The man responsible for overseeing the shutdown of operations at Karshi-Khanabad, Uzbekistan—CMSgt. Phillip Cherry—has received a Bronze Star for his efforts at K-2 and subsequent work at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan. The senior NCO received his award earlier this month before leaving Manas, where he served as command chief for the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing. Cherry now is assigned as command chief at Tinker AFB, Okla.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.