Comm Officer Gets Bronze: Lt. Col. Glenn Rattell has received a Bronze Star for his leadership as deputy commander of the 506th Air Expeditionary Group, Kirkuk AB, Iraq, where he directed survival and recovery operations while under fire from more than 50 enemy attacks. Rattell, who now is serving as chief of the communications officer assignments branch at Air Force Personnel Center, recalls, “When you’re convoy comes under fire, obviously you’re nervous, but then the training kicks in and you do what you’re trained to do.”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.