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  • Phoenix 8 rises to challenge

    The transfer of patients from one location to the next requires planning. Similar to a coach's playbook, the Phoenix coordinator here plans his assets around patient movement. As with different plays executed on the field, changes have ripple effects the Phoenix 8 must rise above and accommodate in

  • Airman uses carpentry skills to preserve children's dignity

    Some of the heat has burned off as the summer moon rises overhead. An airman labors over scrap pieces of wood in a makeshift workshop under a canopy of camouflage. Fitting pieces of wood together, the shape of a tiny coffin emerges.The contract providing coffins for deceased Afghans has expired. The

  • Airmen standardize procedures to ensure patient, aircrew safety

    Similar to walking through security and being searched by TSA at an airport, airmen at the 451st Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility Detachment 1 have standardized procedures to take safety aboard military aircraft to a higher level."We're like a medical airport," said Lt. Col. Barbara Persons,

  • Weather you want it to or not, it's still going to happen

    Rain hitting rooftops, flashes of light fill the sky followed by rolling thunder. The wind picks up as rain turns into ice, tapping on windows and vehicles. People scramble to get off the streets, and over the airwaves the order comes out: "Seek shelter!" Then the power goes out.Rain, sun, clouds,

  • Ring of Fire: Airmen secure largest, hottest runway in Iraq

    Texas barriers, T-walls and concertina wire are part of the ingredients for a good mix of security at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. Airmen at this remote, desert runway in the western Al Anbar Province bake in 125 degrees under an unforgiving sun that would make a Texan sweat and an Arizonan seek

  • America's favorite pastime finds desert home

    "Three strikes and you're out at the old ball game," goes a popular song sung in the 7th inning stretch at ballparks around the U.S. The melody plays just as easily for a group of 33 security forces Airmen who have constructed a piece of Americana deep in the Iraqi desert, between Baghdad and the

  • U.S. transfers milestone airspace to Iraq

    The Airspace Control Authority transferred airspace to the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority June 1, 2011, in what is being called a milestone in Operation New Dawn.The ICAA took over the Ali Sector of airspace from surface area to 24,000 feet, assuming control over all aircraft on final

  • New IqAF curriculum to combine ATC, airfield management

    With less than a year left to mentor the Iraqi air force, U.S. advisors in Iraq are focusing their efforts on ensuring their Iraqi counterparts have the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed after the scheduled transition. Currently, a new training curriculum is being developed to combine IqAF

  • Eye in the sky watches over JBB

    It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an aerostat?History was made June 3 as an aerostat, an Army asset, was launched for the first time by Airmen who were from the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.This is also the first aerostat to be launched at Joint Base Balad.An aerostat is an airship,

  • Flightline security ensures safety even off the runway

    The Airmen of the 466th Air Expeditionary Wing flightline security office keep the area immediately around the single runway of Kandahar Airfield safe, but on May 26 one team had the opportunity to use its skills away from the planes that constantly rumble in and out of KAF.That night, Staff Sgt.