The US Army is considering how multi-component units might help it achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch for the first time.
The pilot program took shape at the same time a commission tasked with examining the future force structure of the Army was also deeply examining possible ways to make greater use of multi-component units, made of both full-time troops and reservists. The service began implementing the plan in October, attaching a small group of active and Reserve pilots to already existing fixed-wing aerial exploitation battalions at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia.
The milk aisle has been changing over the past few years, and there’s a growing number of options. But what do the newer types of milk mean for your heart health?
Wayne Steven “Pugs” Pagdilao, 60, of Waipahu, a Hawaii Stevedores Inc. employee and a Hawaii Air National Guard veteran, passed away on January 4, 2016. He was born in Honolulu.
He is survived by wife Donna J., son Dwayne, brother James and sisters Helene Kiyono, Rosalinda Jose and LaVerna Quiocho.
Visitation: 6 p.m. Feb. 3 at Mililani Mortuary-Waipio, mauka chapel. Services: 6:30 p.m. Additional visitation: 9:30 a.m. Feb. 4 at St. Jude Catholic Church, 92-455 Makakilo Drive. Mass: 11 a.m. Burial: 1 p.m. at Valley of the Temples. Aloha attire. Flowers welcome.
A US Army force of 980,000 is “minimally sufficient” for maintaining national security and the National Guard should keep some attack helicopters, the National Commission on the Future of the Army declared in a new report.
These are among 63 recommendations the commission made in a major report released Thursday ahead of its congressionally mandated Feb. 1 deadline.
A F-22 Raptor, from the 199th Fighter Squadron, increases altitude shortly after taking off from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Aaron Oelrich
The secretary of the air force has become the latest official to douse hopes of restarting Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor production, which was capped at 187 aircraft and closed in 2011.
The tooling and equipment needed to produce the twin-engine air-superiority fighter, which was barred from export because of its sophistication, remain in storage along with video instructions for various assembly processes.
28 January 1986, 11:38:00 a.m. (EST): The Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Mission STS-51L.
Congress passed legislation for a new veterans ID card last summer, but it will likely be another year before any are issued.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun drafting regulations for production and issuing of the ID cards, designed to give veterans easy proof of their military service for non-federal activities.
The charity for wounded veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project, is facing accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to a CBS News report.
Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News he admired the charity’s work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years
From the Military.com website
Everyone knows about the federal benefits available to veterans, but did you know many states also offer great benefits to their veterans? State benefits range from free college and employment resources to free hunting and fishing licenses. Most states also offer tax breaks for their veterans and specialized license plates, some states even provide their veterans with cash bonuses just for serving in the military.
Thanks to Gordon Lau for submitting this article
Since the Gulf War, the role the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard play in operations has drastically changed, moving from a back-up component to an integrated and essential part of today’s military.
Several active duty service leaders that Air Force Times spoke with said that they can’t carry out missions today without support from the reserve components — something that began in Desert Storm.
“In Desert Storm…we called in the National Guard,” said Kenneth Bray, the associate director of intelligence for Air Combat Command.
From a Military.com article
It is permissible for veterans and retirees to wear military awards on civilian clothes for gatherings of a military theme. On significant holidays, veterans and retirees are encouraged to wear their awards and medals. The choice of either full-size medal or miniature is an individual one.
Retired personnel and former members of the military may wear all categories of medals on appropriate civilian clothing. This includes clothes designed for veteran and patriotic organizations. The medals may be worn on:
+ Veteran’s Day
+ Memorial Day
+ Armed Forces Day
+ formal occasions of ceremony
+ social functions of a military nature.
Personnel may wear either full-sized or miniature medals. Personnel who wear medals on civilian clothes should place the medals on the clothing in approximately the same location and in the same manner as for the uniform, so they look similar to medals worn on the uniform.
Paul A. Steinmeier, 69, of Kailua, a Veritiv Corp. sales account executive and an Army National Guard veteran, passed away on November 24, 2015. He was born in Los Angeles.
He is survived by wife Sally Winter; sons Mathew, Nicholas and Timothy; daughter Margaret; and brothers David, Timothy and James.
Services: 9:30 a.m. Jan. 30 at Lanikai Beach, access from 93-A Mokulua and Kaiolena drives, parking at Lanikai Association Park, Kaiolena Drive.
The SR-71 is unofficially known as the “Blackbird.”
Click on photograph to enlarge
Since its establishment in 1955, the Groom Lake airfield at Edwards Air Force Base—better known as Area 51—has hosted the development of some of the most exotic and advanced aircraft the world has ever seen. These so-called black projects, named for their ultra-classified nature, have produced planes like the SR-71 Blackbird, which is still the fastest and highest-operating aircraft ever built (that we know about); the F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first stealth attack aircraft; and the RQ-170, a mysterious and seldom-seen aerial reconnaissance UAV.
Last Sunday, January 17 marked the 25th anniversary of the start of Operation Desert Storm, the US-led coalition war to reverse Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and prevent the seizure of other neighboring Persian Gulf States. United Nations resolutions and a US ultimatum demanded President Saddam Hussein withdraw his forces from Kuwait. When he did not comply, Desert Storm was unleashed.
The first aircraft to launch on Jan. 16, 1991, were B-52 bombers from Barksdale AFB, La., armed with a then-secret weapon, the AGM-86C Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile, the first to use satellite guidance. Navy ship-launched Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles were also in the mix, as were F-117 stealth attack aircraft, never previously flown against modern air defenses, which began what would become routine strikes on heavily-protected Baghdad.
The weapons released struck high-value targets in Iraq, including radars and command-and-control nodes, beginning a six-week air campaign by some 1,800 aircraft from 12 countries. The air campaign destroyed Iraqi infrastructure, troop formations, and hundreds of individual armored vehicles.
It was followed by a 100-hour ground war, prosecuted by some 540,000 troops from 31 countries, which saw all Iraqi forces expelled from Kuwait. Desert Storm introduced stealth, precision-guided munitions, widespread use of space assets, and parallel warfare to the practice of modern war.
It was followed by 12 years of aerial blockade of Iraq, called Northern and Southern Watch, which came to an end when the US launched Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
See also 25 Years at War from the January issue of Air Force Magazine
