An Air Force aircraft maintenance officer is one of USAF’s in-lieu-of-a-soldier airmen who are working in Southwest Asia outside his expertise—way out. First Lt. Jacob Sullivan, with the 319th Maintenance Group at Grand Forks, N.D., is running an Army Tactical Operations Center at a forward operating base in Afghanistan, reports SrA. Paul Croxon. Sullivan supervises 17 airmen who provide capabilities ranging from communications to personnel to medical care and intelligence. On at least one occasion, Sullivan has had to man the machine gun in a Humvee to help fight off enemy forces.
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.