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Commentary Search

  • River of life carries us through deployment

    As you make your way past the middle of October, maybe your thoughts carry you back to a place where life is not filled with such interesting events such as the kind that occur here on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Fall brings to our minds various sights, sounds and smells. Where I come from in

  • Stride toward saving your own life: Breast Cancer Awareness

    Did you know anyone can develop breast cancer? Did you know the National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 207,090 new breast cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2010? Did you know October is National Breast Cancer awareness month? Right now there are more than two million women

  • Our Airmen are true American heroes

    As we begin our 10th year of the war, it never ceases to amaze me at how our Airmen are stepping up to the challenges we face. Despite the longest sustained combat operations in American history, we continue to meet or exceed our retention goals and the service has developed into arguably the most

  • Kandahar Air Wing's First Anniversary

    On Oct. 5, 2010, the Kandahar Air Wing celebrated their first anniversary in high Afghan style. Over 350 Afghan military and community leaders and NATO personnel attended the celebration luncheon that was capped off with presentations to the Wing's Annual Award winners.The ceremony marked the

  • Do the 'wave,' connect as wingmen

    Walking across camp with your head down, lost in a moment of thought ... All of a sudden, you see someone walking in the distance and you recognize the combination of stride, sunglasses and stylish reflective belt. You lift a hand to wave and are answered back by the same gesture. How do you feel

  • Manage risks, prevent mishaps

    There's no doubt about it: our profession as Airmen in the U.S. Air Force is dangerous business. We send America's best and brightest into harm's way on a daily basis in any number of different scenarios and tend to downplay the risks involved. Tragically, every once in a while we are reminded of

  • Mi-17 Goes on the Offensive

    The Afghan Air Force performed its first Mi-17 Live Fire at the Kabul Military Training Center in Kabul on August 1, 2010.This was the first validation of the training syllabus from the Russian manuals for the Mi-17. Two helicopters performed live firing at the KMTC range, one Mi-17 and one Mi-35.

  • Afghan Airmen graduate maintenance course

    On Jun. 28, 2010, the Afghan Air Force graduated six new Airmen and one officer for their Vehicle Maintenance course. The Airmen graduated from a 6-month basic vehicle maintenance course that focused on basic maintenance on the Ford Ranger truck, passenger bus, Humvee and wrecker training.The

  • "The hardest part about saying hello..."

    With my eyes closed and head tilted back, I held on to the sides of my seat on a C-130 along with the others who are deploying with me, wondering if they are thinking the same thing I am thinking, "I'm on the way to Sather Air Base, Baghdad, to meet new faces in a new environment with new hearts to

  • I'll call him "Rick."

    I'll call him "Rick.", in the words of his military friends and co-workers, Rick was one of the greatest guys you'd ever want to meet: A hard working NCO in a high operations tempo unit, a family man, a compassionate friend always seeking opportunities to help others in his unit succeed. Rick was