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…
Author Kristin Davis
Lying on an embankment where the brown bear left her, Jessica Gamboa knew she needed to move. Blood pulsed from the wound on her neck. Her head ached. The gash in her thigh was muscle deep. If she was going to die, Gamboa resolved, she would do it in a place where someone was likely to discover her. Less than 30 minutes before, Gamboa and her soldier husband had set out for a short run along a trail at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Gamboa was training for a half-marathon and wanted to break in the bright orange running shoes she’d…
Hundreds attended a May 22 memorial service at Aviano Air Base, Italy, for a master sergeant who died in a motorcycle accident earlier this month. Master Sgt. John Colpoys Jr., 39, a transient alert technician, was a 20-year Air Force veteran who’d served at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona; Misawa Air Base in Japan and Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany before arriving at Aviano in 2011, according to a news release from the base. He died May 14 in Budoia, Italy. “After talking to the people who knew him most, I got to know John,” Maj. Franklyn Shepherd, 31st Maintenance…
The Air Force is reminding airmen to think before they act, lest it end up online for posterity. “You may know a few of our fellow Airmen (and Soldiers) recently made news headlines for all the wrong reasons,” Christa D’Andrea, an Air Force Recruiting Service spokeswoman wrote this week. “Within the last few weeks photos that were taken several years ago popped up on a number of official Air Force Facebook pages, including ours. These photos show Airmen acting in a way that is utterly disrespectful and is not consistent with the Air Force’s core values.” D’Andrea was referring to, among…
Voting is underway in a Military Health System competition that challenged service members to make an anti-smoking video. Two of the five “Fight the Enemy” video finalists were created by airmen. “A Drag on Life,” by airmen at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., is told from the perspective a man-sized cigarette who first becomes friends with “John” during a stressful moment. The cigarette trails after John as he goes about his daily life — exercising, hanging out with friends and trying to buy a car. The video ends with the cigarette looking for a new friend after John ends up…
An online fundraiser for the family of a special tactics airman who died in a parachuting accident Friday exceeded its first goal of $25,000 within 12 hours. A day and a half later, the donations had doubled. Early this afternoon, the fundraiser, organized by the Tactical Air Control Party Association, neared $65,000 in donations – signifying the impact of the life and tragic death of Master Sgt. Josh Gavulic, association president Charlie Keebaugh said. Gavulic, a TACP member assigned to the 17th Special Tactics Squadron at Fort Benning, Ga., was killed during free-fall proficiency training in Eloy, Ariz. He leaves behind his…
An Air Force firefighter at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is being heralded a hero after he aided a young man in a horrific vehicle crash and helped the first responders who arrived a few minutes later. Tech. Sgt. Jesse Roen, a 343rd Recruiting Squadron enlisted accessions recruiter, was making the 100-mile drive from Duluth, Minn., to Hurley, Wis., in wintry weather Feb. 4 when a pickup passed him, according to an Air Force news release. “I remember telling myself that this guy is going to be in a ditch due to the road conditions,” the news release quoted Roen as saying.…
For at least the second time, an Air Force brochure that told victims of sexual assault “it may be advisable to submit than resist” has made it into a Hollywood story line. Season 2 of “House of Cards” — Netflix’s blockbuster political drama released Feb. 14 — takes on the familiar topic of sexual assault in the military. There is a watershed moment when the issue makes national headlines followed by calls for reform to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Some want moderate changes and others call for a total overhaul — including an independent justice system. Those in…
Police have credited an active-duty airman with stopping a would-be robber from making off with nearly $26,000 worth of watches at a TJ Maxx store in Evesham, N.J., Sunday evening. This video, released by the Evesham Police Department, shows a man in dark clothes, a ski mask and gloves throwing a large rock through a glass jewelry case. About half-through the 42-second clip, the airman, in civilian clothes, appears in the frame. As the robber tries to make a run for it, the airman tackles him to the ground. The robber ultimately gets away – but not before his ski…
