Showing posts with label Air National Guardsmen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air National Guardsmen. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Massachusetts Air National Guard Pilot Missing After Crash

UPDATE FROM STARS AND STRIPES

Pilot in F-15 crash was decorated combat vet
Had served as fighter squadron commander at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa
Air Force Lt. Col. Morris Fontenot, the former commander of the 67th Fighter Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, looks on at Komatsu Air Base, Japan, on Dec. 7, 2013. Fontenot was killed after the F-15 he was piloting crashed in Virginia on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014.
AMBER E. N. JACOBS/U.S. AIR FORCE

By Chris Carroll
Published: August 29, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Massachusetts Air National Guard has identified the decorated combat veteran killed Wednesday when the F-15C fighter he was flying slammed into a remote, heavily forested part of western Virginia.

"On behalf of the family of our fallen pilot and with a sense of profound sadness, I am sad to share that Lt. Col. Morris "Moose" Fontenot Jr., was killed tragically in Wednesday's F-15 crash," said Col. James Keefe, commander of the 104th Fighter Wing, based in Westfield, Mass. "We all continue to keep the Fontenot family in our thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time."

Fontenot served full-time as the unit’s wing inspector general, overseeing the Air Force’s inspection procedures, and as an F-15 instructor pilot with more than 17 years’ experience flying the jets, wing officials said.
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Authorities comb mountains for missing pilot after Guard F-15 crash
Stars and Stripes
By Chris Carroll
Published: August 27, 2014

WASHINGTON — Military and civilian authorities searched a thickly forested, mountainous swath of western Virginia on Wednesday in hopes of finding a missing Massachusetts Air National Guard pilot whose F-15C went down en route to a maintenance depot.

The pilot’s commander said he could not confirm a report that a witness had seen the pilot eject and a parachute open.

“It’s a traumatic event for everyone here, and we’re thinking about the family and keeping our thoughts and prayers with them,” said Col. James Keefe, commander of the 104th Fighter Wing based in Westfield, Mass. “Hopefully we’ll get a good outcome.”
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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Silver Star for Alaska National Guardsman

Guardsman's Heroism in Afghanistan Garners Silver Star
KTUU News
Chris Klint Chris Klint
Senior Digital Producer

ANCHORAGE
Nearly four years after saving the lives of four comrades pinned down by gunfire in Afghanistan, an Alaska Air National Guard pararescueman received the nation's third-highest decoration for valor in recognition of his selfless acts.

Master Sgt. Roger Sparks, a member of the 212th Rescue Squadron, was awarded the Silver Star in a Friday ceremony on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, according to a statement from Guard spokesperson Capt. John Callahan.

The award recognizes Sparks’ actions on Nov. 14, 2010 during Operation Bulldog Bite, when he and another member of the 212th -- Capt. Koaalii Bailey -- were lowered by helicopter under fire from insurgents into the Watapur Valley, following a call to extract casualties from heavy combat with insurgents.

“Upon touchdown they were both blown off their feet by a rocket-propelled grenade, and Sparks instructed the flight crew via radio not to lower any more personnel due to the high volume of fire,” Callahan wrote. “Under fire from three directions, the pair began communicating with nearby Coalition aircraft to direct air strikes against insurgent positions. Making contact with forces on the ground, they then began to consolidate the wounded and provide treatment.”

Still being attacked by the enemy, Sparks was able to apply his skills to saving his comrades.
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Monday, October 21, 2013

Sparks Middle School heroic teacher killed was veteran and Dad

UPDATE From NBC
Teacher killed in Nevada middle school shooting ID'd; shooter dead
NBC News
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer

A student apparently opened fire at a Nevada middle school Monday, killing a teacher and wounding two boys, authorities said. The shooter was left dead.

A hospital said that the two boys arrived in critical condition. One was later upgraded to fair. The slain teacher was identified as Michael Landsberry, a former Marine and a member of the Nevada Air National Guard.

Landsberry’s brother, Reggie, told NBC News that the 8th-grade math teacher is survived by his wife, Sharon, and two of her children from a previous relationship.

Authorities suggested that Landsberry tried to shield students from the gunman, but stressed they were still investigating.
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2 dead, 2 boys hurt in Nevada school shooting
By Scott Sonner of Associated Press

Michael Landsberry, a military veteran, has been identified as the staff member who was killed while trying to stop a shooter at Sparks Middle School.

SPARKS, Nev. — A student at a Nevada middle school opened fire on campus just before the starting bell Monday, wounding two boys and killing a teacher who was trying to protect other children, Sparks police and the victim's family said.

Twenty to thirty students witnessed the tragedy at Sparks Middle School that also left the lone suspected gunman dead, police said.

It's unclear whether the student committed suicide, but authorities say no shots were fired by law enforcement. Police said between 150 and 200 officers, including some from as far as 60 miles away, responded to the shooting.

