Two airmen assigned to RAF Mildenhall AB, Britain, have been awarded Bronze Star medals for their individual contributions to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Maj. Chris Hermann received his medal on July 30 for his activities during a 12-month tour in Baghdad with the Multi-national Security Transition Command-Iraq that concluded in June. He served as an air planner advisor and Iraqi special operations force’s air advisor. Maj. Joe Wildman, accepted his medal on Aug. 1 (and was promoted to major on that day) for his work with Multi-National Forces-Iraq during a seven-month deployment that concluded in February. He was an operations officer and deputy director of the law and order detachment with responsibility for protecting US and Iraqi officials and international dignitaries in Baghdad’s international green zone. (Mildenhall report by TSgt. Eric Petosky)
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.