To celebrate 100 years of air refueling, the Air Force recently conducted community flyovers across the country. The flyovers featured a variety of aircraft, including KC-135 Stratotankers, KC-10 Extenders and the KC-46 Pegasus.

More than 150 aircraft took part, in all 50 states, to pay tribute to the first successful air refueling in 1923, 20 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, according to the National Museum of the Air Force. Back then, Army Air Service 1st Lts. Virgil Hine and Frank Seifert, flying a DH-4B — a two-seat, single-engine World War I biplane observation and bomber aircraft — passed gasoline through a gravity hose to another DH-4B piloted by Capt. Lowell H. Smith and 1st Lt. John P. Richter, accomplishing the first aerial refueling.

While the original mission of air refueling remains the same today, it is now done on a global scale. The flyovers that were conducted are one piece of the Air Mobility Command’s “100 Years of Air Refueling” campaign, created to educate the public about the vital role that AMC and air refueling plays in supporting the U.S. military.

U.S. Marines with 1st Marine Division recently traveled to Saylor Creek Range, Idaho, to participate in Exercise Garnet Rattler, April 10-29.

The joint exercise with U.S. Airmen centers around a comprehensive training program to enhance the capabilities of joint terminal attack controllers and other Marine Corps personnel involved in ground operations.

The exercise involved 11 Marines undergoing advanced training as JTACs in simulated urban terrain, utilizing live ammunition, and aided by close air support from neighboring units, along with elements of 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st MARDIV, to serve as a maneuver force.

By Kassie Simmons and Debra Worley

     Military members are known to be heroes, but three Marines from southeastern North Carolina have a heroic tale of a different kind after saving a dog and her puppies.

     “Seeing them for the first time again is definitely a heartwarming thing,” Sgt. Joshua Echevarria said. “I don’t know if he fully recognizes me or remembers me, but I definitely remember him.”

     A reunion of the Marines and the dogs was nearly a year in the making after U.S. Marines Sgt. Colin Bettner, Cpt. Britta Vivaldi and Echevarria found a pregnant, malnourished dog while deployed in southeast Asia.

     The head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command operates a fleet smaller than the Navy planned, due to delays in ship and submarine construction and maintenance.

     But Adm. Daryl Caudle said reducing operations isn’t an option, as Navy forces routinely find themselves in contact with their Russian and Chinese counterparts and demand for their presence is on the rise.

     So the admiral has put together a four-part plan meant to maximize the fleet’s usefulness.

Using Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday’s prioritization of readiness spending on people, maintenance, parts and training as a starting point, Caudle’s plan is intended to turn that readiness into operational lethality.

By Airman 1st Class Zachary Foster

     The 6th Air Refueling Wing, in collaboration with the 927th ARW and the U.S. Army’s 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, recently conducted Operation Violent Storm at MacDill Air Force Base.

     The operation consisted of an elephant walk with 18 KC-135 Stratotankers mobilizing through the efforts of more than 700 personnel from across the installation, all in under six hours.

     This is the first time the 6th ARW has conducted a large-scale elephant walk since the wing transferred from a mobility wing to a refueling wing in 2016.

     The US Navy is renaming two of its vessels as part of ongoing efforts to cut ties with Confederate history.

     The former USNS Maury, an oceanographic survey ship, has been re-named the USNS Marie Thorp, in honor of Marie Tharp, an oceanographer who first mapped the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The Navy also renamed the warship formerly known as USS Chancellorsville to the USS Robert Smalls, honoring an enslaved sailor for the Confederates during the Civil War who later went on to serve South Carolina as a US congressman.

     The USNS Marie Thorp was previously named after former Navy Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, who refused to fight against his home state of Virginia and resigned during the Civil War to join the Confederate Army.

     The crew of USCGC Spencer (WMEC 905) recently returned to their home port in Portsmouth following an 88-day deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa area of operations, employed by the U.S. Sixth Fleet and Combined Task Force 65, to defend U.S., allied and partner interests.

