It was the 14th Airlift Squadron of Charleston AFB, S.C., that was flying Vice President Dick Cheney on his Southwest Asia tour last month when the Vice President became the object of a suicide bomber attack at Bagram AB, Afghanistan. Cheney stayed there overnight due to poor weather. USAF journalist Shauna Heathman reports that within an hour of the red alert on the morning of Feb. 27, the Charleston crew had Cheney back on the C-17 on his way to Kabul for a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. It was the first time the 14th AS had flown such a high-ranking VIP.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.