Air Mobility Command C-17 maintainers deployed to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, have seen their C-17s through 1,000 combat sorties during a single Air and Space Expeditionary Force rotation. That is more than any C-17 operation to date, reports the Ganci Gazette. The Manas airmen, from various AMC bases, maintained the C-17s through a variety of missions, comprising almost 50 percent of all airlift support for operations in Afghanistan. Work to set up the aerial delivery system and logistics rails for the first combat airdrop by the Manas-based C-17s took crew chief SrA. Chris Johnston 18 hours to complete. He says, “I’ve worked on many airdrop missions before, but I can’t remember a mission where so many people banded together.”
Unit commanders are being told to separate service members who can’t shave their cheeks and chin for medical reasons for more than a year, according to new guidance from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