     During the patrol, Spencer’s crew worked to combat illicit transnational activities, including illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, by conducting multinational law enforcement operations in the Atlantic Ocean. Their efforts served to strengthen existing relationships with African nations and prioritized opportunities for new partnerships.

     Spencer’s crew also participated in “Obangame Express 2023,” a maritime exercise with participants from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and 17 West African partners. Conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa, “Obangame Express” is designed to improve regional cooperation, information-sharing practices, and tactical interdiction expertise to enhance the collective capabilities of participating nations to counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and other sea-based illicit activity.

     Members of the Japan Self-Defense Force and U.S. Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit recently completed the first Japan-based Iron Fist exercise, an annual exercise designed to increase interoperability and strengthen relationships between the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Navy, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. This iteration of Iron Fist included ships from the JMSDF for the first time, which conducted rehearsals and integration with the 31st MEU and 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment throughout the exercise.

     Iron Fist 23 demonstrated the strengthening of bilateral response capabilities with the JMSDF through conducting combined amphibious operations including counter-piracy and search and rescue operations. The JMSDF tank landing ship JS Osumi (LST-4001) and the America Amphibious Ready Group swapped landing craft, air cushions, conducted combined amphibious reconnaissance, and performed a combined amphibious landing on the island of Tokunoshima during the exercise.

     The final integrated event was an amphibious landing at Okinawa between the JMSDF, JGSDF, and U.S. Marines and Sailors, which simulated a combined response to provide security in a crisis. Among several tactical activities, this event featured a bilateral mass casualty evacuation scenario.

     The U.S. Air Force and Space Force have partnered to create the new Space Test Course, which will instruct Guardians on test and evaluation processes, to conduct robust and methodical system testing on space-flight equipment at the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

     Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D. Thompson and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin signed a memorandum of agreement Feb. 23, establishing the new course.

     “Ensuring our Guardians can effectively test and validate space-flight equipment is crucial to mission success and protecting the space domain for the Joint Force,” Thompson said.

By Ltjg Michael Schwing, ESG2 Public Affairs

     Recently, Amphibious Construction Battalion TWO (ACB2) held a decommissioning ceremony at the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek (JEBLC) chapel after nearly 80 years of service to the Navy and Marine Corps team and our nation.

     ACB2 Commanding Officer, Capt. Atiim Senthill, presided over a ceremony that included several previous commanding officers, family, prior command members, and the crew, dressed in blues. Established as the 105th Naval Construction Battalion on July 14, 1943 and re-designated ACB2 in 1950, throughout its run the non-kinetic unit allowed combat units to maintain a forward sustained presence through ship-to-shore logistics in support of Maritime Prepositioning Forces as well as Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) operations.

     The Coast Guard is warning winter enthusiasts of unstable ice conditions and encouraging people to take safety precautions following two major rescues on the Great Lakes Feb. 6, 2023.

     Coast Guard boat and air crews responded to two separate ice floes off Wisconsin and Michigan with a total of 25 people rescued.

     Station Sturgeon Bay crew members responded to 11 people stranded on an ice floe off Sherwood Point, Wisconsin. Working with partner agencies, the Coast Guard crew safely transported five adults and six children to shore.

     Since fielding an entire armored brigade combat team’s worth of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 equipment last year, Army Field Support Battalion-Mannheim hasn’t taken its foot off the gas and work at the Coleman APS-2 worksite in Mannheim hasn’t slowed down.

     Over the course of about a year, the battalion has issued more than 7,000 APS-2 vehicles and equipment pieces in support of U.S. European Command’s mission to enable the rapid deployment of troops to the European theater and show support to our allies, said Jason Todd, AFSBn-Mannheim’s deputy support operations officer.

     According to Maj. Steven Waugh, AFSBn-Mannheim’s executive officer, this includes equipment used to train Ukrainian forces, such as the recent movement and issue of dozens of M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles for training

     The U.S. Marine Corps recently reactivated a new base on Guam in a ceremony honoring the long-shared history of the Marine Corps and Guam and establishing a forward presence in the Indo-Pacific that will endure into the future.

     Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Blaz is the first newly constructed Marine Corps base in 70 years and serves as a testament to the U.S.-Japan alliance. Guam was chosen as the location for the new base during the 2012 Bilateral Agreement between the U.S and Japanese governments, under the Defense Policy Review Initiative, which set the framework for the relocation of Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The base is named in honor of Brigadier General Vicente Tomas “Ben” Garrido Blaz, the first CHamorro Marine to attain the rank of general officer.

     “Today is an important day that marks the future of the Marines on Guam, and it is also a day to reflect on the century-long history of the Marine Corps in this beautiful place we call home,” said Col. Christopher Bopp, Commanding Officer, MCB Camp Blaz. “On this island Marines and their CHamoru brethren have lived in peace and fought in war together and we are proud to carry on this legacy of honor

     A U.S. Air Force fighter safely shot down a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon.

     President Joe Biden ordered the action, but it was delayed until the balloon was over water off the coast of South Carolina to ensure no Americans on the ground were harmed.

     "The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental

by Ens. Susanna J Rogers, Amphibious Squadron 8 Public Affairs Officer

     The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (BATARG), comprising Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), and Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) successfully integrated with the 26th Marine Expeditionary (MEU) and Amphibious Squadron 8 (PHIBRON 8) during the PHIBRON-MEU Integration (PMINT) exercise, which concluded on Feb. 5, 2023.

     During the nearly two-week underway the group successfully completed multiple visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) raids, on-shore and off-shore missions, flight operations, simulated strait transits, live fire exercises, and other full mission profiles integrating Navy and Marine efforts to display the BATARG’s capabilities as a lethal expeditionary strike force ready to respond at all times.

By 1st Lt. Duane Kampa, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing

     A steady chorus of thumps reverberated through the air as a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion recently delivered fuel to a Forward Arming and Refueling Point at Inyokern Airfield, California. The Marines swiftly seized the delivery and made quick work of preparing the FARP for sustained operations as part of exercise Steel Knight, an annual training event that sharpens the skills and lethality of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and 1st Marine Division.

     The leadership of Marine Aircraft Group 16 has made significant efforts to develop the capabilities of their Marines, Sailors and assets in response to guidance from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David H. Berger. One such capability is the establishment of FARPs in austere environments.

     The United States Navy operates the world’s most capable submarine fleets. Its undersea fleet includes four separate classes of vessels including both attack submarines as well as ballistic missile submarines that are capable of carrying nuclear-armed ballistic missiles and which serve as the most survivable leg of the U.S. military’s nuclear triad.

     The U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet is also unique in that it is composed entirely of nuclear-powered undersea vessels.

     Some of the Navy’s most valuable undersea assets, however, are its four ballistic missile submarines that have been configured to carry and launch a large number of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

     Seventy representatives from across the Coast Guard recently convened to develop recommendations that align efforts and increase synchronization within the Coast Guard on Arctic matters in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Coast Guard Arctic Summit provided a forum to collectively review domestic and international Coast Guard Arctic equities and requirements through topic-specific sessions focused on creating high-level recommendations for enhancing efforts in the region and informing future decision making.

     Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cox recently became the first female Army National Guard Soldier to graduate the Army National Guard Warrior Training Center’s M1 Abrams Master Gunner course, earning the title and additional skill identifier of Abrams Master Gunner.

     The 53-day course at Fort Benning, Georgia, upskills accomplished armor crew members like Cox,  and hones their proficiency in tank gunnery and maintenance. Cox’s desire to impart knowledge to her home tank crew motivated her to attend the course.

“I really enjoy the fact that you have one crew, and you become a family,” she said. “You have to take care of your track. If you don’t, you or a member of your family could die.”

     The US Air Force recently announced that two F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets delivered to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, launched air-to-air missiles for the first time from their new outer wing weapon stations.

     The 96th Test Wing's pilots fired an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile from Station 1 and an AIM-9X from Station 9 over the Eglin Test and Training Complex's water range. Both aircraft successfully released the missiles on separate passes against a target drone.