SSgt. 
Adam Krueger received the Silver Star Medal from Air Force Special Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel during a ceremony at JB Lewis-McChord, Wash. Fiel recognized Krueger, a combat controller with McChord’s 22nd Special Tactics Squadron, for his gallantry in action against the enemy during a 12-hour firefight in Afghanistan in 2010, states McChord’s Jan. 29 release. An entrenched enemy ambushed Krueger’s special forces team during a foot patrol. Krueger, then a senior airman, repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to direct close air support to allow his colleagues to reach safety and to enable life-saving evacuation of wounded members of his team via helicopter. Fiel said during the Jan. 24 ceremony airmen like Krueger tell you they’re just doing their job when they are recognized for such gallantry. What Krueger did, asserted Fiel, was “more than just doing [his] job.” The Silver Star is the third highest combat decoration in the US military. Krueger’s award marks the 32nd Silver Star presented to special tactics airmen since September 2001, states the release. (McChord report by Capt. Belena S. Marquez)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.