Airmen from the 7th Weather Squadron’s Det. 7 at Grafenwohr, Germany, recently trained to forecast avalanches in Arabba, Italy, reports Stars and Stripes. Both Air Force and Army commanders in Europe felt the training might be useful for US forces headed to Afghanistan or other countries with mountainous terrain. Some 20 USAF combat weathermen and Army Special Forces trained with Italian instructors from the Italian Army’s Commando Truppe Alpine Metomont Service, a group that was formed after nine Italian alpine troops died in an avalanche.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…