Air Force and Army engineers have shepherded a new runway project for Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan for about two years, formally opening the $68 million project Dec. 20. The old Russian-built runway required daily repair and simply was not up to the high volume of traffic seen at this central Afghan hub. Coalition and Afghan officials opened the new runway, built by an Egyptian company using workers from Egypt and Afghanistan. It’s longer and thicker to accommodate even the behemoth C-5 airlifter and jumbo jets.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…