SrA. James A. Hansen, 25, of Athens, Mich., died Wednesday of wounds suffered during a controlled detonation at JB Balad, Iraq, the Defense Department has announced. Hansen was assigned to the 46th Operations Support Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla. He was one of the roughly 6,000 airmen still in Iraq supporting Operation New Dawn, the advise-and-assist mission that supplanted Operation Iraqi Freedom on Sept. 1. (DOD release)
An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the Texas Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing crashed during a training mission in Michigan on Sept. 17. The fighter's sole pilot ejected and is in stable condition at a local hospital.
