TSP continues to strengthen international relations

by Staff Sgt. Christopher Ruano
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

4/14/2015 - NAMEST AIR BASE, Czech Republic -- Four U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft forward deployed to Namest Air Base, Czech Republic, April 8, 2015, as part of a 90-day theater security package in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

"The TSP is another way the Air Force is increasing rotational presence in Europe to reassure our allies and partner nations that our commitment to European security is a priority," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom Jones, USAFE-AFAFRICA vice commander.

The U.S. Air Force 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron's A-10s and the Czech Republic air force's joint terminal attack controllers will conduct training to increase relations and interoperability while building joint capabilities and ensuring a stronger partnership.

More than 50 Airmen and support equipment from the 355th Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, deployed as a combat capable force able to respond to a wide variety of operations.

"Our base has the capability to host NATO aircraft and troops here, and to operate and train from this air base," said Czech Republic Col. Miroslav Svoboda, Namest Air Base commander. "What we are conducting her at the moment is interoperability training with our joint terminal attack controllers. But it's not only for them, it's for everyone involved."

The U.S. Air Force routinely schedules and deploys force packages of fighters and tankers throughout the Asia-Pacific Region as part of U.S. Pacific Command's TSP. This deployment in Europe is similar to those in the Pacific and demonstrates the ability to deploy a fighter aircraft presence to support U.S. partners and allies around the world.

"It's critically vital for us to keep an event such as this at our base to keep our people trained in host nation procedures," Svoboda said. "We are looking forward to future cooperation training with the U.S. military."

U.S. Navy Officer Pleads Guilty to Selling Classified Ship Schedules as Part of Expanding Navy Bribery Probe

A lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy pleaded guilty to bribery charges in federal court today, admitting that he accepted cash, hotel expenses and the services of a prostitute in return for providing classified U.S. Navy ship schedules and other internal Navy information to an executive of a defense contracting firm.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations James B. Burch of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Director Andrew L. Traver of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Director Anita Bales of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) made the announcement.

“Another Navy officer has now pleaded guilty and admitted to taking bribes to reveal classified military information to a major supplier,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.  “It is both troubling and disappointing how many Navy officers we have exposed as willingly falling prey to GDMA’s corruption, and our investigation remains active and ongoing.  Those who serve in our nation’s military must uphold the public’s trust or pay the consequences for their crimes.”

“The receipt of envelopes of cash and lavish hotel stays by our public officials at whatever level erodes the public’s trust in our institutions and our government,” said U.S. Attorney Duffy.  “Today’s guilty plea reflects the next step in our ongoing effort to regain that public trust.”

Todd Dale Malaki, 44, of San Diego, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell D. Dembin of the Southern District of California to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.  A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 6, 2015.

As part of his guilty plea, Malaki admitted that in 2006, while he was working as a supply officer for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, he began a corrupt relationship with Leonard Glenn Francis, the former president and chief executive officer of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a company that provided services to the U.S. Navy.  As part of the scheme, Malaki provided Francis with classified U.S. Navy ship schedules and proprietary invoicing information about GDMA’s competitors.  In exchange, Malaki admitted that Francis provided him with luxury hotel stays in Singapore, Hong Kong and the island of Tonga, as well as envelopes of cash, entertainment expenses and the services of a prostitute.  Malaki admitted that the total value of the benefits he received was approximately $15,000.

Malaki is the eighth individual to plead guilty in this expanding probe into corruption and fraud in the U.S. Navy.  GDMA pleaded guilty in January.  Two other individuals, Paul Simpkins, formerly a Department of Defense (DOD) contracting officer, and Michael Misiewicz, a Captain-select in the U.S. Navy, have been charged and entered pleas of not guilty.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by NCIS and DCIS, with substantial assistance from the DCAA.  The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Brian R. Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark W. Pletcher and Robert S. Huie of the Southern District of California.

Lakenheath Airman named top Air Force communicator

by Senior Airman Erin O'Shea
48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

4/15/2015 - ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England  -- Every Airman has a role, and those in Air Force Public Affairs serve to communicate the Air Force message worldwide by capturing and sharing U.S. armed forces' capabilities on a daily basis, through journalism, photography, video, graphics, web design and social media.

