The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star medals for meritorious service to Lt. Col. Susan Bassett, 1st Lt. Bryan Bouchard, and SMSgt. Bobby Simmons Jr. Bassett, chief nurse with the 882nd Training Group at Sheppard AFB, Tex., helped train nurses of the Afghan National Army during a year-long deployment to Kandahar. (Sheppard report by A1C Candy Miller) Bouchard is a public affairs officer at Luke AFB, Ariz., and served for six months in Iraq as the sole PAO for a special operations task force. (Luke release) Simmons, with the 5th Combat Communications Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga., helped train Afghanistan’s only deployable signal battalion and commanded 425 convoys. (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
Lockheed Martin plans to enter the Advanced Tactical Trainer fray to supply the Air Force with a new jet to bridge undergraduate flight instruction and fighter training units, but the company declined to say whether it will offer a T-50A derivative, a different non-developmental airplane, or a clean-sheet design. Its…