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Pacific Ocean. (May 25, 2024): With the arrival of artificial intelligence, the job of protecting the Navy from cyber-attack is more critical than ever. In this photo by Seaman Joey Sitter, Cyber Warfare Technician 2nd Class Paul Mendez (left) and Cyber Warfare Technician 1st Class Romeo Mashaka conduct a training exercise aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
Formerly called Cryptologic Technicians, these warriors fight in the battlespace of the future. Cyber Warfare Techs use state-of-the-art computers to perform offensive and defensive cyber operations and to investigate and track enemies in cyberspace. They are also responsible for protecting Navy networks from attack. They are also experts in communications defense and using forensics to investigate threats against Navy computer systems.
Crypto Techs detect, react, and recover from any disruptions initiated by the enemy and continually assess network vulnerability. Should a breach occur, these highly skilled warriors use their forensic skills to investigate the incident, reconstruct what happened, and then develop countermeasures to correct the problem.
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Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. (June 2, 2024): In a historical first, an active-duty Air Force officer has been crowned Miss America. In the above photo, Second Lieutenant Madison Marsh, who won the crown on January 14, 2024, proudly shows off her purple ribbon lapel pin that highlights pancreatic cancer awareness, a disease her mother died from in 2018.
In winning the crown, the 22-year-old dispelled a lot of myths about beauty pageants and those that compete in them. For Marsh, dreams of becoming an Air Force aviator began at the tender age of thirteen when she and her classmates visited NASA’s Space Camp. She set a goal to attend the Air Force Academy and began preparations for a future in flight. She did well in school and started training for her civilian pilot’s license, something she achieved at seventeen. She went on to graduate from the Air Force Academy in the spring of 2023 with a degree in physics. Upon her commissioning, she realized her dream when she received a pilot's billet.
Then tragedy struck.
In 2018, Marsh lost her mother at forty-one to pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the terrible disease. After her death, the family established the Whitney Marsh Foundation to raise funds for research and awareness. The foundation’s mission is to educate the public about the early warning signs of the disease to increase future patient’s chance of survival. Marsh became the charity’s co-founder and president while pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
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Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (June 1, 2024): There is an old saying “Drivers may not be the pride of the ride, but without them, the pride don’t ride”. In this photo by Corporal Megan Ozaki, Marine Corporal Gage Barbieri with Headquarters Battalion, 2d Marine Division works on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Officially called Motor Transport Operators, these dedicated professionals are responsible for maintaining and operating both commercial and tactical vehicles.
They operate wheeled vehicles of all kinds to transport cargo and troops over rough terrain in support of combat operations. They make sure all vehicles are inspected and maintained in top condition and ready to go into combat. Operators also oversee repair and maintenance of transport equipment including fuel and water tankers that are essential to support units in the field. They are also experts on the proper loading and unloading of cargo and convoy defense techniques. They also prepare vehicles for movement via air, rail, or sea.
To become a Motor Transport Operator, candidates must pass 10 weeks of Basic Combat Training followed by six weeks of Advanced Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The training is a mix of classroom work and simulators plus over two hundred hours spent in actual vehicles in field training environments. Training subjects include loading/unloading operations, vehicle-mounted navigation, and Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems, radio communications, convoy security and defense, and the safe transport of Hazardous Materials.
While not the flashiest of jobs in the military, Motor Transport Operators are the backbone of all logistics and combat missions.
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Saudi Arabia. (May 28, 2024): To achieve air superiority over the enemy, America flies the most sophisticated aircraft in the world. However, these fifth-generation fighters are useless without somewhere to land and take off. In the photo above, an Air Force pavement and equipment technician assigned to the 378th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron cuts concrete to repair the flightline. The success of any air campaign rests on the skill and technical expertise of these specialists to keep runways operating in some of the most austere environments in the world.
Pavement and equipment technicians construct and maintain asphalt runways, aircraft parking spaces, and roadways. Their job involves everything from construction duties to detonating explosives as they build runways and create the needed facilities. They operate and maintain heavy construction equipment such as loaders, graders, bulldozers, backhoes, and dump trucks. They also transport heavy equipment in tractor-trailer combinations quickly and safely to where they are needed. Once on site, these technicians ensure that all safety and environmental regulations are followed in the handling and storing of construction materials. Perhaps the most dangerous part of their job is designing demolition projects and placing and detonating explosives.
To become a pavement and equipment technician, candidates must be at least seventeen and possess a high school diploma or equivalent. After Basic, students attend sixty-nine days of advanced training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and are likely to be deployed overseas in support of air operations.
America’s sophisticated aircraft can land virtually anywhere in the world thanks to these highly trained runway construction crews.
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Undisclosed Location. (May 31, 2024): In this photo by Sgt. Vincent Levelev, Charlie Company of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division prepares to take off for a practice “Dust Off” medical evacuation. "DUSTOFF" is the callsign specific to U.S. Army Air Ambulance units made famous during the Vietnam War. During the conflict, helicopter air ambulance pilots along with medics and crew risked their lives to evacuate more than 900,000 U.S., Vietnamese, and even enemy Viet Cong between 1962 and 1973.
Medical air evacuation using helicopters was first attempted during the Korean War and was a new and untested concept when the 57th Medical Detachment arrived in Vietnam in 1962. Beginning with only five helicopters and nine pilots, its leader, Major Charles L. Kelly, set the example by flying a punishing schedule of missions in all weather and hazard conditions. He pioneered new techniques for night evacuations, and he inspired his fellow pilots by swooping his unarmed helicopter into hotly contested landing zones to pluck the wounded from certain death.
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Bandar Lampung, Indonesia. (May 15, 2024): In this photo by MC2 James Finney, U.S. and Indonesian Navy leaders review a chart during a planning briefing aboard the Indonesian Navy fast attack craft Kri Kerambit-627 during Combined Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT).
CARAT Indonesia is a bilateral exercise that is part of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between Indonesia and the United States designed to promote regional security cooperation. Joined by the navies of Japan and Australia, the exercise enhances the ability of partners to operate together during emergencies throughout the Indo-Pacific.
In its 30th year, the CARAT series allows partners to share information and coordinate efforts at maritime security including fighting terrorism, stopping smuggling, and combatting piracy. Indonesia is the most populous country in Southeast Asia and has the largest Muslim population in the world. Sitting astride the equator, Indonesia is situated on an archipelago that contains 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) strategically located along major sea lanes connecting the Indian to the Pacific Oceans. Indonesia measures 3,200 miles from east to west and claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles.
This enormous territory is patrolled by the Indonesian Navy which is the second strongest navy in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. It has sixty-five thousand active-duty Sailors, 213 ships of all types including seventy-two patrol craft and thirty-two logistics and support vessels. Due to frequent disasters, the Indonesian Navy must also be prepared to respond to humanitarian crises, like the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, that killed over a million people not counting thousands missing or homeless.