The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star Medal to SMSgt. Peter Casiano, assigned to the American Forces Network at Yokota AB, Japan, for his work while deployed to Afghanistan in 2006. Casiano worked with a Provisional Reconstruction Team, serving as a media advisor to local Afghani officials to help them communicate effectively with the local populace, developing radio programs for two provincial governors. During his tour he also helped secure a convoy under attack and escorted a medic to help recover wounded troops.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.


