The 2014 Warrior Games concluded Oct. 4 at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Air Force athletes brought home the third-highest medal count across the six-day competition with 48 medals—16 each gold, silver, and bronze. Army competitors earned 71 medals and Marine Corps competitors won 54. The Air Force’s Capt. Mitchell Kieffer was named the overall ultimate champion, and TSgt. Lara Ishikawa, another airman, took second. “I’m looking out at that crowd of the warriors and their families and the support agencies, and you know, it’s not a cliché to say how proud we are of them,” said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We’re humbled by the recognition of their sacrifices [and] what they’ve done to overcome some of the wounds that they suffered.” Approximately 200 wounded, ill, and injured service members and veterans representing the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations traveled to Colorado Springs to compete in archery, cycling, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair basketball.
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.
