact on the fight. People around the world see our Airmen in action and are able to see the variety of things we do to preserve freedom.

This week we premiered the “AOR Week in Photos”, pictures from around the area of responsibility – Afghanistan, Iraq and other air bases in this region – focusing on the different things our Airmen are doing here. Some of the photos show mission accomplishment – flying, fighting and winning the war on terrorism, some highlight Airmen facing unique challenges, while others feature our work in the communities we share. I think it’s important to show both aspects because it’s not all about flying sorties and driving convoys, it’s also about connecting with the people of this region and showing that we care about helping them achieve the peace and prosperity previously denied.

The “AOR Week in Photos” is just one of the ways our office does its part to fight terrorism. Putting together a photo slide show or sending out a news release might not be the stuff of legend, but it’s our role here and it’s a job we take seriously. Every single deployed Airman has a job to do and without his or her hard work, skill and dedication, the mission wouldn’t get done. Hopefully the “AOR Week in Photos” gives people a glimpse at some of the men and women representing America with honor.

US Air Force C-17s recently delivered Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) to the Marines in Afghanistan. Technical Sergeant Cohen Young (who wrote about his experiences in Sadr City, Iraq) was on board the flight for the mission with the 535th Airlift Squadron as part of the Defense Media Activity, Hawaii. Below is his narrated photo slide show.

Posted by Paul F. Bove, Air Force Public Affairs.

“The mission of the medical ETT (embedded transition team) is to train, coach, and mentor the ANA (Afghan national army) medical personnel in order for them to develop a self-sustaining medical system in order for the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to achieve security and stability,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Fieg, Deputy Team Leader and senior physician mentor of the 205th Corps, Afghan Regional Security Integration Command – South said to bloggers Dec. 30th. Fieg said, while less than perfect, the ANA medical system are functional and have made remarkable strides over the past year. Audio(Mp3)



Posted by Capt. David Faggard, Air Force Public Affairs

From their newest label cut in June of ‘08 titled “Connected; Max Impact & Silver Wings”, comes one of The USAF Band’s hottest new songs, “Locked and Loaded”. The song was written and recorded by member of the Band’s rock group Max Impact who are directly back from playing the tune on deployment throughout the U.S. Central Command Area Of Responsibility (AOR).

After a rigorous tour, Max Impact rocked out singing over 68 performances throughout the region. The band performed not only for deployed Airmen and other service members, but also performed for children at local orphanages, schools, and even for students at a music conservatory. Max Impact is composed of guitarist TSgt. Matt Geist, who composed the music, TSgt. Robert Smith, who wrote the lyrics and plays the drums, MSgt. Ryan Carson and MSgt. Regina Coonrod, the band’s singers, and bassist and TSgt. David Foster, and TSgt. Adam Dempsey the sound engineer.

With powerful and dynamic lyrics, each stanza of “Locked and Loaded” is meant to exhibit the complete synergy of each imperative component of the fight. For instance, lyrics for the combat control Airmen who are calling in the drop says:

“Walk in the shade of the clouds at night,"

"Crawling in the dirt, calling an A-10 strike,"

"Dancing in the shadows, lives are on the line,"

"Bombs are gonna fall, just in time.”

Gripping and compelling to their deployed audiences, one Army soldier told singer MSgt. Ryan Carson after the concert," said Carson. “I’ll be doing my morning PT to this one. “Your iPod is your weapon over there, if you don’t have it your lost.”

“Here is the cool thing about music; anytime you hear a song you are instantly transported back to where you were when you first heard it. If I hear a Rascal Flats tune, it immediately takes me back to Nebraska with my wife’s family.” Carson explains music’s power regarding memory, “You can be in the middle of Afghanistan, put in a song and be carried back to a Junior High dance where you met your girlfriend for the first time.”

A critical component of the band’s mission was to lift the spirits of deployed Airmen, remind them of home, and give them a strong sense of hope to continue on.

“I told the guys in the band, 'Don’t ever take our job for granted, because you could save a life tonight,'" said Carson. "There might be somebody out there tonight that is doesn’t want to be here anymore, but if we give them a little piece of home, and a little bit of encouragement, then they remember all those people who love them back home, and the way life really is, and they might just change their mind.”

The message behind the song?

“We wanted to show that everybody’s got a piece of the fight, whether you are an Airmen standing-post, or an Airmen on the flight-line. Your daily mission, contributes to the big picture of the war, and that’s what we tried to do with the song,” said Carson.

In an interview with the music Composer TSgt Matthew Geist, also the band guitarist said, “Our song, 'Locked and Loaded,' received more comments on the tour, and they were most impressed that it was an original song by our band.”
The lead singer for “Locked and Loaded” MSgt Ryan Carson, whose favorite phrase at the beginning of each concert is, “We’re going to rock your face off!” started out as an Opera Major at the University of Wyoming when the Air Force picked him up. Carson wanted to help the Airmen focus on why you do what you do for the Air Force.

In addition to raising the moral of deployed Airmen, Max Impact conducted some unique concerts to connect with many of the local citizens by performing at the School for the Deaf, where by vibrations the student’s clapped hands and feet to the rhythm, as well as scream out the lyrics to each song.

“The students were surprisingly more responsive compared to most of our audiences," said the vocalist MSgt Regina Coonrod. "The kids were really into the music; they were all up singing and dancing to the beats and vibrations." Max Impact also visited many local orphanages in the Kyrgyz Republic including one with more than 350 children.

Guitarist Geist commented, “At the orphanages, the kids were all five and under, so we played stuff like Old MacDonald, and the Happy Birthday song. We really tried to cater to them. And we played songs that were happy and upbeat, stuff that they could really smile. We wanted to play something for them with a repeatable chorus that they could learn to sing, so we played “Sweet Home Alabama." Every time the chorus came around, you have thirty to forty kids singing, “Sweet Home Alabama”, who did not even speak English.”

Click here for the free download.

Posted by Joseph Fordham, Air Force Public Affairs.