Air National Guard

Air Force pilots will be patrolling the skies above Levi’s Stadium Sunday as part of the security measures being put in place for this year’s Super Bowl. (U.S. Air Force photo by Roland Leach)

Super Bowl 50: F-15s to patrol skies after Blue Angels flyover

By Oriana Pawlyk on February 5, 2016 Air Combat Command, Air Force, Air National Guard, Football

Between the Navy’s Blue Angels, the Air Force’s Thunderbirds, and other various aircraft, flyovers for the Super Bowl have wowed audiences for decades. This year, the Blue Angels will open Super Bowl 50, at Levi’s Stadium, California, with their “signature six-jet Delta formation.” But during the game itself, there will be other aerial backup. Air Force F-15 Eagles from the California Air National Guard have been training for weeks leading up to the big game, the Air Force said. The fighter jets will be patrolling the skies for wandering aircraft who have flown into restricted airspaces (on Sunday, the skies…

Colorado guardsman named Broncos ‘man of the year’

By Brian Everstine on December 5, 2014 Air Force, Air Force Academy, Air National Guard

The Denver Broncos this week announced that offensive guard, and Colorado Air National Guard Capt. Ben Garland has been named their Walter Payton Man of the Year recipient. Garland, a public affairs officer with the 140th Wing at Buckley Air Force Base and Air Force Academy graduate, received the award for “outstanding leadership both on the field and in the community,” according to the team. Each NFL team names a player for the award, and one player will be named the award winner league-wide at the end of the season. Garland was selected both for his service and for founding…

Officer Training School graduates first total force class

By Oriana Pawlyk on October 21, 2014 Air Education and Training Command, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, PME

The first class to graduate from the new-and-improved Officer Training School marked a second celebration: they are the first class to graduate active duty, Reserve and Guard officer trainees at the same time. The first class of FY 2015 graduated 193 new 2nd lieutenants on Oct. 10, consisting of 73 active duty and 12 Reserve members completing Basic Officer Training and 108 ANG officers completing the Academy of Military Science, according to an Air Force release. This is the first time both active duty and reserve component officers simultaneously ran through the new eight week curriculum. The OTS curriculum was shortened…

Morale T-shirt rule will soon apply to Guard and Reserve members training on weekends

By Oriana Pawlyk on September 30, 2014 Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Uniforms

Morale undershirts and patches are one uniform change airmen are embracing to boost unit pride throughout the service. But “T-shirt Fridays” remains in limbo for stateside airmen in the Guard and Reserve. Pending wing commander approval, airmen are allowed to wear morale patches on their flight suits on Fridays or during special events, and can also wear specially designed unit T-shirts under their Airman Battle Uniform or flight suits. Airmen in the reserve components expressed that the Air Force “kind of missed the boat on the morale T-shirts for Friday only,” said Ruth Ewalt, chief of Air Force uniform programs in…

Guard C-130s busy battling wildfires

By Brian Everstine on August 4, 2014 Air Force, Air National Guard, Video

Two Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s are flying fire-suppression missions to help firefighters battle blazes in Idaho and Montana. The crews, assigned to the 153rd Airlift Wing based in Cheyenne, have flown two airdrops and discharged about 3,000 gallons of retardant at the Hard Creek fire in Idaho, four airdrops of about 9,000 gallons of retardant at the Thompson River fire in Montana and four airdrops of about 3,000 gallons of retardant at the Warland fire in Montana, according to the American Forces Press Service. Since July 20, Defense Department aircraft have flown 65 airdrops and dropped more than 114,300 gallons…

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…

Missouri Guardsmen complete first U.S. drop of paratroopers in Cameroon

By Brian Everstine on April 1, 2014 Air Force, Air National Guard, Uncategorized, Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4UoaitLUmE The Defense Department recently posted this video of a C-130 from the Missouri Air National Guard’s 139th Airlift Wing dropping soldiers from Cameroon during “Exercise Central Accord 2014.” It’s the first ever airdrop of soldiers from that country by U.S. forces, according to the Defense Department. Central Accord included more than 450 U.S. troops, along with military and civilian participants from Cameroon, Burundi, Chad, Gabon, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, the Netherlands and the U.S., according to U.S. Army- Africa. The exercise is one of many recent operations by the Air Force in Africa with the aim of building…

Grass: Principle of one Guard flying wing per state likely to end

By Brian Everstine on September 18, 2013 Air Force, Air National Guard, UAV

The Air National Guard will be forced to move away from the “capstone principle” of one flying unit per state as budgets continue to cut, with more units changing missions away from manned flight. As opposed to flying mobility and fighter aircraft, states will now see more remotely piloted aircraft and cyber warfare units, said Army Gen. Frank Grass, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said today at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. “The future is each state may not have a manned flying mission any more,” Grass said. The process began…

Shelton: Air Force cyber mission teams will have 1,260 airmen

By Oriana Pawlyk on September 18, 2013 Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, budget cuts, Space, Technology

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. — Air Force cyber mission teams supporting U.S. Cyber Command will be comprised of about 1,260 airmen, the head of Air Force Space Command said Tuesday. Gen. William Shelton said that while an earlier projection may have called for 1,500 airmen, that was still being talked about in the leadership circles. “After several briefings involving the services, the Joint Staff and U.S. Cyber Command, 1,264 was the number agreed to as the Air Force share of the overall requirement for the cyber mission force,” Shelton said at the Air Force Association Air & Space Conference. “That is…

This week in history

By Oriana Pawlyk on August 30, 2013 Air National Guard, History

Reviewing history in the military, the Air Force and triumphs and misadventures in airpower. Yesterday marked the eighth anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina hammered through New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 people. Thousands of National Guard troops from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were on duty from that day forward. The Air Guard’s participation in the Katrina rescue effort resulted in 1,282 victims rescued on the ground by Air Guard pararescuemen and an additional 161 by Air Guard rescue helicopters, according to a report by David P. Anderson, National Guard Bureau. Air Guard combat controllers evacuated…

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