Air Force officials on July 2 temporarily stood down flight operations of the specially configured C-130s fighting wildfires in several northwestern states to review safety procedures after one of these airplanes crashed on the previous day, killing some of its...

One of the Air Force’s C-130s specially configured for fighting ground fires crashed on July 1 in the southwest corner of South Dakota during a mission dropping retardant on the White Draw fire, announced US Northern Command. The crash took...

For the first time since 2008, a total of eight specially modified C-130s from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve are helping the US Forest Service fight wildfires raging in Colorado and several northwestern states. Since June 25,...

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Lt. Gen. Hawk Carlisle to receive a fourth star for his new assignment as commander of Pacific Air Forces. The Senate announced the confirmation on June 29. Carlisle will succeed Gen. Gary North, who...

With the worst of the Waldo Canyon fire seemingly behind it, the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., resumed normal operations. “Although academy personnel have been recalled and normal operations have resumed, the Waldo Canyon fire is still active...

President Obama nominated Army Lt. Gen. Frank Grass for promotion to the rank of general to oversee the National Guard Bureau, announced the Pentagon. If the Senate confirms him, Grass would become the 27th NGB chief, replacing Gen. Craig McKinley...

Col. George Hays retired from active duty service on July 1 after 41 years in uniform, announced officials at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Up until his retirement, he was the longest serving colonel in the Air Force, they said. Commissioned from...

Three C-130 Hercules from Yokota AB, Japan, flew to Indonesia last week for Cope West, a humanitarian airlift exercise with the Indonesian air force at Halim Air Base. Practicing with, and in some cases competing against, an Indonesian C-130, the...

Security Forces airmen stormed the flight line at Barksdale AFB, La., recapturing a nuclear-loaded B-52H bomber from a simulated terrorist infiltrator during a nuclear surety exercise on base last week. “Our scale is a ‘go’ or ‘no-go.’ There are no...

Eight months into the fiscal year, the Air Force’s Total Force is right on track to meeting its recruiting goals for Fiscal 2102, according to the Pentagon’s newest recruiting statistics. Released on June 29, the data show that the Air...

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) are pushing to get the Stolen Valor Act of 2011 passed through their respective chambers of Congress following last week's Supreme Court ruling in the case of the United States versus Alvarez. By a majority of six to three, the Supreme Court ruled that the original Stolen Valor Act, enacted in 2006—which made it a crime to falsely claim receipt of military decorations or medals—was unconstitutional because it violated a citizen's right to free speech. Brown and Heck said their revised bills, S. 1782 and H.R. 1775, respectively, would focus on penalizing those who seek to benefit from making false claims, and did not attempt to limit an individual's free speech. "I feel strongly about protecting the honor of our service men and women, and the Stolen Valor Act of 2011 will help do that," said Heck in a June 28 release. "We need to ensure that no one can benefit from making false claims and steal the true valor of the deserving few," stated Brown in a June 29 release. (SCOTUS opinion) (See also SCOTUS blog webpage on Alvarez case.)