Osan AB, South Korea, is the first international Pacific Air Forces installation to be recognized as StormReady. The designation means the National Weather Service has recogized that Osan is capable of dealing with natural disasters, said MSgt. Thomas Longworth, the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron’s emergency management section chief. In order to be certified, emergency management airmen had to prove they were capable of planning and executing proper warnings to the community, including the establishment of a 24-hour warning point, an emergency operations center, and more than one way to receive weather forecasts and warnings, states the Dec. 3 base release. There are 2,150 StormReady communities around the United States, of which 63 are military installations. “StormReady reassures the local community that we take safety and planning for these instances very seriously,” said SSgt. Ryan Stork, 51st CES emergency management technician.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