"In my estimation, he is a hero. ... We do know he was trying to intervene," Reno Deputy Police Chief Tom Robinson said of the teacher who was killed.
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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Last Vietnam veteran from SD Air National Guard to retire

Last Vietnam veteran from SD Air National Guard to retire
South Dakota National Guard Public Affairs
Story by Staff Sgt. Michael Beck

RAPID CITY, S.D. - The last Vietnam veteran from the South Dakota Air National Guard will retire next month. Senior Master Sgt. Steve Abraham, of Rapid City, has announced he will retire June 20 after serving 33 years in the United States armed forces.

During his service, Abraham served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Air National Guard. He has also served 26 years as a federal technician working for both the South Dakota Air and Army National Guard.

Abraham began his military career in 1973 in the Marine Corps. He served four years as an avionics technician, and it was during this service that he was sent in support of the conflict in Vietnam.

Abraham attended Marine Corps basic in San Diego in 1973. Following basic training, he served as a hometown recruiter for a month before proceeding to Naval Air Station Millington in Memphis, Tenn., and Santa Ana, Calif., to complete his technical training.

His first duty station was Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona. He was then transferred to Okinawa, Japan, from where he would be sent to service in support of the Vietnam War.
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Saturday, April 20, 2013

War veteran doctor experience vital

War veteran doctor experience vital
By GRETYL MACALASTER
Union Leader Correspondent
April 19. 2013

Dr. Fred Brennan with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Somersworth and head team doctor for the University of New Hampshire hugs his daughter, Alyssa, 18, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, where Brennan was serving as a volunteer in medical tent B, two blocks from the finish line. (COURTESY)
SOMERSWORTH - As a member of the New Hampshire Air National Guard, and a veteran of foreign wars, Dr. Fred Brennan knew there was always a chance he would again be exposed to casualties. But he never expected to see them on the streets of Boston.

Brennan, a doctor with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and the team doctor for the University of New Hampshire athletic program, was helping to lead the medical team in tent B at the Boston Marathon on Monday, just two short blocks from the finish line.

About 200 doctors, nurses, athletic trainers, sports medicine practitioners and other medical staff were treating a nearly full tent of runners with blisters, cramps, and some hypothermia due to the day's cold temperatures when the first bomb went off.

Brennan immediately recognized the sound of an improvised explosive device, and when he heard the second blast, he knew it was no accident. He told his team to get ready.
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Thursday, December 27, 2012

New York crew are lifesavers for troops in Afghanistan, too

FEARLESS FOUR FDNY: New York crew are lifesavers for troops in Afghanistan, too
Firefighters from 101st Rescue Squadron of Air National Guard 'will fight our way in and fight our way out' to get injured soldiers in the war zone
BY JOE KEMP
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2012

AIR FORCE MASTER SGT. JAMES MARTIN
Smoke-eaters (from far left) Shaun Cullen, Tripp Zanetis, James Denniston and Erick Pound have saved nearly 100 lives as crew flies into combat zones to aid troops in Afghanistan.

They were the Bravest of rescue operations overseas — a team of four FDNY firefighters flying into combat to tend to wounded troops in Afghanistan.

The smoke-eaters of the 101st Rescue Squadron of the New York Air National Guard were deployed to more than 50 missions and saved nearly 100 lives between September and November while stationed at Camp Bastion in the southern part of the war-torn country.

“Those guys knew that if they were hurt, we were going to come get them no matter what,” said Shaun Cullen, 33, the crew’s captain and pilot of the HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. “They knew we will fight our way in and fight our way out. We will come get you.”

Cullen, a nine-year veteran firefighter from Engine Co. 54 in Manhattan, and his crew began responding to emergencies in combat zones in less than eight minutes — about half the Air Force’s 15-minute average.

“We’re all bringing the same way we operate back home and applying it here,” Cullen said. “That brings the level up a notch.”

About five other FDNY firefighters make up the entire 20-man unit of the 26th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, but Cullen had the only team made entirely of New York’s Bravest.
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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Alaska Air National Guardsmen Save 226 Lives In Afghanistan

Alaska Air National Guardsmen Save 226 Lives In Afghanistan
Posted on December 22, 2012
by bniegel

Wars are won by the courageous men and women who fight in the air, on the sea and in the trenches. They fight to bring peace, stability and liberty to our fractured world, while living the core values this country was founded upon.

