Roy Bowden, now a civilian air conditioning mechanic with the 78th Civil Engineer Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga., on Aug. 21 received a Bronze Star Medal for his service in leading combat convoy patrols in Iraq from May 2005 to May 2006 as a sergeant in the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade. Bowden did not realize that he had earned the honor until February of this year when he was looking at his military record to get information for his job application at Robins. The Army Secretary had awarded him the medal in November 2007. (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…