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In Flight USA Articles
Airman Ropes Off Stress, Uses Music
By Airman 1st Class Tristan Biese, 633rd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Senior Airman Hannah Walker, 633rd Force Support Squadron food service journeyman, sings live music at the Langley Marina on Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., Sept. 23, 2017. A big inspiration for Walker’s music is her family, most notably her daughter. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Tristan Biese)Sitting on the edge of her stool, staring out at a sea of faces staring back, she tunes her guitar. Once the guitar is just right she takes a sip of her drink, grabs her pick, takes a deep breath and begins playing.
Senior Airman Hannah Walker, 633rd Force Support Squadron food service journeyman, is performing live at the Langley Marina. She occasionally does this to help de-stress and re-center herself.
“When you’re in the military and you don’t have a hobby or something to do outside of work, it can make you go insane,” said Walker. “I wear this uniform every day and I am an Airman whether I’m in uniform or not in uniform, but there is a time to take the uniform off and put it away and be who you’re called to be, whether that’s to be a husband, a wife or a musician. Those are the things that are going to keep you grounded.”
Resilience: One Airman’s Story of Faith, Service
By Janis El Shabazz, 340th Flying Training Group Public Affairs
This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story).
Sandra and Gabriel Rousseaux, Senior Master Sgt. Jon Rousseaux, Dr. Amy Holder and Maj. (Dr.) Dax Holder pose for a photo during a fundraising run for ‘Any Baby Can’, a San Antonio-based organization that serves families with children and youth facing serious health or developmental challenges, to raise money for sudden infant death syndrome research. The Rousseauxs lost their son, Joshua, to SIDS in 2010. (Courtesy photo)Senior Master Sgt. Jon Rousseaux was like many children who grew up in a military family. The self-described man of faith and service followed his father, a retired chief, into the Air Force – and after 19 years, he is still at it. In fact, he just re-enlisted for four more years. Rousseaux’s years of service have strengthened his faith and resiliency, helping him through the most difficult time of his life.
Co-workers describe Rousseaux as a steady, easy-going guy whose steadfastness and determination helped him rapidly ascend the ranks. Everyone agrees that, usually, not much upsets him – but the events that happened in May 2010 shook him to his core.
Rousseaux said it was a typical day. He woke the kids, made breakfast, and dropped his infant son, Joshua, off at day care and older son, Cayden, at school. It was Joshua’s first week in day care. Rousseaux said what happened next was like a surreal nightmare – but it was broad daylight and painfully real.
“I got a call from my wife, Sandra, that Josh had stopped breathing,” Rousseaux said. “I was on my way to the day care when I got another call telling me to meet the ambulance at the hospital. Nothing can prepare you for the scene of your tiny baby laying on a table with a flurry of doctors trying to stabilize him and not knowing what is happening because everything is happening so fast.”
Journey to Recovery
By Senior Airman Kyle Johnson, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story).
Senior Master Sgt. Janet Lemmons, the 176th Force Support Squadron sustainment and services superintendent, holds up a note her son Tommy wrote to her and his stepfather, Tom, when he was younger. She found the note among a pile of old receipts when she was looking to trade in some diamond earrings after his death. Lemmons tells everyone the note is a thousand times better than diamonds and she keeps it at her desk. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kyle Johnson)Then-Tech. Sgt. Janet Lemmons realized she couldn’t breathe in the hospital room. It was as if there wasn’t enough space for her family’s grief and the air collectively. She had to get out.
Lemmons stepped into the elevator that would take her someplace where she could breathe, but the cold steel walls provided no comfort as they sealed her in. She took several deep breaths as the elevator descended. The doors opened on friends and family, and they all knew exactly what had happened as soon as they saw her.
Her oldest son, Tommy, was dead.
Lemmons stepped out into a surreal world where nothing was as it should be and didn’t feel like it ever would be.
“How am I going to laugh again?” said Lemmons, now a senior master sergeant and the sustainment services superintendent for the 176th Force Support Squadron. “What is life going to be like? How am I going to eat again? How is anything ever going to be enjoyable again?”
Chief Exercises Resilience Through Mountain Climbing
By Senior Airman Solomon Cook, 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story).
Airmen reach the summit of Granite Peak in Montana after a three-day climb of more than 7,000 feet Aug. 30, 2016. (Courtesy photo)The four pillars of comprehensive airmen fitness are mental, physical, social, and spiritual. How Airmen choose to strengthen them is of their own desire, but one sergeant thinks a way to reinforce all of these concepts is found at the top of each American states’ highest point.
Most recently, Chief Master Sgt. Dean Werner, the emergency management program manager for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, led a hike Aug. 4-6, adding to his list of mountains climbed.
