The Air National Guard not only organized air cover for the recent shuttle launch, but also set up emergency landing sites at various airports around the country. Shuttle Atlantis landed at its primary back-up site, Edwards AFB, Calif., but Air Guardsmen had to establish emergency response teams and communications links at three of the nine airports in the shuttle’s flight path—just in case. TSgt. Mike Smith with the National Guard Bureau reports that ANG pararescue crews were standing by in New York and Florida, ready for an Atlantic Ocean rescue, if needed.
Clearing jungle and laying asphalt in tropical heat may not sound like fun to most people, but it’s a way of life for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) Airmen, who have spent the past year or so restoring World War II-era airfields on the Pacific…