The Air Force has flown a C-17 airlifter—burning nothing but a blend of synthetic and aviation fuels in its four engines—from Washington state to New Jersey, marking the first such transcontinental flight. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and a bunch...

At the latest count (Dec. 14), 838 lieutenants in eight specialties are vulnerable to the first Fiscal 2008 Force-Shaping Board, slated to meet on March 31. Out of that number, USAF expected to separate 124 officers, but it has gotten seven to voluntarily leave the service. The field with the biggest target number is communications and information, which must lose 39 out of 215 eligible officers. Next is the developmental engineer field, which now must separate 35 out of 311 eligible; four officers in this field already have elected to leave. (See chart) Overall, the Air Force has said it will cut fewer airmen in 2008 than it did in 2007 toward reaching its end-strength goal of 316,000, still the current publicly espoused number.

Missile maintenance airmen of the 341st Space Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., have replaced all guidance systems for the wing’s 150 Minuteman III ICBMs. The Malmstrom missileers finished ahead of Air Force Space Command’s two other Minuteman wings at Minot...

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) have taken the next step in their drive to straighten out a housing privatization mess that has stalled housing projects in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and Massachusetts. Last week, they and several...

Efforts to get the Air Force to consider establishing an associate arrangement between the Montana Air National Guard’s 120th Fighter Wing at the Great Falls Airport and Malmstrom Air Force Base are moving ahead, slowly. Sen. Max Baucus (D) and...

The California Congressional delegation, led by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), Sen. Diane Feinstein (D), and Rep. Wally Herger (R), sent Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne a letter, extolling the benefits the service would accrue from placing its new Cyber Command...

The Air Force has awarded a Bronze Star medal to SSgt. Tom Pilla, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal instructor with the 86th Construction and Training Squadron at Ramstein AB, Germany for his actions while deployed to Iraq. Pilla led an EOD...

Airmen around the world have extended the holiday spirit, providing needed supplies, toys, and their time. The 55th annual Operation Christmas Drop—spearheaded by Andersen AFB, Guam with airlift assistance from Yokota AB, Japan—delivered 18.5 tons of supplies and gifts over...

The airmen deployed to the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Aerial Port Flight at Balad AB, Iraq, moved 930 tons of cargo from 77 aircraft on a single day. That broke a record set in 2006 by more than 100...

Some 16 Air Force medics deployed to El Salvador for a US Southern Command medical readiness exercise that ended Dec. 13 treated 7,300 patients on the country’s southeastern coast. They got translation assistance from Peace Corp volunteers and spouses of...

Dec. 17, 2007 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total ISR 27 7 34 CAS/Armed Recon 52 39 91 Airlift 139 139 Air refueling 41 41 Total 79 46 180 305 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance Airlift includes Horn...