Demonstrating his mastery of abilities, Senior Airman Trevor McBride, 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs photojournalist, won the 2014 Outstanding Communication Airman Award.

This award is meant to recognize the top PA airman who excels in telling the Air Force story through a variety of mediums.

"Airman McBride is continuously looking for avenues to share the Air Force mission with new audiences," said Tech. Sgt. Thomas Trower, 48th FW Public Affairs Community Engagement NCO in charge and McBride's supervisor. "He's created multiple competitions and programs for social media that encourage public participation and two-way communication with people outside the fence. This alone brought in a huge following, and feedback increased 196 percent."

For overseas bases, like Lakenheath, it's also crucial to foster and maintain strong ties with the host nation.

"Enhancing the relationship with our host nation is a lot more to me than just a job," McBride said. "I'm given this great opportunity to live, travel, and be part of an entirely new culture, and I realize that communicating the U.S. Air Force mission over here gives the U.K. that same feeling of togetherness. For them to understand why we are here and what role we play as allies, is what keeps the relationship thriving each and every day."

During a three-day temporary duty in Norway, McBride promoted a NATO tri-country Nordic Defense Cooperation exercise and produced two publications, both of which were used by Headquarters, Air Force, along with a photo published in Air Force week in photos.

As part of his community engagement core tasks, McBride was responsible for guiding numerous aviation groups through the base. He preserved host nation community partnerships by leading 15 base tours and introducing 532 U.K. visitors to the Air Force mission.

"My favorite part of the job is the ability to interact with different types of people every day," McBride said. "One day I can be flying on a helicopter documenting a combat search and rescue exercise, and the next I could be escorting media outlets to capture their own documentation of what we do as an Air Force base overseas."

To learn every function of his office, McBride took part working in the community engagement, media operations and command information sections.

"It's great to have someone with hands-on knowledge about every service our unit provides," Trower said. "For this being McBride's first duty assignment, he has definitely excelled, and his practical experience and creativity have helped us build strong products. Just recently, RAF Lakenheath was named runner-up for the best installation in the Air Force, and I'm confident McBride's motivation helped make that possible."

McBride also actively engages with the Airmen in his office to provide feedback and suggestions to the newer photographers.

PA provides photographic services in support of security forces, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and other emergency response agencies. In order to provide quality images, McBride took on the task as a one of the primary alert photography trainers to ensure 10 office personnel could proficiently perform their jobs at a moment's notice.

Because of his broad knowledge of alert photography, McBride was called upon as a first responder during the January 2014 crash of an HH-60G Pave Hawk assigned to the 56th Rescue Squadron. He provided more than 50 hours of on-scene documentation to the investigation board which proved critical to determine the cause of the incident.

"An important aspect in Public Affairs is communicating our wing commander's objective," McBride said. "To have a base commander like Col. Novotny, one that's so invested in what you do and gets to know you as a person, is what really motivates me to ensure his objectives are met through every possible communication outlet I can think of."

Although Public Affairs is a small career field, there remains a high level of competition among the Airmen. Dedicating extra hours and having a strong desire to learn as much as possible about the craft, can make competitors stand out amongst their professional peers.

"I'm honored to have been given this award," McBride stated. "I couldn't have done this without the help of my mentors from around the Air Force and my leadership and peers at RAF Lakenheath."

Finding Bela

by Staff Sgt. Jarad A. Denton
501st Combat Support Wing

4/16/2015 - RAF ALCONBURY, England  -- A tension hung in the air like a thick, dampening fog as a man in worn clothes nervously pushed an old broom through the streets of Berlin, Feb. 27, 1943. No one spoke to him, or even seemed to notice anything beyond his cloth badge, marked with a single word, written in German and set into the center of the yellow star: "Jude."

People hurried past doctors and nurses who sat on street corners with medical supplies, oblivious to what was brewing - knowing only it was a "matter of the Gestapo only."

