Troops flying into Southwest Asia are met with calls for volunteers to assist the scarce aerial porters of the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron in unloading baggage. The 8th EAMS calls it a simple necessity to handle the flow of some 35,000 troops in and out of SWA each month. The squadron only needs 30 volunteers to offload the baggage, placing it on waiting trucks. However, the other military passengers don’t get away clean; they have to help take the bags off the trucks. Said SSgt. Vickie Sennet, a personnel specialist on her third SWA deployment, “Having done this before, I pretty much knew what to expect.”
Airmen from the California Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves brushed up on their aerial firefighting skills late last month in preparation for the 2024 wildfire season, which could see fires break out across North America.