Eight Americans owe their lives to USAF rescue crews who extracted them from various perilous circumstances in October. The 36th Rescue Flight, Fairchild AFB, Wash., located a woman missing in the Harvard, Idaho, area, transporting her aboard their UH-1N Huey to a medical center in Spokane, Wash. The 58th and 66th Rescue Squadrons, Nellis AFB, Nev., came to the aid of a man missing for 36 hours in Zion National Park, Utah, rescuing him at night from a deep crevice. The California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Field evacuated a man critically injured in an auto accident in La Paz, Mexico, flying him aboard their MC-130P Combat Shadow to Moffett, where the man was taken by ambulance to a medical center in Sunnyvale, Calif. Air Force Reserve Command’s 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick AFB, Fla., went to the aid of five men who had been boating off Jacksonville, Fla., rescuing all five.
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.