The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star medals for meritorious service to Lt. Col. Susan Bassett, 1st Lt. Bryan Bouchard, and SMSgt. Bobby Simmons Jr. Bassett, chief nurse with the 882nd Training Group at Sheppard AFB, Tex., helped train nurses of the Afghan National Army during a year-long deployment to Kandahar. (Sheppard report by A1C Candy Miller) Bouchard is a public affairs officer at Luke AFB, Ariz., and served for six months in Iraq as the sole PAO for a special operations task force. (Luke release) Simmons, with the 5th Combat Communications Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga., helped train Afghanistan’s only deployable signal battalion and commanded 425 convoys. (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
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.