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Camp Casey, South Korea. (April 30, 2024): Despite all the recent advances in GPS, Soldiers still need to know how to move people and equipment using a 16th century technology known as “dead reckoning.” In this photo by South Korean Army Corporal Mingyu Ju, Soldiers participating in a Best Squad Competition plan their route to move troops and tanks in total darkness.
Finding your way in the dark, or night land navigation, relies on techniques first used by Sailors in tall ships in the 1600s who plied the oceans before the discovery of America. “Dead Reckoning” uses calculations of one’s location based on the speed and direction from a known position. For today’s Soldiers, this means accurately plotting a course from their current position to their desired destination without the help of satellites.
The process begins with planning the route you wish to take given the terrain and distance involved. Troops use a standard military compass to “shoot an azimuth” or direction toward their objective expressed as degrees (example: 180 degrees). The route is then plotted on a 1:50 map (one inch represents 50,000 feet on the map) using a good old fashion number two pencil and a protractor. Exceptional care must be taken at this point as mistakes in calculations at the beginning are magnified over distance. If you are off by as little as half a percentage point at the start of the journey, you will find yourself way off course after travelling long distances.
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Undisclosed Location. (May 10, 2024): They are an aviation unit so elite it can promise to deliver special operations forces anywhere in the world within 30 seconds of the desired time, day, or night, and in all weather conditions. In the above unclassified photo, a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) pilots a MH-6 Little Bird helicopter while training for America’s most secretive and dangerous missions.
Formed from Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 1981, the 160th SOAR is known as the "Night Stalkers" for their skills flying with night-vision equipment and infrared devices to navigate through enemy territory. Their specialty is combat insertions and extractions of special operators in missions most aviation units would not even attempt. The Night Stalkers famously transported SEAL team members into Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Flying “nap-of-the-earth” over hilly terrain in total darkness, the Night Stalkers delivered and recovered the SEALS and transported them, along with Bin Laden’s body, undetected back to Afghanistan.
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Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. (May 2, 2024): Success in any future war will depend on moving huge amounts of goods quickly and safely to units across the world. In this photo by Staff Sergeant Spencer Slocum, Master Sergeant Greg Barham, 167th Airlift Wing instructor Loadmaster, and Staff Sergeant Christian Magliocca, 15th Airlift Squadron instructor Loadmaster, await refueling operations to complete during the Forward Area Refueling Point Rodeo held here this week. The training gave C-17 Globemaster III transport crews a chance to develop greater agility to quickly respond and provide global airlift where needed.
The job of moving these giant cargoes belongs to the Loadmaster, an enlisted Airman who is responsible for mathematically preplanning the correct placement of the load on an airplane. They also prioritize the order in which supplies or equipment are loaded onto an aircraft such that more tactically important material (e.g., ammunition) is off-loaded first. These loading decisions can mean life or death for forward deployed troops.
Generally, a Loadmaster’s duties fall into three categories: providing passenger comfort and safety, securing cargo, and taking part in airdrop operations. Before each flight, they perform calculations and create plans for passengers and cargo to ensure that cargo will not shift suddenly during flight. Loadmasters also ensure regulations regarding placement of one type of cargo in proximity to another are considered and that everything is secured before takeoff.
Perhaps the most challenging task for Loadmasters is airborne delivery. Delivering paratroopers and their cargo by parachute is a highly technical and dangerous undertaking. In such tricky situations, Loadmasters must ensure equipment does not shift during abrupt maneuvers which can produce dangerous handling problems for the pilot.
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Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. ( April 25, 2024): Somehow, word got around that Air Force Basic Training is easier than other branches of the service. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this photo by Ava Leone, more than six hundred Airmen assigned to flights 301 through 315 graduates from Basic after weeks of grueling mental and physical training. Due to its flashy mission, the difficulty of Air Force Basic training is often underestimated.
The seven-and one-half week program begins with in-processing and an initial physical examination. Recruits are expected to pass a physical fitness test including timed push-ups, sit-ups, and a one-and-a-half-mile run. Trainees seeking to enter Special Warfare career fields have additional requirements including swimming.
The first few weeks concentrate on basic war skills, military discipline, physical fitness, and drill and ceremonies. Students absorb the Air Force’s core values and an understanding of a comprehensive range of subjects relating to Air Force life. Students face the “gas chamber” during the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Defense Course to learn to wear their protective masks properly in an unforgiving environment. Later, in the fifth week, trainees battle each other with pugil sticks during Combatives training and learn a variety of martial arts techniques.
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Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. (May 2, 2024): In this photo Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo, a future “Hurricane Hunter” flashes the victory sign at a youth Caribbean Hurricane Awareness Tour held here this week. Pictured are Colonel Elissa Granderson, 403rd Operations Group commander and pilot, and Lieutenant Colonel Devon Burton, 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron pilot, both members of the Air Force Reserve’s Hurricane Hunters.
Working with hurricane specialists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Hurricane Hunters try to figure out whether or not a tropical system could turn into a hurricane. The teams keep a continuous watch on tropical cyclones and areas of disturbed weather within the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins.
Once a system is spotted, NOAA issues analyses and forecast advisories on the system’s development, current strength, and likely movements. The agency also issues tropical storm and hurricane warnings for the U.S. and Caribbean territories.
The Hurricane Hunters fly state of the art C-130 cargo planes directly into these tropical storms to gather data that is critical to forecasting a hurricane’s intensity and possible landfall. The data are sent in real-time via satellite from the aircraft directly to the National Hurricane Center for analysis and use by hurricane forecasters. During each pass through the eye, crews release a dropsonde, which collects temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, and barometric pressure data. The crew also collects surface wind speed and flight-level data.
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Saltsburg, Pennsylvania. (May 5, 2024) Most Americans don’t know what an enormous impact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has on the quality of the water they drink. In this photo by Michel Sauret, Andi Fitzgibbon, a water quality biologist with the Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, works alongside Jamie Detweiler, an aquatic biologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, to collect biological samples to evaluate water quality.
Under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, Congress created the Corps of Engineers to approve the construction of any structure in or over any the navigable water of the United States. This role was expanded by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act to include navigable waters, lakes, ponds, small streams, some ditches, and adjacent wetlands. They also govern waters of the United States that are man-made such as dams.
Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for stewardship of about twelve million acres of project lands that include more than 450,000 acres of environmentally sensitive areas supporting unique ecosystems. The Corps also manages over 340 species of concern and over 47,000 cultural sites across the nation.
The Corps also plays a major role in restoring damaged ecosystems by teaming up with local environmental officials to provide funding and experts. Under the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration program, the Corps of Engineers participates in the planning, engineering, and construction of projects to restore degraded aquatic ecosystems. The agency has a $224 million dollar budget to support cost-effect restoration efforts by local entities to restore and save vital water resources.
While most Americans may not realize it, their next glass of water will be clean thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers.