Meet Your Military
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Air Force Lt. Col. Ben Rudolphi, the commander of the 407th Expeditionary Operation Support Squadron, conducts a preflight munitions check on his A-10 Thunderbolt II at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, July 11, 2017. Rudolphi has played a dual role in Operation Inherent Resolve, serving as a squadron commander and flying A-10s in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria with the 477th Air Expeditionary Group.
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey, July 28, 2017 — The darkness of a desert night surrounds his aircraft. The wind rushes past his cockpit. As the target approaches, nervousness builds deep within his core and his heart races at extraordinary speeds.
Read more: Meet Your Military: A-10 Pilot Spits Fire in Fight Against ISIS
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GREAT FALLS, Mont., July 24, 2017 — The Montana Air National Guard's 219th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer senior enlisted leader, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Brian Furr, and his son, Airman 1st Class Austin Furr, deployed together the first time in June.
The father-son duo serve together as members of the Montana Air National Guard's 219th RHS, which deployed to Slovenia to do construction work in preparation for exercise Immediate Response, scheduled to take place later this year.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Father, Son Deploy to Slovenia
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Jumpmasters Keep it in the Family
Army Sgt. Angel Durkee, an intelligence analyst assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, practices leaning outside of a simulated aircraft door, May 19, 2017, during a static-line jumpmaster course at Fort Carson, Colo. Army photo by Staff Sgt. William Reinier
By Army Staff Sgt. William Reinier, 10th Special Forces Group
FORT CARSON, Colo., June 19, 2017 — When Daniel and Angel Durkee first met, they were in high school chemistry class in Canyon Lake, California, and the reaction was immediate. They started dating, but their bond would be tested as Daniel, a year older, graduated, joined the Army, and was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Read more: Meet your Military: Married Soldiers Become Jumpmasters Together
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Army Sgt. Ali Alsaeedy, a paratrooper assigned to the 307th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, poses for a photo in front of his unit's engineer castle at Fort Bragg, N.C., March 3, 2017. Photo by Staff Sgt. Anthony Hewitt
By Army Sgt. Anthony Hewitt, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
FORT BRAGG, N.C., June 13, 2017 — In Iraq's capital city of Baghdad during the 1980s, a family of six brothers and one sister — all very close in age — played in the streets and parks of their hometown, enjoying the simple things in life they had at the time. Through the decades, the times and the city had changed, and the streets and parks were not as simple.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Army Paratrooper Recalls Childhood in Iraq
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska, June 2, 2017 — Air Force Airman 1st Class Lukas Johnson joined the Air Force to save lives. He thought he could pursue his calling sealed snugly inside a bomb suit, defusing improvised explosive devices as an explosive ordnance disposal technician.
Air Force Airman 1st Class Lukas Johnson, an aircraft structural maintenance technician with the 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, works with a C-130 Hercules leading-edge training aid April 20, 2017. The Phoenix native works to prevent aircraft corrosion, which can compromise an aircraft's structure. Air Force photo by David Bedard
Air Force Airman 1st Class Lukas Johnson, an aircraft structural maintenance technician with the 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, works with a C-130 Hercules leading-edge training aid April 20, 2017. The Phoenix native works to prevent aircraft corrosion, which can compromise an aircraft's structure. Air Force photo by David Bedard EOD was the job listed on his original enlistment contract, but the Phoenix native was disqualified during medical screening.
Fortunately for the 3rd Maintenance Squadron airman assigned here, he found his calling in aircraft structural maintenance, a career field charged with maintaining and repairing the sheet metal, tubing and composites that make up an aircraft fuselage.
Instead of saving lives by manually detonating artillery rounds strung together on the side of a road, Johnson defuses structural problems that could cause a catastrophic failure in flight.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Structural Maintenance Airman Keeps Aircraft Safe