Lt. Col. John Bunnell, an F-15E weapon system officer, on Jan. 24 reached his 3,000th flight hour in the backseat of a Strike Eagle during a four-hour mission from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. “This is a nice milestone for me,” said Bunnell, a native of Birmingham, Ala., who is deployed from RAF Lakenheath, Britain, as commander of Bagram’s 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. This unit comprises a contingent of F-15Es and airmen deployed to Afghanistan from Lakenheath’s 494th Fighter Squadron. Bunnel has been flying in F-15Es since 1990 and has now completed 120 combat sorties. More than 370 of his 3,000 flight hours have been in combat. (Bagram report by SSgt. Richard Williams)
The Pentagon plans to use U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130s to deport 5,400 people currently detained by Customs and Border Protection, officials announced Jan. 22, the first act in President Donald Trump’s sweeping promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants and increase border security.