Lt. Col. Duston Ashton and Maj. Nichole Oliver, both of Air University’s LeMay Center at Maxwell AFB, Ala., on Nov. 13 received Bronze Star Medals for their meritorious service during deployments to Iraq. Ashton, an instructor in the LeMay Center’s warfighting education directorate, served for a year in Baghdad as a training program manager. His efforts resulted in Iraq’s first three student pilot training classes and the commissioning of 275 Iraqi cadets. Oliver, the joint intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance doctrine branch chief in the LeMay Center’s doctrine development directorate, was the chief of operations to the intelligence director in a joint task force in Iraq. Her intelligence support led to decisive combat operations against enemy leadership. (Maxwell report by Capt. Jenny Lovett)
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…