Remembering the first airman to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom, combat controllers and pararescue personnel dedicated a memorial to SSgt. Scott Sather at Lackland AFB, Tex., a part of Joint Base San Antonio. The Air Force shipped the 12,000-pound granite cenotaph that originally stood at Sather Air Base near Baghdad—a base named in his honor—to San Antonio last March ahead of the US military pullout from Iraq late last year. Sather, a combat controller, was killed while engaging the enemy in southern Iraq on April 8, 2003, less than three weeks after the OIF ground war began on March 20, 2003. His “phenomenal leadership and bravery on the battlefield . . . were instrumental in the resounding successes of numerous combat missions performing a significant role in the success of the war and the complete overthrow of the Iraqi regime,” reads the memorial’s inscription. The dedication took place at San Antonio’s Medina Annex on Jan 20. (Lackland release)
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.
