TSgt. Mark Brady, an explosive ordnance disposal team leader with the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron at Andersen AFB, Guam, received a Bronze Star Medal on Aug. 27 for his meritorious service during a six-month deployment to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, that began last September. Brady, then a staff sergeant, is credited with helping to destroy more than 2,500 pieces of ordnance and supervising and mentoring two EOD operators during more than 50 combat missions during his time assigned to Balad’s 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron. (Andersen report by SrA. Shane Dunaway)
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.