Features

Every person who raises their right hand to serve their country does so for a number of personal reasons.

When Airmen think of command post, what may come to mind for many of them is the giant voice that can sometimes be heard over a loudspeaker at a base. For the 86th Airlift Wing Command Post at Ramstein, the job consists of much more.

How could someone play soccer without shoes? Why would somebody choose to play soccer without a soccer ball? These questions were spinning around a 9-year-old boy’s head.

Throughout their career, Airmen will most likely attend an Air Force official function at some point, be it a promotion, retirement, award or a number of other possibilities.

A sane junior NCO rises before four in the morning, triple-checks the decorations adorning his Army Service Uniform and refreshes his knowledge of obscure Army programs only for pretty compelling reasons.

Imagine you are 12 years old again. You were just a child with not many freedoms until that moment you hopped on your bicycle or skateboard and flew down the street feeling the wind on your face as your parent shouted, “Don’t get hit by a car!”

On a pitch black October morning in 2002, the humming of engines from an Ilyushin Il-62 commercial airliner faded as it taxied away from Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan. It didn’t get far. The jet crashed and burst into flames after running off the tarmac into the grass and veering into the nearby woods.