SrA. Sarah McRae has managed to amass 1,000 combat hours as an airborne maintenance technician—a feat that in normal times would take such techs eight years. SSgt. Mike Andriacco reports McRae did it in two. She is with the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., and reached the thousand hour mark while deployed to Afghanistan. Squadron commander Lt. Col. Richard Fojtik credits McRae and her cohorts with keeping the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft at a phenomenal 97 percent mission capable rate over the past four years.
Celebrating 100 Years of Liquid-Fueled Rockets
March 11, 2026
March 16, 2026, marks 100 years since Dr. Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket. Over the past century, new and ever more capable liquid-fueled rockets have literally propelled humanity into space. Why liquid-fueled rockets?