Suddenly, Siegfried Rosenthal, was seized by men and forcibly thrown into back of a truck - his broom clattering loudly against the street he had just swept. All throughout Berlin, Jews were rounded up, arrested and primarily deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in what became known as the "Fabrikaktion," or Factory Action.

"'First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Socialist,'" said Joanna Millan, as she quoted a poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller. "'Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.'"

Speaking to a group of Service members during the 2015 Holocaust Remembrance Luncheon at RAF Alconbury, England, April 14, 2015, Millan said the Holocaust was an entirely preventable atrocity.

"At every stage during this process it could have been stopped," she said. "It was possible, even in Berlin, to say 'we didn't believe in this.' But, it was always someone else's problem."

Not everyone remained silent, Millan said. Almost immediately after the Fabrikaktion began, a group of nearly 200 non-Jewish Germans staged a demonstration outside the local Jewish community building at Rosenstraße 2-4. Inside, the police were holding roughly 2,000 Jews, mostly men who were married to non-Jewish women, as well as male children of these mixed marriages. For five days their wives protested this incarceration - believing if no one spoke up, their husbands and sons would soon be deported to their death at Auschwitz.

Surprisingly, Millan said their voices were heard. At the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, the Nazis, worried their deportation would inspire civil unrest, deferred action against this small group of "mixed-marriage Jews" until after the German victory. Unfortunately, for Siegfried and nearly 11,000 other Jews taken during the Fabrikaktion, the train to Auschwitz had already arrived.

"One day he just didn't come home," Millan said. "The trains that took him, and so many others, to Auschwitz were the same ones used to transport animals."

Siegfried and roughly 100 others were crammed into a 10 meter-long cattle freight wagon and linked with 49 other, equally-packed, cars before departing on the 344-mile journey to the largest, and most infamous, concentration camp established by the Nazi regime. As the trains arrived, soldiers at the camp were already warming the ovens - preparing for a new batch of victims to be exterminated. Forced from the train, Siegfried was examined by SS doctors who determined if Jews were fit enough to manage the strenuous workload that lay ahead of them.

"He was selected for death," Millan said. "They stood outside the chambers and were told to hang their clothes neatly on rows with numbered pegs. The Nazis did this to trick the Jews into thinking these chambers were actually showers."

Once inside, panic began to grip the Jews as the doors behind them were sealed shut and an official wearing an oxygen mask would release poison into the chamber. As with so many who came before, Siegfried and the other victims would have screamed for their lives as Zyklon B, a cyanide-based pesticide, was dropped into the room. Initially, a faint smell of almonds would permeate the chamber, as the gas swirled with the air in the sealed room. Soon after noticing the smell, Siegfried would have felt his eyes begin to burn as the chemical entered his system. The panicked screams would slowly subside as the Zyklon interfered with the cellular respiration of the victims. They would drop to their knees, try to rush the door and even claw the walls with their fingernails - all in a vain attempt to live.

"It took about 20 minutes to kill all the Jews in a shower," Millan said. "The Nazis took all the clothing, personal effects and gold teeth from the victims and sold them. They say the profits from the showers at Auschwitz financed the war for six months."

After Siegfried took his final breath, his body was collected and taken outside by one of the Jewish work camp inmates. His lifeless shell was thrown on a pyre with roughly 2,000 other corpses and alternating layers of kindling. The pyre itself was a ditch, 50 yards long, six yards wide and three yards deep. SS soldiers lined the trench and watched as the corpses were tossed in. When it was full, if the soldiers looked hard enough they might have seen Siegfried - his entire life, his hopes, dreams and aspirations to grow old with his wife Else and raise their infant daughter Bela, were incinerated in a bonfire that lit the skies above Auschwitz, March 4, 1943.

"It wasn't just the soldiers at the camps," Millan said. "Everybody was involved. Everybody knew. Teachers taught students that Jews weren't human beings and it was good to kill a Jew. In Berlin, friends turned on each other and neighbors betrayed neighbors. Jews were dragged from their homes day and night."

