Air National Guardsmen from Alabama, Delaware, Kansas, and Mississippi pulled an expeditionary medical support (EMEDS) soft-sided hospital out of storage in Kansas—shaking it out for its first use. Put aside for homeland security emergencies, the EMEDS facility is now the only medical support in Hancock County, Miss. Some 85 Guard medical professionals set up the Hancock EMEDS in two days and began 12-hour shifts on Sept. 7. It took two C-17s to move the EMEDS, but transporting older medical facilities required a squadron of airlifters. The hurricane wiped out the Hancock Medical Center, so Guard officials say the EMEDS will stay until the center can reopen.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.