Lt. Col. Joseph Richardson received the 2007 Blacks in Government Meritorious Service Award during a ceremony earlier this month at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., reports SrA. Paul Ross. Richardson is the director of operations for the 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron and serves as an E-8C Joint STARS navigator. And, Maj. Phylinthia Givens of the Arkansas Air National Guard has been selected to receive the National Women of Color’s Technology All-Star Award. The 21-year-veteran of the Air Guard is the second African-American woman to become an officer in the Arkansas ANG, reports Maj. Magnolia Winkler. Givens is the Chief, Military Equal Opportunity Office at the 189th Airlift Wing.
More than two dozen U.S. Air Force fighters and tankers—including F-35s for the first time—are participating in what U.S. Air Forces in Europe calls the “premier” Nordic aerial exercise over the next two weeks.