The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star medal to TSgt. Cohen Young, a photojournalist assigned to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, for his actions while deployed to Iraq. He served as a combat cameraman, often operating outside the wire with dismounted patrols on combat and humanitarian missions. During one mission, Young helped provide emergency medical care to coalition personnel wounded by an explosion in an office building in Sadr City, where Iraqis had come to vote in a district election. The Army also awarded Young a Commendation Medal with Valor device and two Army Achievement Medals. (Hickam report by SSgt. Mike Meares)
Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for…