Members of the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, renamed the wing’s newly acquired Canada 9 compound—a forward operating base in the country—in honor of fallen joint terminal attack controller SrA. Bradley Smith. “We wanted to name the camp after someone who had done something extraordinary and whose actions were heroic and courageous,” said SrA. Joshua Leibold, naming committee chair. Simultaneously hit with mortar fire and an improvised explosive device, Smith braved machine gun fire to recover two wounded comrades. Smith continued to call in air support and care for the wounded, returning fire all the while. Returning for a third member of the patrol, Smith was killed instantly by a second IED. He posthumously received the Silver Star medal. “We’re very proud to have one of our Air Force camps named after one of our finest,” said CMSgt. Eric Kibby, 807th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron superintendent. (Kandahar report by SSgt. David Carbajal)
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
