Jennifer Hlad
Recent stories by Jennifer Hlad
Quick Turnaround: How a Kadena Maintenance Group Radically Increased Sortie Production
In the summer of 2019, the 18th Maintenance Group at Kadena Air Base, Japan, was struggling to produce just a light day of sorties. Just 16 months later, the unit pulled off a “super surge,” putting up 436 sorties in three and a half days—the ...
AFA in Action: Mitchell Institute’s Aviation and Air Power Book Series
AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies has partnered with the University Press of Kentucky for an aviation and air power series.
AFA in Action: ‘Aerospace Advantage’ Podcast
Mitchell Institute's Aerospace Advantage podcasts offer firsthand experiences and perspectives that focus on making complex ideas, strategies, operational concepts, and technology accessible to everyone.
Seventy-Five Years of AFA
Seventy-five years ago the Air Force Association was founded. Here’s a brief glimpse of some of its accomplishments.
Communicating on the Fly
As the Air Force leans in to the agile combat employment concept—in which smaller groups of Airmen can deploy rapidly to locations with varying degrees of austerity— communications and cyber Airmen must find ways to be lighter and leaner as well. Enter “communications flyaway kits”: ...
Search Underway for Missing Kadena Airman
Airmen from the 31st and 33rd Rescue Squadrons and members of the Japanese coast guard are searching for a Kadena Air Base Airman who was reported missing while surfing Nov. 22. The Airman was surfing near Cape Hedo, the northernmost point on the Japanese island ...
COVID’S Lessons Will Have Lasting Repercussions
Mny changes USAF and USSF made to maintain ops while mitigating COVID-19 risk will be temporary, but leaders think some could turn permanent.
Move Out!
Relocating is hard for everyone, but for service members, it’s a way of life. COVID-19 challenged even the pros.
Here’s How COVID-19 Has Changed the Air Force
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people around the world work, travel, and live. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force are no different. When the threat of the virus became clear, leaders throughout the Department of the Air Force sprung into action ...
Military Spouses Bond Over Shared Experiences
Military spouses must support each other and reach out when they need help, the spouses of top Air Force and Space Force leaders said during the Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Military life can be stressful, with all the moving, trying ...
Building the Base of the Future
Nearly two years after Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., was slammed by Hurricane Michael, leaders there are working not just to rebuild that base, but to create a “base of the future” with a focus on resiliency, sustainability, and smart technology that can serve as ...
Space Force Focuses on Threat as It Builds Training
The U.S. Space Force is leveraging what has been learned at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and using the Air Force model as it works to determine how best to train space professionals going forward, Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt, director of operations and communications ...
Biden, Loh Praise National Guard at Virtual Conference
The National Guard is the “backbone of our nation,” former Vice President Joe Biden told attendees of the virtual National Guard Association of the United States conference in a speech Aug. 29. Biden, like many of the other speakers at the virtual conference, highlighted some ...
Brown: ‘Accelerate Change or Lose’
The Air Force has a window of opportunity to change and it must do so quickly, because “our advantage as a nation, as an Air Force, as a joint team is eroding,” Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said Aug. 29, noting the ...
Small Part Falls off Kadena-Based F-15
An F-15 from Kadena Air Base, Japan, dropped an “eagle claw” at some point during a training flight Aug. 4, and the 18th Wing is looking into what caused the part to fall. The part is a C-shaped metal object that is about 7 inches ...