Spirited in fight, these brave soldiers meet the enemy on uneven ground, some giving their lives for their fellow service members, while others are seriously injured on the field of battle. In the critical moments that follow, during this golden hour, where prompt intervention is needed to get an injured soldier to a trauma care facility, America’s warriors depend on elite combat search and rescue units like the Alaska Air National Guard’s 210th, 211th and 212th Rescue Squadrons.
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Thursday, December 6, 2012

An entire rescue crew made up of New York City firefighters in Afghanistan

NY Firefighters Deploy Together
Dec 05, 2012
Air Force News
by Master Sgt. Russell Martin
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan

Four New York City firefighters, four Airmen, four friends, one team, one HH-60 Pave Hawk -- one crew -- deployed together with the 26th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, bringing a unique flavor of New York Fire Departments with them.

Capt. Shaun Cullen, Capt. Tripp Zanetis, Tech. Sgt. Erick Pound and Tech. Sgt. Jim Denniston are all members of the 101st Rescue Squadron, New York Air National Guard, and they are all firefighters when not activated. Cullen, the aircraft commander, is assigned to Engine 54, in Midtown Manhattan; Zanetis, the copilot, is assigned to Ladder 11 in Lower East Manhattan; Pound, the aerial gunner, is assigned to Engine 58 in Harlem; and Denniston, the flight engineer, is assigned to Engine 285 in Queens. Back home, they're all from a different "ladder" and a different "engine" designation, but at Camp Bastion they share one, Pedro 24.

"This is a first," said Zanetis. "An entire rescue crew made up of New York City firefighters. We may have different jobs to do, but we all know what each other are capable of and what to expect when we fly together."
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Saturday, November 3, 2012

Army and Air National Guards lends support to 13 states hit by Sandy

Guard lends support to 13 states hit by Sandy
Amy Times
By Joe Gould, Jeff Schogol and Sam Fellman
Staff writers
Posted : Saturday Nov 3, 2012

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, more than 11,000 Army and Air National Guard troops were deployed to aid the storm-ravaged Northeast, saving lives, providing shelter and helping restore communities.

In New York, where power and transportation infrastructures were crippled by the storm Oct. 29 and 30, the National Guard planned to give out more than 1 million meals and bottled water to residents of areas affected.

Troops were manning more than a dozen distribution sites in hard-hit areas of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn soon after the Nov. 1 announcement, handing out meals supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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Monday, July 30, 2012

Reaper drone pilot talks about "kill shot a world away"

A Day Job Waiting for a Kill Shot a World Away
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: July 29, 2012

HANCOCK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. — From his computer console here in the Syracuse suburbs, Col. D. Scott Brenton remotely flies a Reaper drone that beams back hundreds of hours of live video of insurgents, his intended targets, going about their daily lives 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan. Sometimes he and his team watch the same family compound for weeks.

“I see mothers with children, I see fathers with children, I see fathers with mothers, I see kids playing soccer,” Colonel Brenton said.

When the call comes for him to fire a missile and kill a militant — and only, Colonel Brenton said, when the women and children are not around — the hair on the back of his neck stands up, just as it did when he used to line up targets in his F-16 fighter jet.

Afterward, just like the old days, he compartmentalizes. “I feel no emotional attachment to the enemy,” he said. “I have a duty, and I execute the duty.”
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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Mississippi Air National Guardsman died Friday at Camp Shelby

Air guardsman dead at Camp Shelby
Apr. 7, 2012

JACKSON — A Mississippi Air National Guardsman died Friday while performing duties at the Air-Ground Range at Camp Shelby.
Master Sgt. Kevin L. Johnson, 51, of McHenry was pronounced dead Friday afternoon at Forrest General Hospital after collapsing at the range.
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday to determine the cause of death. read more here

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Last Vietnam veteran in Florida Air National Guard retires

Last Vietnam veteran in Florida Air National Guard retires
Written by Master Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa
January 8, 2012
Feature Stories
Command Chief Master Sgt. Charles Wisniewski completes 41 years of military service

Florida Air National Guard Command Chief Master Sgt. Charles Wisniewski is the last member of the Florida Air National Guard to have served in the Vietnam conflict. Wisniewski, 59, joined the Air Force in 1971 and served as a weapons technician at Utipoa Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. During his year in Thailand he helped load B-52 bombers flying into Vietnam on bombing missions, including during the famed Operation Linebacker II in late 1972.He had more than 40 years of military service during his career. Photo by Master Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Jan. 8, 2012) – The last Vietnam veteran in the Florida Air National Guard is retiring and ending a more than 40 year military career.

State Command Chief Master Sgt. Charles Wisniewski, who served in Southeast Asia with the U.S. Air Force in 1972-1973, was honored during a retirement ceremony at the Florida National Guard Headquarters Jan. 6.

“Today really marks the end of an era,” said Adjutant General of Florida Maj. Gen. Emmett Titshaw Jr. during the ceremony. “When we say goodbye to (Wisniewski) today, we say goodbye to the last Vietnam veteran in the Florida Air National Guard. That is a milestone.”

