Pacific Air Forces has proclaimed itself the energy reduction king of major commands for 2006, saying it has reduced its energy use by 17 percent below a 2003 baseline. In large part, officials say, the command’s success relies on airmen to be energy conscious, since the far-flung command’s weather extremes make one, all encompassing approach impractical. PACAF also is at the forefront of USAF’s drive to shift to alternative fuels, having opened a hydrogen-generating station last fall.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.