A new-build C-17 transport arrived at JB Lewis-McChord, Wash., for beddown, giving the Air Force 212 of the 223 C-17s that it is authorized to procure. Airmen from the 62nd Airlift Wing and Air Force Reserve Command’s 446th AW will jointly operate and maintain the new airlifter, which arrived on Oct. 6. More than 50 C-17s call Lewis-McChord home. The Air Force has ordered 218 of the 223 C-17s to date from Boeing. (Lewis-McChord photo caption by A1C Leah Young)
In the small world of Air Force weather specialists, combat weather specialists are a niche unto themselves, deploying with Army ground units to provide forecasts and, if need be, fight alongside those Soldiers. For Staff Sgt. Francisco Estrada, the hardest part of the job isn’t the possibility of ground combat,…