With no word on Siegfried's fate, Else was left to work in the local factory and raise Bela by herself. By early June 1943, Bela was 10-months-old and one of fewer than 6,800 Jews left in Berlin. In a final push to declare the capital of the Third Reich "Judenrein," or cleansed of Jews, the Nazis rounded up the remaining few. While Bela was taken from her kindergarten class, Else was home when the arrests began.

"They broke the lock of her apartment door and took her for deportation," Millan said. "Else had to sign away all her possessions to the Nazis, pay for the repair of the lock, settle all her bills - including legal fees, and even pay the train fare to the camp."

Including Else and Bela, 428 Jews were packed into a train bound for Theresienstadt, a camp-ghetto located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The camp itself served three distinct functions: first, it was a transit camp for Czech Jews bound for deportation to killing centers, concentration and forced-labor camps. Second, Theresienstadt became a propaganda front designed to mislead the world and conceal the physical annihilation of the Jews. The camp was fictionally featured as a productive labor center, which hid the true nature of the deportations. Third, it served as a holding pen for Jews. The Nazis expected the poor conditions of the camp would hasten the deaths of many incarcerated there.

"Theresienstadt cremated 190 bodies every day," Millan said. "Even that couldn't keep up with how many were dying. You had to step over bodies just to get to work. Everyone was sick."

Of the more than 140,000 Jews sent to Theresienstadt, approximately 90,000 were deported to one of thousands of camps all over Europe. Those who stayed behind, including Else, were left with endless work, little-to-no food and often-fatal diseases. She contracted tuberculosis and died May 31, 1944, leaving Bela, who was not quite 2 years old, to fend for herself.

"They cremated Else at the camp," Millan said. "Her ashes were placed in a numbered cardboard box and stacked neatly with thousands of others."

Toward the end of the war, Else's box became one of nearly 33,000, which served as a true example of the camp built to be a model to the world of the Nazis' "humane" treatment of the Jews. However, that side of the camp was never publically shown. After announcing an intention to tour the camp, the Red Cross visited Theresienstadt, June 23, 1944.

"The camp commander, Karl Rahm, wanted to disguise what was really going on," Millan said. "He made the workers plant trees and flowers. They built a fake shop and passed out fake money. They even built a playground. Of course, the children weren't allowed to play on it. It was all for show."

Right before the visit, Rahm ordered the disposal of all the cardboard boxes the Nazis had accumulated to that point. To this day, the final resting place for 17,000 murdered Jews, including Else, is the nearby Ohre River. The day the Red Cross came, Rahm ordered the Jews attend and "enjoy" a concert, design to further embellish the conditions at the camp. He also had the children cleaned up and presented as an additional layer of deception to the visitors. Bela was not among them. The malnutrition had left her bed-ridden with hepatitis and scarlet fever. As the music from the concert played throughout the night, Bela slept and fought to stay alive.

"Fifteen thousand children came through Theresienstadt," Millan said. "Fewer than 100 of them survived, and six were orphaned."

Millan explained the orphans banded together and looked after one another. With anyone over the age of 10 put to work as an adult, there was no one to care for the children. They became a family of their own, surviving as best they could - eating only when food was sneaked to them by one of the kitchen or garden workers.

"There was a woman, Litska Schallinger," Millan said. "She smuggled food from the vegetable garden. The Nazis never noticed her going to work thin and coming home fat."

Even with the occasional assistance of adults, the orphans still struggled to survive - especially after the embellishment project convinced the Red Cross that conditions were favorable. Once the visitors left and the camera crews sent to document the conditions stopped recording, Rahm ordered normal operations to resume. The camp slipped back into its routine of cruelty and starvation.

However, the war was not going well for Germany. In the face of the advancing Russian forces, the Nazis began liquidating camps in the East and transferring prisoners - primarily to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. The last stages of Germany's Endlösung, or Final Solution, had begun.

"Rahm was worried the world would find out about the horrible conditions at Theresienstadt," Millan said. "In February 1945 he began construction on an underground gas chamber that would massacre the remaining Jews at the camp."

