A C-17 lifted two 25,000-pound Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles from an austere airstrip at Forward Operating Base Farah, in western Afghanistan. “The interesting part of this was landing on the semi-prepared field, which is a dirt runway,” said Maj. Wes Skenfield, 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron pilot deployed from JB Lewis-McChord, Wash., in discussing the May 10 mission. “It all came together really well, and actually the conditions were better than I expected,” he added. The provincial reconstruction team at Farah no longer needed the MRAP all-terrain vehicles, “so we are giving them to another unit,” said Army Capt. Terell Jones, PRT logistics boss at the FOB. “It has been a really long time since a C-17 landed here, but the mission was a success as a result of the coordination between the different services,” added Jones. (Farah report by Navy Lt. Benjamin Addison)
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…