Wisniewski, 59, joined the Air Force in 1971 and served as a weapons technician at Utipoa Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. During his year in Thailand he helped load B-52 bombers flying into Vietnam on bombing missions, including during the famed Operation Linebacker II in late 1972.

Titshaw noted that veterans returning home from deployments today experience a much more supportive atmosphere than Vietnam veterans did in the 1960s and 1970s. And although the gesture was nearly 40 years later, the general prompted the audience to give a standing ovation and round of applause to Wisniewski for his service in Southeast Asia.

The adjutant general also presented Wisniewski with a Meritorious Service Medal and the Florida Cross for his service to the Florida National Guard.
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Monday, January 2, 2012

West Virginia Air National Guard female medic earns Bronze Star for Valor

W.Va. flight medic receives medal for bravery in Afghanistan
By Travis Crum
January 1, 2012
Courtesy photo
Staff Sgt. Nicole Hopkins, a flight medic from the West Virginia Air National Guard, was presented a Bronze Star with Valor last monthfor her bravery during rescue missions in Afghanistan. On July 17, 2010, Hopkins risked her life when she was lowered from an aircraft over a minefield to treat and evacuate injuries soldiers.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nicole Hopkins, a flight medic from West Virginia, said she would never forget the day she left Afghanistan with severe injuries received during a dangerous mission in one of the war's deadliest months.

She vividly remembers looking out her flight's window during her return trip at another plane carrying coffins draped in American flags.

"What I thought most about during that flight home was the guy we picked up that day, Sgt. Matthew Weikert," Hopkins said. "He was flying back to the states the same time as me, only he wasn't flying home injured."

Hopkins, a 35-year-old staff sergeant with the West Virginia Air National Guard, was presented the Bronze Star with Valor last month for her bravery during missions to rescue injured soldiers in July 2010.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Vietnam vet went from homeless shelter to Baghdad

Returning home from a war zone
Bayonne welcomes back 55-year-old vet

by Al Sullivan
Reporter staff writer
Aug 18, 2010
Willmont Griffin – often called “Griff” – is a Vietnam-era veteran even though his tour of duty only required him to serve in that country for two days. He was one of the U.S. Marines pulling terrified people into a CH-53 helicopter just before Saigon fell in April 1975 after Communist forces captured the city.

Thirty-five years later and now an airman with the New Jersey Air National Guard, Griffin returned home from another war zone, Iraq, his second tour of duty to a combat zone since leaving the U.S. Marines in 1977. He was recently named Legionnaire of the Year at the Bayonne American Legion Post.
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Returning home from a war zone

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash

Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash
C-17 Cargo Plane on Training Run Crashed Wednesday, Sending Fireball into the 750 Feet into the Sky

A military cargo plane carrying four people on a training run has crashed at an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage, killing all four men aboard.

Col. John McMullen says three of the men were in the Alaska Air National Guard and the fourth was on active duty at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Their names have not been released pending notification of relatives.

Witnesses say the crash sent a fireball rising hundreds of feet over the base near downtown Anchorage.
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Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash

Monday, December 1, 2008

5th deployment for Connecticut Air National Guard

Air Guard Unit Again Mobilized For Service In Iraq
The Hartford Courant
5:40 PM EST, December 1, 2008
The Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Air Control Squadron has been mobilized for service in Iraq. About 50 members of the Orange-based unit will be honored at 5 p.m. Tuesday at a send-off ceremony at the William A. O'Neill Armory in Hartford. The unit is to leave for Iraq in a few days.Unit members will direct coalition aircraft and monitor the skies over Iraq. The deployment is the unit's fifth since Sept. 11, 2001.
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hcu-airguard-1201,0,5627977.story

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Remote-control warriors suffer war stress

Remote-control warriors suffer war stress
By SCOTT LINDLAW – 1 hour ago

MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. (AP) — The Air National Guardsmen who operate Predator drones over Iraq via remote control, launching deadly missile attacks from the safety of Southern California 7,000 miles away, are suffering some of the same psychological stresses as their comrades on the battlefield.

Working in air-conditioned trailers, Predator pilots observe the field of battle through a bank of video screens and kill enemy fighters with a few computer keystrokes. Then, after their shifts are over, they get to drive home and sleep in their own beds.

But that whiplash transition is taking a toll on some of them mentally, and so is the way the unmanned aircraft's cameras enable them to see people getting killed in high-resolution detail, some officers say.

In a fighter jet, "when you come in at 500-600 mph, drop a 500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said Col. Albert K. Aimar, who is commander of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing here and has a bachelor's degree in psychology. But when a Predator fires a missile, "you watch it all the way to impact, and I mean it's very vivid, it's right there and personal. So it does stay in people's minds for a long time."

He said the stresses are "causing some family issues, some relationship issues." He and other Predator officers would not elaborate.
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