Five 
airmen with the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing in Kabul helped recover parts of an Afghan air force Mi-17 helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan’s mountainous east-central border region of Nuristan. With the assistance of Army Pathfinders, the airmen documented the crash and stripped out usable sections for an Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter to carry back to base in a sling. The airmen and soldiers destroyed the components deemed unrecoverable on site. Nine Afghan personnel were injured in the May 11 crash, but there were no fatalities. The Afghan air force is convening a board of enquiry into the mishap. “This board is made up of various specialties of the AAF,” said Maj. Jay Troxell, 438th AEW safety officer. USAF airmen will play a strictly advisory role in the investigation, which is expected to wrap up next month. (Nuristan report by SSgt. Justin Weaver)
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.