Among governors who have made trips to Southwest Asia to visit with deployed military members are Tim Pawlenty from Minnesota and Janet Napolitano of Arizona. The two were at Balad AB, Iraq, last week on a tour with National Guard Bureau chief Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum. Pawlenty got to meet with airmen from the Minnesota ANG’s 148th Fighter Wing. Meanwhile, Napolitano visited the Air Force Theater Hospital and talked with Air Force maintainers and rescue personnel, as well as soldiers in an Army transportation unit.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.