The chamber was never completed. The Jewish Council at Theresienstadt successfully smuggled a warning of Rahm's plans to the Red Cross in Prague. On May 2, 1945, the International Red Cross took control of the camp, forcing the Nazis to flee.

"Rahm and the rest of the Nazis left May 5th," Millan said. "They threw hand grenades back into the camp as they left. It was a final act of inhumanity."

Red Cross control of the camp was only meant as a temporary solution to combat a sudden outbreak of typhus. Three days after the Nazis left, the Russian Army appeared and quarantined the entire area until June - when the outbreak was over and the prisoners were allowed to leave.

"My earliest memory was of leaving the camp," Millan said. "I have no memory before that. Every day was the same, until the Russians came. It was very frightening. One uniform was replaced with another. It went that way until we were told it was time to leave."

Millan, one of the few children to survive Theresienstadt, was taken to an airport bound for the United Kingdom.

"We didn't know where we were going. It was very scary," she said. "All we knew was that leaving the camp meant death, and now they were putting us on these loud planes."

Once in the UK, the orphans - including Millan, were taken to a home west of London where they were cared for as officials looked for families willing to adopt them.

"It took us a long time to settle down," Millan said. "We still supported each other, but things were different. We were introduced to toys for the first time in our lives."

Eventually, an older Jewish couple living in London took Millan in as their own daughter. However, even with the war over, there were still a lot of anti-Semitic feelings throughout Europe. Millan was told she was not to mention her Jewish faith, her birthplace in Germany or even contact the other children from the camp. There was no way to know who had survived.

"I had to cut all ties to my past and live as their daughter," she said. "It was like having a double identity and everyone - their friends and family members, all went along with it."

Her adopted parents were so frightened of being discovered they forced her to change her name to Joanna - because it sounded more British.

"Growing up wasn't easy," Millan said. "I felt like I was hiding myself. I wanted to bring Bela Rosenthal back, but I didn't know how."

Millan smiled, as if peeling away a mask worn for so many years.

"But I am definitely her," she said. "I am Bela."

The hunger to recapture her lost identity has spurred Millan to spend countless hours reconnecting with lost friends and relatives and piecing together a shattered family history that should never have been broken.

"The Holocaust was very complex," she said. "It's hard to simplify it as an illustration of man's inhumanity to other men. But it happened, and it is not unique. In every part of the world there are examples of unbelievable cruelty."

Millan said cruelty and inhumanity are not absolute powers. They can be overcome.

"I feel sick when I think the world hasn't learned from what happened to us," she said. "Today, what are people doing to make themselves aware of the undercurrent of what is going on? It's not someone else's problem. It's everybody's problem."

With the gift of humanity comes a responsibility to speak out and step up when something is wrong, Millan said.

"It was possible," she said. "We could have stopped the Holocaust and every other genocide since. All it would take is one person to stand up and say, 'no more!'"

AF report to Congress: Pursues retention of C-130Js at Keesler

By Maj. Marnee A.C. Losurdo, 403rd Wing Public Affairs / Published April 16, 2015

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss (AFNS) -- As part of a required Air Force report to Congress on the C-130 Hercules force structure, the Secretary of the Air Force released a force structure amendment pursuing the retention of 10 Air Force Reserve Command C-130J aircraft at Keesler Air Force Base.

According to the report, retaining the aircraft will provide the efficiency of operating two squadrons together under a single wing overhead.

The 815th Airlift Squadron is a tactical airlift unit that flies the C-130Js and is part of the Air Force Reserve Command's 403rd Wing. The unit, which dates back to World War II and has been at Keesler since 1973, currently helps transport supplies, equipment and personnel in the theater of operation. The wing's second flying squadron is the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known as the "Hurricane Hunters."

"We received the Secretary of the Air Force report this afternoon," said Col. Frank L. Amodeo, the 403rd Wing commander. "We are still reviewing the report and as we learn the implications of this amendment, its impact to the wing, and (as we) receive guidance from Air Force Reserve Command, we will provide that information to our Airmen, their families, and the community."

