Officials at Nellis
AFB, Nev., on July 13 dedicated a refurbished Airmen’s Center to A1C Jesse Samek, who was killed in October 2004 in Afghanistan when his HH-60 helicopter crashed during a rescue mission. Samek, who was a flight engineer with the 66th Rescue Squadron at Nellis, was the first base airman to die in the war on terror. The Samek Airmen’s Center is a recreation facility near the dormitories housing junior enlisted airmen. Samek’s mother, Julia Samek, attended the ceremony and said: “He was a pretty quiet kid, but he would have been honored to have the building named after him. He would have had pride that he could make a difference; almost as much pride as I have, to have been his mother.” (Nellis report by A1C Michael Charles)
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…