Just in time for the New Hampshire primary, airmen have been advised to keep their politics at bay – at least on their social media pages. The Air Force last week released this social media guidelines video reminding airmen that it’s easy to get pulled into political rhetoric on Twitter, Facebook and other social sites, which has bearing on their uniformed service. Defense Department regulations have long mandated that service members abstain from partisan political activities, such as marching in political parades, wearing the uniform to political campaign events or campaigning for a specific candidate. But in 2016, this includes…
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Lt. Gen. Jack L. Rives, Air Force judge advocate general, pins the Meritorious Service Medal on Col. Lindsey Graham in a Pentagon ceremony April 28, 2009. In addition to being a U.S. senator from South Carolina, Colonel Graham is an individual mobilization augmentee and the senior instructor at the Air Force JAG School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, is hanging up his Air Force blues. Graham, who has served as a judge advocate general in the Air Force Reserves since 1995 and had previously been on both active duty and the South Carolina Air National Guard, is turning 60 this summer, and hitting the mandatory retirement age. “Although I would cherish the opportunity to continue to serve, I know that the time has come for me to end my service and transfer to the retired reserves,” Graham, a colonel and senior individual mobilization augmentee to the judge advocate general, said in a statement…
Maj. Gen. Stayce D. Harris, Commander, 22nd Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, at Nationals Park on April 16, 2015 to be recognized during the Washington Nationals Black Heritage Night. (Jennifer Milbrett/Staff)
To celebrate the Air Force Reserve’s birthday and black heritage day in Major League Baseball, the Air Force sent out an airmen who represents both. Maj. Gen. Stayce Harris, commander of 22nd Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, presented the first pitch at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., to commemorate her service, the command and diversity both in the Air Force and out. “They asked would I be willing to help celebrate the Air Force Reserve’s 67th birthday at a Nationals game? I said ‘Of course I would, I would be honored,” Harris said.…
Ret. Air Force Colonel Martha McSally won Arizona's 2nd Congressional District Wednesday, becoming another proponent of the A-10. (AP photo/arizona daily star, kelly presnell)
Republican Martha McSally beat incumbent Ron Barber on Wednesday after a recount to take over Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District. McSally, a retired Air Force colonel who flew A-10s over Iraq and Kuwait, picked up six more votes to give her a 167 votes victory, according to RollCall. McSally joins the coalition of congressional members — which include Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. — rallying to preserve the A-10. McSally criticized Barber during the race saying he “was asleep at the switch while the obvious threat of the A-10 retirement grew on his watch,” according to the Arizona Daily…
Air Force Lieutenant General Susan Helms has been appointed for a new job almost one year after applying for retirement. Helms retired after her nomination for vice commander of Space Command was blocked by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. President Obama announced on Sept. 25 that he intends to appoint Helms to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars board of trustees. The center is government think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The position would be a new start for Helms’ career. The prominent Democratic lawmaker blocked Helms’ nomination in April 2013 because Helms overturned the sexual assault conviction of Capt.…
Many observed President Obama pay homage at the Pentagon yesterday to the nearly 3,000 victims who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. But by nightfall, another commemoration ceremony was gathering — 50 service members joined together to give each rep, each lunge, each workout move in honor of the victims who died 13 years ago. Army Staff Sgt. River Mitchell, a chef in the secretary of defense mess at the Pentagon, planned the workout of the day — or “9/11 Tribute WOD” — so that his fellow comrades could test their strength on behalf of the fallen in a unique way,…
An airman was one of five medics and corpsmen who were honored last week at the 8th annual ‘Angels of the Battlefield’ gala sponsored by the Armed Services YMCA in Washington, D.C. Gen. Larry Spencer, Air Force vice chief of staff, presented the ‘Angel’ award on behalf of the Air Force to Senior Airman Taylor Renfro. Renfro, 23, received the award for providing life-saving treatment during her career as an Air Force medic. Renfro herself was saved by another medic in May 2013 when her vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. Severely injured, the Jacksonville, Ill.,…
By Oriana Pawlyk and wire reports As three of the four remaining Doolittle Raiders honored one another with a toast Saturday, Nov. 9, veterans, active-duty members, family and friends toasted to the Raiders’ last gathering at the American Veterans Center annual awards gala in Washington, D.C. The 80 men who risked their lives on a World War II bombing mission on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor were honored in Ohio with a wreath laying ceremony and a B-25 flyover that morning, followed by the toast at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Hennessy donated 48 bottles…
Reviewing history in the military, the Air Force and triumphs and misadventures in airpower. In October 1861, the Union Army Balloon Corps was activated as part of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Balloon Corps was essentially an early form of reconnaissance conducted from a hot air balloon. How did this idea come about? Aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe was in the middle of experimenting a transatlantic crossing by hot air balloon. With the onset of the war, his attempts were interrupted. Instead, he was introduced to President Abraham Lincoln and offered his aviation expertise – he gave Lincoln…
Lt. Col. (Dr.) Chad Hivnor, 59th Medical Specialty Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is helping wounded warriors regain strength and confidence with a new approach — lasers. Hivnor will receive the Air Force Association’s Paul W. Myers Award for his work using pulsed dye lasers and carbon dioxide fractional lasers to improve skin conditions on wounded warriors, according to a release. He is also the only dermatologist in the Air Force taking patients to the operating room to treat severe burns that involves anywhere from 10 to 80 percent of their body surface area. How does the treatment work? “By…