Plans to close the 815th Airlift Squadron and move the aircraft to another base were announced in 2012. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 called for the transfer of 10-C-130J aircraft to Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina.

"Our plan moving forward is to continue to care for our citizen Airmen at the 403rd Wing," Amodeo said. "As we learn more about how the new force structure announcement will be implemented, we will continue to operate openly and transparently with our Airmen, their families and the community."

297th BFSB conducts training in Bethel

by Sgt. Marisa Lindsay
ANG Public Affairs

4/16/2015 - BETHEL, Alaska -- Alaska Army National Guardsmen with the 297th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade conducted their two-week annual training in Bethel and outlying villages last month, concluding April 1.

The region's ice-covered tundra and frozen river provided an ideal environment for arctic air and land training operations.

With a population of over 6,000, Bethel - located at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River 40 miles from the Bering Sea - lies in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, 400 air miles from Anchorage.

The Guardsmen received guidance on how to safely use arctic specialty equipment under harsh winter conditions, while simultaneously protecting themselves and each other from the elements.

"We saw this exercise as the perfect juncture to get reacquainted with our primary mission, and that's supporting Alaska regardless of the weather conditions we may be up against," said Maj. Aaron Kelsey, tactical command post officer for 297th BFSB. "With Alaska and its vast weather system, you never know the type of circumstances and situations you'll be facing -- this is our way of preparing our Soldiers for the what-if scenario, and what better place to engage them than Bethel's delta system."

A vital component of arctic operations and Soldier safety is the proper use of their specialty cold weather gear. The Guardsmen trained on and tested their gear for days at a time, including sleeping in tents while evening temperatures dipped to single digits.

Small unit support vehicles, unique to Alaska, played a crucial role - used to reach smaller villages as the Soldiers acquainted themselves with the 10,000-pound, heavy duty vehicle.

Terrain in Alaska can be extreme, and even more challenging depending on the region and time of year, Kelsey said. Some areas aren't accessible in the summer because travel depends on ice-covered rivers and lakes.

SUSVs help Soldiers overcome these challenges, and are an important asset to the Alaska Guard's inventory.

SUSVs were also used to transport ground-support Soldiers to create a drop zone, located on the outskirts of Bethel, and test for safe weather conditions for airborne operations.

Community awareness and involving the rural villages that surround Bethel was a priority for the exercise. Guardsmen interacted with the residents of Nightmute, Napaskiak, Toksook Bay, Kwethluk, Akiachak and Akiak. The villages each average a population of about 500 people.

"Because we conducted our annual training in Bethel, it created a long overdue opportunity for residents in rural communities and our Guardsmen to interact as a common group, to interact as Alaskans," said Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Wait, the operations non-commissioned officer for 297th BFSB. "The community and village outreach were made possible during this one training event, and the positive reception received from the greater Bethel area was overwhelming."

Students at ZJ Williams Memorial School in Napaskiak, a town approximately seven miles downriver from Bethel, received an impromptu visit and presentation by Soldiers during a break from their SUSV training on the Kuskokwim River.

A cultural day was held at the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center and Museum in Bethel, where community leaders spoke with the Soldiers, to include a visit from the Alaska National Guard's adjutant general, Brigadier General (Alaska) Laurie Hummel.

During a one-day arctic training event in Nightmute, Guardsmen conducted funeral honors for Alaska Territorial Guardsman, Moses Tulik, and his family.

"All of these opportunities were made possible by one training event," Wait explained. "With future training and eager communities, the National Guard's presence in rural Alaska is surely to increase. We look forward to reconnecting and strengthening that relationship," he said.

Support organizations who helped to make the annual training possible included the 207th Aviation Regiment, meteorologists with the Oregon Air National Guard, and airborne drop assistance from United States Army Alaska; 176th Wing, Alaska Air National Guard; 167th Airlift Wing, West Virginia National Guard; Brigade support staff and sustainment; Veterans Affairs and various civilian organizations.

"It's not just about us," said Kesley. "It's about learning to work in tandem with a team of organizations and with the residents of our great state."