The commander of the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron at Andersen AFB, Guam, has received a Bronze Star for his actions during a six-month tour in Iraq in 2004. Lt. Col. Pete Ridilla, who served as commander of an Air Force engineer detachment working with the Ohio Army National Guard, led 58 airmen from various bases in completing 350 jobs directed by the Army, including building schools, bridges, prison camps, hospitals, and more. His detachment traveled 15,000 convoy miles on this deployment, during which they encountered more than 300 mortar and rocket attacks. He said, “I’m very proud of the deployment. We did life altering work … we did some awesome work.” (Andersen report by SSgt. Angelique Smythe)
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.