Eight maintainers from the 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, received certificates of appreciation and small gifts from the Polish Air Force after assisting a Polish C-130 aircrew with a leaky propeller. Col. Andrzej Kusnierek, the International Security Assistance Force Regional Command-East deputy commanding general for coalition forces, presented the certificates, according to a Jan. 6 release. The maintainers responded quickly and swapped the leaky propeller for a new one, allowing the Polish aircrew to get back to their mission, states the release. “The Polish military is a valuable ally. What you did was a huge coalition building effort,” said Col. Raymond Strasburger, chief of staff of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, speaking to the maintainers. “It was really cool; not every day do you receive appreciation from a foreign military officer,” said SrA. Arianna Banks. “This is a great story to take home from my deployment.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…