Pararescue specialist and Combat Rescue officers from the 920th Rescue Wing buzz the cruise ship Venezia prior to hoisting onto its deck to retrieve a sick child and his mother for an emergency transportation to shore. Air Force photo. Vacationing passengers aboard a cruise ship found got to see a mid-ocean airshow last week when a small fleet of Air Force rescue aircraft arrived overheard, 350 miles from shore, to transport a sick boy and his mother back to dry land. As decks full of tourists looked on, aircrews from the 920th Rescue Wing dropped pararescue specialists onto the ship, hoisted ..read more

Dentist gives oral cancer screening. (U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Jalene Brooks) Tech. Sgt. Justin Wolf, 11th Medical Group dentist, conducts an oral cancer screening for a veteran at the at a health fair for Retiree Appreciation day on Joint Base Andrews Md., Oct. 27, 2018. The Retiree Appreciation Day event provided veterans easy access to military health care screenings and immunizations as well as individualized assistance with military finance, records, and benefits questions. An Army veteran who asked to remain unnamed was deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, and after he ..read more

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Harlan Page Chapman spent more than seven years in captivity as the Marine held longest by the North Vietnamese as a prisoner of war. He died on May 6, 2024 at the age of 89. (Photos courtesy of Fran Chapman/ U.S. Air Force/ The Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership). When Lt. Col. Harlan Chapman arrived in Hawaii  after his release from seven years in North Vietnamese prisoner of war camps,  Marine Lt. Gen. Louis Wilson was there to meet him.  “Welcome back to the Marine Corps,” Wilson told Chapman. “Thank you, general,” Chapman replied, “But I never ..read more

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) conducts flight operations in response to increased Iranian-backed Houthi malign behavior in the Red Sea, Feb. 3, 2024. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security and stability in the Middle East region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Janae Chambers). The Navy has released the name of a sailor who died while deployed in the Uthe U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. On May 6, 2024, Selected Reserve (SELRES) Chief Hospital Corp ..read more

A florida sheriff released bodycam video of an incident in which a deputy shot and killed Air Force special operations aircrew member senior airman Roger Fortson. Video from Okaloosa SO, photo courtesy US Air Force. The encounter in which a Florida sheriff’s deputy shot an Air Force AC-130 gunship crewman inside his apartment near Hurlburt Field was a split-second confrontation in which the officer drew and unloaded his pistol at the airman immediately after the special operations airman opened his front door holding a pistol. Senior Airman Roger Fortson died soon after the May 5 shooting. Th ..read more

Christopher Ferguson , Jacob Dalton, and Thomas Pencis after graduating from Marine Corps basic training. Photo from Tom Pencis' Facebook. Three Marines who graduated boot camp in April were looking forward to representing their recent accomplishment at their Colorado High School graduation later this month. That was until they were told by school officials that they would not be allowed to wear their dress blues unless it was covered by a cap and gown. Thomas Pencis, Jacob Dalton, and Christopher Ferguson went to summer school in order to finish their credits early and attend Marine Corps bo ..read more

Image from the Army's latest commercial "Boxes" which is part of the civilian marketing campaign "Find Your Level.". The Army’s latest television spots are aimed at different recruits than the service’s typical high-energy, parachute-and-tanks ads. In two new ads released today, the Army wants to catch the attention of civilians already working in science and engineering fields and sell them on similar jobs working for the military. The civilian-targeted campaign, dubbed “Find Your Next Level,” features two commercials that show off two Army Civilian careers that mirror civilian jobs– one a s ..read more

FILE: An AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter heads out on a mission on Dec. 22, 2007. (Maj. Enrique Vasquez/U.S. Army). Two Army aviators were injured when their AH-64 Apache helicopter was involved in a mishap on Tuesday at Fort Riley, Kansas, said Lt. Col. Jefferson Grimes, a spokesman for the Army’s 1st Infantry Division. “The crew is receiving all necessary medical treatment,” Grimes told Task & Purpose. “They are in stable condition.” Apache helicopters have a crew of two soldiers: a pilot to fly the aircraft and a second flyer to operate the weapons systems. Tuesday’s incident occurred ..read more

FILE: A soldier fires an M249 machine gun during a training event at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, September 8, 2021. (Calvin Reimold/U.S. Army). First Special Forces Command has suspended all training on ranges that use live and blank ammunition after a soldier was accidentally shot by an M249 squad automatic weapon during an April 25 training event, military officials said. The 7th Infantry Division soldier who was shot is listed in stable condition and is currently being treated at Madigan Army Medical Center, said Lt. Col. Jennifer Bocanegra, a spokeswoman for I Corps. “Our thoughts are with the ..read more

Pfc Amanda Gonzales was strangled in her barracks on an Army base in Germany in 2001. Her killer was just convicted. The cold case of a 19-year-old pregnant soldier who was murdered at an Army base in Germany over 20 years ago was finally put to rest.  Pfc. Amanda Gonzales was found strangled and battered in her barracks room at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, a former U.S. Army base in Hanau, Germany Nov. 3, 2001. The Army conducted hundreds of interviews and eventually offered over $100,000 in reward money to find her killer, but the case remained cold for two decades. Monday, a jury found that ..read more