U.S. Army Spc. Newton Carlicci travels on his way back to Command Observation Post Charkh after a patrol to the village of Paspajak in the Charkh district in Afghanistan’s Logar province, June 20, 2010. Carlicci is assigned to the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Russell Gilchrest
By U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan, ISAF Joint Command Public Affairs
It was a little strange being out in the province again after we’ve spent so much time in the major cities of Afghanistan. It was actually quite nice. I’m more of a country guy versus a city guy.
We headed out with soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team on a mission with a special Agricultural Development Team. It may not sound like a massive forward operation to clear the Taliban from their most well defended havens, but we learned agricultural development missions can be just as important.
The basic idea is these ADTs help Afghans farm better. Eastern Afghanistan is an agrarian society so a lot of their economic strength is founded on what they grow. If you can strengthen their crops and the way they distribute them for sale, they will get more money and their quality of life improves. The better their quality of life, the happier they are and everyone wins. And if there’s one thing American’s know, its agriculture and the U.S. Army handpicked the ADT members we were with today from South Carolina.
View Day 32 vlog, here.
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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)
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.
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.
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