This 2015 Year in Photos feature Airmen around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This yearly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.
We have selected a few of our favorites from the gallery, which you can view fully at:
The 2015 Operation Christmas Drop officially kicked off Dec. 8 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Military members from the 36th Wing, 374th Airlift Wing, 734th Air Mobility Squadron, 515th Air Mobility Operations Wing from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and international partners from Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force gathered for the opening ceremony celebrating the first ever trilateral execution of Operation Christmas Drop.
Ongoing since 1952, Christmas Drop is the Department of Defense’s longest running humanitarian airlift mission and impacts more than 20,000 islanders annually. C-130 aircrews will deliver nearly 40,000 pounds of supplies by executing more than 20 low-cost, low-altitude airdrop training missions to islanders throughout the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Federated States of Micronesia and Republic of Palau.
We have compiled this gallery of our favorite images that put you in a C-130 with the aircrews.
by Tech. Sgt. Nadine Barclay 432nd Wing/432nd Air Expeditionary Wing
Drones. The once harmless term has taken on new meaning in recent years largely due to misinformation, Hollywood dramatizations and their growing uses in non-military settings. For the men and women of the remotely piloted aircraft enterprise who provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to combatant commanders around the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, dispelling myths associated with their mission is now a top priority.
1. Myth: Drones and RPAs are the same.
2. Myth: RPAs fly themselves.
3. Myth: Military RPAs are used to spy on U.S. civilians.
Additionally, the following guidelines structure how training flights work:
– Training is normally conducted in airspace over and near federal installations and unpopulated training ranges that have been set aside for that purpose.
– Information gathered during training missions that is relayed to ground stations is seldom retained after training operations.
– Any information retained after training missions is deleted shortly afterwards in accordance with regulations (typically no more than 90 days).
– During training missions, pilots and sensor operators are not applying or receiving the analytical support necessary to allow them to use imagery to identify individuals beyond gender and approximate age.
4. Myth: RPAs strike randomly.
5. Myth: RPAs are made from alien technology and are flown from area 51.
6. Myth: RPAs are unmanned and require less manpower to operate.
7. Myth: RPA pilots are just “gamers.”
8. Myth: Everyone in the RPA community suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
9. Myth: RPA aircrews are not compassionate to the missions they perform.
10. Myth: RPAs will replace manned aircraft
Despite the misconceptions surrounding the RPA enterprise Air Force leadership remain optimistic on the future capabilities RPAs can provide.
“What our RPA professionals are doing in today’s fight and in preparing for future conflicts is simply incredible. RPAs and their operators are in the highest demand from our combatant commanders because of the situational awareness and strike capabilities that they enable. Despite being some of the newest weapon systems in the Air Force inventory, RPAs fulfill critical demands in every theater 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, Air Combat Command commander.
The trophy was created by service academy alumni in 1972. The Air Force Falcons claimed the trophy for the 19th time during their game against the Army Black Knights with a score of 23-6 in November 2014.
We’re taking a look back at last year’s accomplishments when the Air Force beat Navy during the round robin.
I have compiled some of the best images from last year’s game. Hope you’ll enjoy.
By Staff Sgt. Carlin Leslie
Air Force Social Media
A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
– Charlie Chaplin
With the “Caption This” posts on our Facebook and Twitter pages we strive to bring some joy to everyone’s day. In these posts, you, the fans, share thousands of comments to create comedy gold. Thousands of comments are typed in and we had a tough time whittling it down to our top picks. It was a tough job, but everyone on the Air Force Social Media team compiled their favorites from the past seven “Caption This” posts.
Make sure to read through our top choices to see if we chose your caption!
SEPTEMBER 1, 2015:
1) What year is it? 2015. It worked! – David Gooden
2) I told you not to press the red button!
– Dave Hodgkiss
3) “What are you doing?” “Santa called in for backup.”
– Mike Ropes