Daily Report

Dec. 16, 2008

“Severe Shortages”

That’s how officials with Air Force Reserve Command’s 908th Airlift Wing in Alabama describe the situation facing the wing which has tried for more than two years to fill nearly two dozen full-time air reserve technician positions, principally in aircraft...

On Shortlist?

Arizona state and local officials met with Air Force leaders last week to urge them to put the new F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter at Luke Air Force Base. In a Dec. 9 statement, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard...

Already a Problem at Nellis

According to a report in the Las Vegas Sun, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada has already altered flight patterns to accommodate area development and, despite newly enacted state law, is confronting renewed encroachment threats. The Sun notes that the...

Angel Thunder Underway

Billed as the world’s largest personnel recovery and combat search and rescue exercise, the two-week-long Angel Thunder ’08 kicked off last week and runs through Friday at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. Participating in the exercise are more than 850 ground recovery...

Flying, Mx Record for Iron Falcon

Aircrews and maintainers deployed from Eglin AFB, Fla., to Southwest Asia for the month-long Iron Falcon exercise set an exercise record for most aircraft available and highest fully mission capable rate. The 58th Fighter Squadron deployed 10 F-15s to participate...

Obama Taps Shinseki for VA

President-elect Obama has announced that he wants former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki to serve as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The Vietnam War veteran took an unpopular stance in the Donald Rumsfeld Pentagon when he warned that the...

Tallying the Cost of the Wars

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost the US a total of $904 billion, from 2001 to 2009, according to a new study released Monday by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. CSBA’s Steven Kosiak said he drew...

Dover Opens New Sim Facility

Delaware elected officials joined Air Force and Boeing personnel earlier this month to formally cut a ribbon for the new $23 million C-17 simulator facility at Dover AFB, Del. Boeing had delivered the Aircrew Training System to Dover last month,...

Airmen Missing from Vietnam War Identified

DOD’s POW/Missing Personnel Office announced Monday that the remains of four airmen who served during the Vietnam War had been identified. They were: Maj. Bernard L. Bucher, of Eureka, Ill.; Maj. John L. McElroy, of Eminence, Ky.; 1st Lt. Stephen...

C-17 Airdrop to Remote Site

Late last month, according to a Dec. 11 release from McChord AFB, Wash., airmen deployed to support Operation Deep Freeze in the Antarctic airdropped 30 bundles of fuel and other supplies from a C-17 to a scientific camp at Antarctic...

Briefer Briefs

The Air Force says that SSgt. Sarah Charles, the recruiter stabbed in New York City on Dec. 11, remains in stable condition; a Good Samaritan came to her rescue, according to this Newsday report. • TSgt. David Denton, a senior...

Air Sorties from SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaDec. 12-13, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 54 32 86 12,830 CAS/Armed Recon 82 120 202 35,615 Airlift 270 270 44,925 Air refueling 83 83 17,291 Total 641 110,661...