Among governors who have made trips to Southwest Asia to visit with deployed military members are Tim Pawlenty from Minnesota and Janet Napolitano of Arizona. The two were at Balad AB, Iraq, last week on a tour with National Guard Bureau chief Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum. Pawlenty got to meet with airmen from the Minnesota ANG’s 148th Fighter Wing. Meanwhile, Napolitano visited the Air Force Theater Hospital and talked with Air Force maintainers and rescue personnel, as well as soldiers in an Army transportation unit.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.