AF kids

NORAD launches Santa tracker. We still have questions.

By Oriana Pawlyk on December 1, 2014 AF kids, Air Force, Air Force Space Command, budget cuts

Each year, North American Aerospace Defense Command launches a website that allows little children to track Santa. Other media outlets may think, “Wow, what a cute story,” but we at FlightLines/Air Force Times want to go deeper and ask the hard-hitting questions you’ve come to expect from the best Air Force news blog on the web. Here is what we want to know about Santa’s upcoming sortie: 1) Has Santa cut training due to sequestration? The Defense Department’s fiscal 2015 plan – over the sequester cap, calling for $115B more over the next four years – still sits in the…

64 Joint Base McGuire moms meet the Kardashians at Operation Shower event

By Kristin Davis on July 14, 2014 AF kids, Air Force, Air Mobility Command, Charity, Women

Sixty-four new and expecting moms at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey took home a new crib, a rocker seat, an air purifier, a $100 gift card and a host of other gifts while hobnobbing with Kim, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian of tabloid fame July 7. The event was courtesy of Operation Shower, a nonprofit that has hosted dozens of baby showers for over 1,600 military moms and families since its founding in 2007. The Kardashian sisters of E! network’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” hosted the July 7 shower at Battello, a waterfront restaurant in Jersey City. The 64…

Airman arrives just in time for daughter’s graduation

By Oriana Pawlyk on May 29, 2014 AF kids, Air Force

Prom season might be over, but for many, graduation is just around the corner. For Taylor Crafton, a student at Grand Forks Central High School in North Dakota, her graduation was more than just stepping into the next phase of her life. Crafton’s father, Chris, a chief master sergeant in the Air Force, wasn’t expected to attend the ceremony. The family even had a cardboard cutout of him made to sit in his place, WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks reported. But the surprise came as Taylor was about to receive her diploma — her dad ran to join her on stage.…

San Francisco’s ‘Batkid’ becomes pilot for a day

By Oriana Pawlyk on April 16, 2014 AF kids, Air National Guard, Uncategorized

He’s done it again! Five-year-old Miles Scott, notoriously known as “Batkid,” just defeated the villains once more — this time, with the help of some pilots and an F-15. Miles, a Tulelake, Calif. native, is in remission from leukemia, and, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, managed to turn his obsession with comic book heroes into the real thing in November when he became “Batkid.” Thousands of San Francisco residents showed up to cheer Miles on during his quest to save the city of San Francisco (or Gotham-for-the-Day). For this mission, Miles reported for duty at the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter…

Andrews hosts eight-year-old pilot through “Pilot for a Day” program

By Oriana Pawlyk on December 3, 2013 AF kids, Air Force, Air Force Reserve

They say it’s the little things in life that make a big difference. Ne’Veah Littleton, 8, was made a pilot for life through the “Pilot for a Day” program at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Nov. 22. Littleton was diagnosed in April with stage four Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a tumor on the brain stem, according to an Air Force release. The average survival of children diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG, is approximately nine months. Staff Sgt. Katie Spencer writes that members from Andrews, along with partners from the community, joined together to treat Littleton like a world-class…

Peterson Air Force Base connects kids to STEM

By Oriana Pawlyk on September 3, 2013 AF kids, Air Force, Air Force Space Command

Almost 70 percent of high school graduates are not ready for college-level science, according to the National Math + Science Initiative. With 54 percent of high school graduates not prepared for college-level math either, educators are calling this the “STEM crisis.” Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., recently put a new kind of emphasis on STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — fields by giving kindergarteners to eighth graders the opportunity to participate in various experiments and activities. Their “STEM Rocks!” event brought 2,000 parents and children to the base to launch rockets, make slime, drive miniature underwater rovers and…

Soldier? Airman? Either way, he’s back with his family

By Oriana Pawlyk on July 18, 2013 AF kids, Afghanistan, Air Force, Video

News outlets everywhere have been reporting that this soldier gave his family one big surprise, and in the quirkiest way. However, he’s not an Army guy. Captain Hyrum Bronson, an Air Force physician based at Kadena Air Base, Japan, had been deployed for six months serving in Afghanistan and wasn’t expected to return for another three weeks. With his early return, he decided to give his unsuspecting wife and kids one big surprise while they took a swim. Watch below: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXdIEbU_iZg[/youtube]

Fundraiser to help create film ‘A Child’s Guide to War’

By Kristin Davis on May 30, 2013 AF kids, Afghanistan, Iraq, Uncategorized

A fundraising campaign for a documentary on the lives of children affected by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan kicked off this Memorial Day and will end July 4. “A Child’s Guide to War” seeks to document the impact of the wars on children who may not remember a time when the U.S. was not in conflict, according to a news release from the film’s directors. Families who want to share their stories are invited to participate. “For the children who are helping their veteran parents walk again, to dealing with PTSD, and also those who simply have something important…

Storytime from basic

By Brian Everstine on October 25, 2011 AF kids, Air Force

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hst1jyT3A4c[/youtube] Youtube user telin21 uploaded this video of her 2-year-old daughter reacting to a pre-recorded video of her dad, who had left for two-months for Air Force basic training in Texas. It is ridiculously cute, and going viral. Uploaded yesterday, the video already has more than 120,000 views. From the description: Our daughter didn’t understand him leaving or how long he’d be gone, or if he’d come back. She’s so young and I didn’t want her to think he just vanished. Prior to his departure, he recorded several videos of him talking with her, reading to her, making silly faces,…

Biggest, best present ever

By David Larter on September 2, 2011 AF kids, Air Force, Video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOt8bQ5jn4w[/youtube] Kids always get excited when they see big gift-wrapped boxes with their names on them. But no matter how big or extravagant the gift, they always seem to get tired of playing with it at some point. Well, this little guy got a present that won’t be so quickly discarded and one he won’t forget, thanks to YouTube.

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