MSgt. 
William Geiger Jr., with the 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga., has served three consecutive tours in Iraq and received two Bronze Star medals, one with Valor. Geiger, who served most of his deployments as a convoy commander, said of the mission for which he received the Bronze Star with Valor award that it was supposed to last about three hours, but turned into a nearly 14-hour trip during which his convoy came under attack seven times. The vehicles were riddled with bullet holes when they pulled into Camp Anaconda, north of Baghdad, but they all got through. In one instance, Geiger used his 9mm handgun to shoot one insurgent carrying a rocket-propelled grenade, and then, with others in his group, chased after him and battled other insurgents armed with RPGs and AK-47s, killing some and taking some prisoner. The National Army Transportation Museum at Ft. Eustis, Va., asked Geiger for his story and desert uniform for a display honoring airmen supporting Army units. (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…