Kandahar Rigging for Surge: 
A C-130J transport operating with the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (activated last winter) from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on Jan. 27 dropped 56 containerized delivery systems full of supplies over three different drop zones within that nation, setting a single-day, single-aircraft record for the unit. This mission was a test to gauge how well the unit will be able to execute greater numbers of airdrops in coming months to support the continuing US troop surge in Afghanistan. The Army is establishing a CDS rigging facility at Kandahar as part of the surge that will enable CDS bundles to be built and loaded on the C-130Js at Kandahar vice the aircraft having to fly to Bagram for this. “We’re expecting to see about a 250 percent increase in number of airdrops we can support here,” said Maj. Joe Framptom, a 772nd EAS operations officer. (Kandahar report by SSgt. Angelique N. Smythe)
The Air Force will promote 11.07 percent of eligible master sergeants to senior master sergeant this year, a decline from last cycle that snaps a four-year streak of increases. Out of a pool of 13,315 eligible individuals, 1,474 new E-8s were selected.