Combat weathermen at Balad AB, Iraq, find their work both rewarding and tough, reports Air Force journalist SSgt. Alice Moore. The “biggest challenge,” says MSgt. Michael Dannelly, NCOIC of Balad’s combat weather flight, is dust and sand. “It’s very difficult to predict the intensity and dispersal of the dust storms here,” he explained. Still, he said, “When you get an aircraft on the ground before a dust storm hits it’s a pretty satisfying feeling.”
Hundreds, or possibly thousands, of transgender service members have returned to work after two judges ordered preliminary injunctions blocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ban of transgender service members and recruits. But their long-term future remains uncertain.