SSgt. Aime Gaona, now an intelligence analyst at Luke AFB, Ariz., received two Purple Hearts for injuries and bravery while serving in Iraq, reports a recent USAF release. Gaona, serving as a weapons intel team member, was injured during an October 2006 operation targeting an improvised explosive device manufacturer. Her Humvee hit an IED, giving her a concussion and a minor wound from a fragment, but Gaona kept working to capture evidence at the scene to help thwart future attacks. In December 2006, while Gaona worked as part of a team responding to an IED report near Kirkuk, an enemy sniper shot her in the leg, fracturing her femur. With that injury, the airman had to return to the states.
New B-52 Radar Makes First Flight
Dec. 12, 2025
The Air Force’s radar modernization effort for the B-52 Stratofortress entered flight testing recently, a “milestone” for the once over-budget system that senior leaders call the start of a new era for the Cold War bomber.
