Recognizing the spirit of courage, comradeship, and cooperation exemplified by Medal of Honor recipient CMSgt. Richard Etchberger, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Maxwell AFB, Ala., has established the Etchberger Team Award. The award’s medallion features an image of Etchberger and the MOH on the obverse, and, on the reverse, a depiction of the secret radar site where he was killed saving comrades in Laos in 1968. “Chief Etchberger was part of a team, a team he volunteered with . . . fought beside and died saving,” said MSgt. Tommy Holmes, addressing academy graduates of Class 11-B, Flight 17, the award’s first recipients, on March 11, 43 years to the day that Etchberger gave his life. The CMSgt. Richard Etchberger Team Award is equivalent to the Levitow Award that recognizes honor graduates of USAF’s Airman Leadership Schools. (Maxwell report by Kelly Deichert) (For more, read Etchberger, Medal of Honor from Air Force Magazine’s 2010 archive.)
Due to the prolonged delay in deliveries of the Tech Refresh 3 version of the F-35 fighter, Denmark is pulling six of its TR-2-configured F-35 jets stationed in the U.S. back to home base in order to consolidate aircraft and get better training for its pilots and maintainers, the Danish…