Several US Air Force personnel deployed to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, recently got to tour a Kyrgyz air base, Frunze AB No. 1, and see their operations up close and personal. Officials say the event marked a “milestone in US and Kyrgyz Air Force relations.” The US airmen returned the courtesy two days later. Col. Randy Kee, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing commander at Manas, said, “The groundwork laid in these exchange visits between our two militaries is helping to make long strides forward in better and closer cooperation. … We’re building long-lasting relationships.”
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.