The Air Force has awarded the Bronze Star Medal to 11 airmen, 10 who recently completed six-month tours in the same unit in Iraq and the 11th to an officer at Robins AFB, Ga., for his work in Iraq. The 10 recipients served with the 424th Medium Truck Detachment of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, leading convoys “through some of the most dangerous highways in the world,” reports Capt. Christopher Moore. They are: Capt. Robert Sonnenberg, from Eglin AFB, Fla., detachment commander; 2nd Lt. Kyle Yates, Maxwell AFB, Ala.; CMSgt. Richard Bounce, RAF Mildenhall, England, detachment command chief; MSgt. Louis Pate, Pope AFB, N.C.; TSgt. Jeremy Sudlow, F.E. Warren, Wyo.; TSgt. Brian Fitzsimmons, McChord AFB, Wash.; TSgt. Shawn Foust, Ellsworth AFB, S.D.; TSgt. Frederick Garcia, Vandenberg AFB, Calif.; TSgt. Brandon Hobeck, Hill AFB, Utah; and TSgt. Reagan Ross, Moody AFB, Ga. The Robins recipient is Capt. Steven Wymore, who served for a year as senior logistics advisor to an Iraqi Army unit, reports Holly Birchfield.
Three B-1B Lancers from the 7th Bomb Wing flew over the Indo-Pacific alongside F-16s from the Japanese Air Self Defense Force recently, as part of a joint large force exercise. The mission began and ended in the continental U.S., as the bombers flew 31 hours and landed Jan. 11.