Afghan National Army Counter-Narcotics Mission

Filed under DoD News by on February 9, 2012 at 7:03 am {no comments}

By Staff Sgt. Walter Talens
Video from ISAF Regional Command South

The situation can get complicated when drugs, money and the Taliban are involved.  Afghan National Army plan and execute a joint Afghan security counter-narcotics mission.  The team consisted of Afghan National Police, Afghan National Civil Order Police, Afghan counter-narcotics agents, and Company C from the 3rd battalion, 21st regiment, providing support.  Acting on credible intelligence about a drug production compound, Afghan Security Forces entered a Taliban stronghold to put a stop to one drug ring:



Tuskegee Airman Gives Account of ‘Lucky’ Day

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 8, 2012 at 10:15 am {no comments}

From www.af.mil

Lt. Clarence D. 'Lucky' Lester

Famed Yankees pitcher “Lefty Gomez” once remarked “I’d rather be lucky than good,” but for one Tuskegee Airman, luck and good combined to make him one of the most successful combat pilots of World War II.

During the summer of 1944, 2nd Lt. Clarence D. “Lucky” Lester was flying the P-51 Mustang over the skies of Italy’s Po Valley providing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with cover support on their way to attack airfields in southern Germany.

Lester was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, a part of the 332nd Fighter Group, and had earned the nickname “Lucky” “because of all the tight situations from which I had escaped without a scratch or even a bullet hole in my aircraft.”

In a first person account, Lester describes the day that July that would seal that nickname for the rest of his career.

Lester describes meeting his bomber at about 25,000 feet and had reached a level of about 29,000 feet when he and his formation spotted enemy aircraft.

(more…)

Wednesday Warfighter: New Beginning

Filed under DoD News, Wednesday Warfighter by on February 8, 2012 at 9:40 am {no comments}

Produced by Tech. Sgt. Casey Martin
Provided by AFN Incirlik

Incirlik air base is home to one airman who’s past is much different than the average enlistee.  In his early teens, is country was ravaged by civil war and violence and his family torn apart by the illegal blood diamond trade.  For Senior Airman Mohamad Bah, joining the Air Force was his way of giving back to the country that gave him a new home.



Wednesday Warfighter: Montford Point Challenge

Filed under African American History Month, DoD News by on February 8, 2012 at 7:42 am {no comments}

Video provided by Defense Media Activity – Marines

The Officer Candidates School at Quantico in Virginia turns college graduates into hardened leaders.  Two and a half months of intense physical training, academic instruction, and leadership exercises prepare the candidates for difficulties found both in the Corps and in life.  Now, one of these trails will come a little earlier than expected.  Enter the Montford Point Challenge – a 3 1/2 mile course designed to simulate the physical demands that the Montford Point Marines met.

The Montford Point Marines, the first African-American enlisted men in the Corps, were recently awarded the congressional gold medal for overcoming adversity in an all-white Marine Corps at the time.  They managed to do this while also contributing to the war effort during WWII.



Airman Battles 63,000 Gallons of Burning Jet Fuel, Receives Medal

Filed under DoD News, Wednesday Warfighter by on February 8, 2012 at 7:42 am {no comments}

Story by Airman 1st Class Tom Brading
Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs Office

First Lt. Nicholas Mercurio led firefighting efforts which ultimately saved Forward Operating Base Wright from destruction Nov. 15, 2010. Mercurio was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal with Valor for his efforts and is assigned to the 1st Combat Camera Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, S.C. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Air Force Capt. Peter Shinn)

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. – First Lt. Nicholas Mercurio, 1st Combat Camera Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., didn’t set out to receive the Air Force Achievement Medal with Valor while deployed with Provincial Reconstruction Team Kunar.

“My hope was that I could just go out there and do my job,” said Mercurio.

His job was public affairs officer for the ongoing reconstruction mission in Kunar province. However, three weeks into his first deployment to Afghanistan, Nov. 15, 2010, he was awakened to the sound of his roommate yelling, “We’re under attack!”

At approximately 6 a.m., an insurgent fired a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade scored a direct hit to a helicopter fuel bladder which was perched at a forward arming and refueling point overlooking the base. The refueling station was the site of armed vehicles, helicopters, rockets, ammunition and more than 60,000 gallons of jet fuel.

The station immediately burst into flames as black smoke and fire towered more than a thousand feet into the air above Kunar province of Afghanistan. The western mountains were covered by the smoke hung over the Forward Operating Base as twisted bits of metal and shrapnel rained down from the sky.

“It was baptism by fire,” said Mercurio, in regards to his first experience with combat. “We trained and retrained both mentally and physically, however, you never know how you’ll react until you’re in that moment.”

“A second RPG was fired into a building near us,” said Mercurio. “It was so close our supply officer said it felt like it gave him a haircut.”
(more…)

Page 2 of 451«1234567»102030...Last »

Recent Comments

DoDLive on Tumblr

  • photo from Tumblr

    An United States Air Force C-130J Hercules cargo aircraft from the 146th Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard, conducts flare training off the Ventura County coast. The flares are used as tactical infrared countermeasures to confuse and redirect heat-seeking missiles.

    (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Dave Buttner)


  • photo from Tumblr

    Famed Yankees pitcher “Lefty Gomez” once remarked “I’d rather be lucky than good,” but for one Tuskegee Airman, luck and good combined to make him one of the most successful combat pilots of World War II.

    During the summer of 1944, 2nd Lt. Clarence D. “Lucky” Lester was flying the P-51 Mustang over the skies of Italy’s Po Valley providing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with cover support on their way to attack airfields in southern Germany.

    Lester was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, a part of the 332nd Fighter Group, and had earned the nickname “Lucky” “because of all the tight situations from which I had escaped without a scratch or even a bullet hole in my aircraft.”

    Read the story of a flight that helped Lester earn his nickname here.


  • photo from Tumblr

    The only African-American ace of World War II, and a former Tuskegee Airman, went on to have a career in the Air Force, as well as success in the business world.

    Lee A. Archer joined the Army in 1941 with high hopes of becoming a pilot, but was initially denied because of his race. When the Army’s policy changed about a year later, Archer was accepted to the training program for black aviators at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama.

    Archer is best known for a day in late 1944 when he was involved in a series of dogfights over German-occupied Hungary. Flying a P-51 Mustang fighter, Archer shot down three German fighters. He would go on to add two more German fighters to his credit to become the first and only African-American ace of the war.

    As a civilian, Archer enjoyed even greater success, serving as vice president for urban affairs with General Foods, as CEO of North Street Capital Corp. and chairman of Hudson Commercial Corp. He also served on the board of directors of Beatrice International Foods and the Institute for American Business.

    Read the rest of his story here.