The Air Force has awarded the Bronze Star Medal to two airmen at Peterson AFB, Colo. for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Capt. Kevin Lombardo, 21st Space Wing’s Security Forces, served as the battle captain of the Theatre Internment Facility operations center at Camp Bucca, Iraq, where he supervised more than 400 compound searches and helped keep the peace when 1,100 of the 15,000 detainees he oversaw rioted. Lombardo handled the situation and developed and coordinated standard operating procedures for use by the next facility operators. TSgt. Michael Smith, a joint terminal attack controller with the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron, served with Army Special Forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he often had to join his Army teammates in ground combat as well as calling in numerous close air support strikes.
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.