Dancing with a Dragon: a maintainer’s tale

In a distant portion of the ever darkening Southwest Asia sky a hidden figure approaches. A yellow gleam from its single eye, previously hidden amongst the billowing clouds, now subtly begins to give away its presence.  Lights flash from the rooftop of one of two vehicles on the ground, as if to

Firefighters, medics hone skills with exercise

A car is driving down the road when suddenly disaster strikes. In an instant, the driver loses control and crashes.Eight people are badly injured in the accident and several suffer life-threatening injuries. The driver and passenger are trapped inside.This was the scene as 379th Expeditionary Civil

Deployed Defenders: Check Six program prepares Airmen for their ‘worst day’

Editor’s Note: This is the second article that is part of the Deployed Defenders series that takes a closer look at the function of Air Force Security Forces in Afghanistan. With nearly 3,700 Airmen carrying weapons in Afghanistan, some of them for the first time since Basic Military Training, and

Apache delivery

A team of airmen use a C-17 Globemaster III to deliver two 3-6 Heavy Cavalry Regiment Apache helicopters from Fort Bliss, Texas to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar Dec. 13. The helicopters are scheduled to take part in the annual Qatar National Day Parade set for Dec. 18. Qatar National Day is a holiday to

CSAF, CMSAF visit Airmen deployed to 332nd AEW

Twelve for twelve

On the twelfth day of the twelfth month, service members here took action to ensure twelve security forces Defenders were honored with a twelve kilometer ruck march.The Fallen Defenders Ruck to Remember honors security forces Defenders who have made the ultimate sacrifice in support of operations in

Coalition, Afghan C-130 crews train over snow-capped mountains

U.S. Air Force aircrew assigned to the Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air (TAAC-Air) and their Afghan counterparts conduct training on an Afghan Air Force C-130H Hercules at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 6-7, 2015. TAAC-Air advisors have grown the Afghan Air Force since

Reaper extends range in Afghanistan

(Editor’s Note: The last names of certain Airmen are withheld in accordance with operational security requirements)The U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance enterprise is vital to the national security of the United States and its allies, providing an unrivaled capability;

POL fuels Operation INHERENT RESOLVE

Senior Airman Nickolauss Guier, a 386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels systems journeyman, looks through a refractometer while conducting a Fuel System Icing Inhibitor test at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Dec. 1, 2015. The POL flight is responsible for providing fuel

TAAC-Air Soldiers, Airmen set-up school supply donations for Kabul orphanage

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Amon’s perspective about his deployment to Kabul quickly changed after meeting Jameela, a vendor at the bazaar at Hamid Karzai International Airport, while shopping for family and friends. He walked into a store that had bright, decorative scarves hanging all around.