The 362nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at JB Balad, Iraq, has flown its 5,000th combat sortie over that nation. The MC-12W unit conducted its first mission in June 2009 and needed less than 18 months to reach the 5,000 mark last week on Dec. 30. Being on that sortie was “an awesome experience,” said SrA. Nicholas Corbett, one of the squadron’s airborne sensor operators. He added, “We’ve done a lot of good things out here.” MC-12s carry a crew of four, along with imagery sensors and electronic eavesdropping equipment, to provide ground commanders at the tactical level with near real-time intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance information. The 362nd ERS was the first MC-12 operational unit, but today, there are two additional squadrons in the war theater, both in Afghanistan: the 4th ERS at Bagram Airfield and the 361st ERS at Kandahar Airfield. (Balad report by SrA. Tong Duong)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. still “believes” in his mantra of “Accelerate Change or Lose”—and indicated the doctrinal changes it produced when he was Air Force Chief of Staff played a role in the service’s recent response to Iran’s aerial assault on Israel, he…