“I led a group of 10 Airmen to the summit of Granite Peak, Mont., which is considered the most difficult of the 50 state highpoints to conquer, except for Mount Denali, Alaska,” Werner said.
The climb consisted of 28 miles in three days, gaining more than 7,000 feet of elevation.
Former Marine Military Working Dog Finds New Life in the Air Force
By Air Force Master Sgt. April Lapetoda
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.)
Senior Airman Samantha Baker gives her partner, Penny, a hug after successfully completing a training session. Baker is a military working dog handler deployed to the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. April Lapetoda)The passion and love between military working dogs and handlers is part of the job, but not always evident. However, for Senior Airman Samantha Baker and her partner for the past four months, military working dog Penny, the two are often seen walking around the base together.
Sometimes Baker carries Penny up makeshift stairs so that her paws don’t get stuck, and instead of working strict patrol and obedience training, the two are often in the training area engaging in a game of catch with lots of hugs, love and praise.
Not only does Baker’s and Penny’s relationship look different from the average military working dog and its handler – it is different in several ways. One of the main factors for the difference in their relationship is that Penny is a fox red Labrador.
A True Airpower Giant
By Gen. Mark A. Welsh III
Air Force Chief of Staff
Then-Maj. James Robinson “Robbie” Risner poses with F-86 Sabre in South Korea. Brig. Gen. Risner enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He flew more than 108 combat missions in the Korean War, shot down eight MiGs, and became the 20th jet ace of that war. Risner passed away Oct. 22, 2013. (Air Force Photo) We lost another Air Force hero last month. Brig. Gen. James Robinson “Robbie” Risner was part of that legendary group who served in three wars, built an Air Force, and gave us an enduring example of courage and mission success.
Most of today’s Airmen know General Risner because of his leadership and heroism as a Vietnam War POW, but his story actually started well before that.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He flew more than 108 combat missions in the Korean War, shot down eight MiGs, and became the 20th jet ace of that war.
During the Vietnam War, Risner was an F-105 squadron commander. On March 16, 1965, he was shot down, but made it to the Tonkin Gulf before bailing out and was rescued. A month later, Time magazine featured him on their cover. On Sept. 16, he was shot down again, and this time, was captured. To make things worse, his captors had the Time article, and made him their “prized prisoner,” which meant more abuse. Risner served as a leader in the Hoa Lo Prison – first as senior-ranking officer and then vice commander of the 4th Allied POW Wing. Some called him “the most influential and effective POW there.”
Editorial: Apology Accepted
By Ed Downs
Quoted from the March 24 television airing of the CBS Program, The Amazing Race:
“Parts of last Sunday’s episode, filmed in Vietnam, were insensitive to a group that is very important to us: our nation’s veterans.
“We want to apologize to veterans – particularly those who served in Vietnam – as well as their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast.
“All of us here have the most profound respect for the men and women who fight for our country.”
If you are a regular viewer of CBS’s Sunday evening program, The Amazing Race, you know what the above apology is all about. To be sure, this apology is appropriate and viewed as a sincere acceptance of responsibility for having wronged a generation of Americans who have suffered greatly. The question that remains, however, is why circumstances should ever have developed in a way as to require such an apology and whether or not consequences have been shared by those who caused this egregious program to have been aired in the first place.
As aviators, we have become accustomed to an adversarial media and foolish versions of aviation plots being portrayed in movies and television. We have learned that no matter how hard we try, reporters use incorrect terminology, movies portray pilots flying planes with the motions and force needed to guide a team of horses and television news sensationalizes aviation stories with the axiom, “if it bleeds, it leads.” Sure, we write letters, tweet our brains out, plead for help from alphabet groups and finally, develop a thick skin. Now, do not misunderstand the intent of this observation. This writer is not suggesting one simply give up. All of us involved in our remarkable industry, be it for business or recreation, must participate in preserving the rights to navigable airspace that all Americans enjoy, as verified by Title 49 of Federal law. Our forefathers learned that rights are never granted, but defended.
You Can't Tame a Raptor
The invasion of the Raptors is coming to the California Capital Airshow. (Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller, USAF)By Karen Storm
In the wild, birds of prey are very distinctive in their attributes: a sharp, pointed beak; strong feet with razor-sharp talons; keen eyesight, and animals —even other birds— are their food source. Another name used to describe these birds is derived from the Latin word —Rapere— which means to plunder. They are smart, aggressive, cunning, and lethal. Such a bird is called a Raptor.
It is also the name of the United States Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft, a designation made both appropriately and without apology. The F-22 Raptor, manufactured by the team of Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney, is the world’s only operational fifth-generation fighter, and it is absolutely masterful at conducting its stated mission of Air Dominance.