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  • Commentary: Count to five for savvy social media

    From a tweet on Twitter to a picture on Facebook, social media has become for many the best and fastest way to let friends and family know the skinny at Joint Base Balad, Iraq during your deployment here.I'm ignorant on the workings of Facebook, Myspace and Twitter (why are postings called "tweets"

  • NCO ensures fuel quality meets standards

    Wearing an industrial apron and goggles, the sergeant nearly looks the part of a mad scientist as he goes about his tasks in a trailer full of shiny diagnostic equipment at this undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. But instead of trying to cause chaos, his job is to ensure everything moves

  • Afghan Airmen host USAF birthday celebration

    Afghans hosted an Air Force birthday celebration for their American counterparts Sept. 19 at the Kandahar Air Wing, Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan."We are delighted to share this event with our fellow Airmen," said Brig. Gen. Paul Johnson, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing commander. "This is a special

  • RPAT: Responsibly moving equipment out of Iraq

    Airmen assigned to RPAT here have been working alongside Soldiers, contractors and Department of the Army civilians to ensure equipment leaving Iraq gets to its proper location, and in a usable condition as U.S. Forces continue to drawdown forces as well as equipment in Iraq.First Lt. Kimberly

  • Airmen at VBC celebrate AF's 63rd birthday

    More than 200 servicemembers attended the Air Force's 63rd birthday celebration at the base's Moral Welfare and Recreation tent, Sept. 18, 2010. Brig. Gen. Scott Hanson, director of the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission - Air Force, and commander of the 321st Air Expeditionary Wing, was in

  • Balad remembers a fallen friend

    Servicemembers from across Joint Base Balad, Iraq, gathered at MWR-East for a memorial service Sept. 19, 2010, in memory of a fallen comrade.Senior Airman James Hansen, 332nd Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron airfield manager, died Sept. 15, 2010, during an ordnance disposal operation."We

  • First joint Afghan-American effort moves patients from Kandahar

    Afghans and Airmen came together Sept. 12 to transfer patients from the Kandahar Regional Military Hospital for an aeromedical evacuation mission from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.This is not a new mission for the Afghan flight medics, but this is their first time partnering with Airmen from the

  • "Jackals" keep Galaxies, Globemasters flying through Iraq

    Maintainers with the 521st Air Mobility Operations Group, Detachment 5, also known as the "Jackals," have kept on their toes maintaining C-5 Galaxies and C-17 Globemaster III's passing through Iraq, ensuring they are in "tip top" shape to keep troops and cargo moving through safely. "We've got C-5s