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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (September 9, 2024): There are very few professions that require a spouse to regularly say goodbye to their family while heading to far flung places to defend our nation. The Air Force understands the pressure this places on military families and has developed a comprehensive program to teach children how to cope with a deployment. In this photo by Senior Airman Elizabeth Figueroa, children of service members move a simulated injured Airman during a Kids Understanding Deployment Operations (KUDOS) event that included other age-appropriated games.
The KUDOS event hosted forty families with eighty kids, ranging from ages 4 to 13, who proceeded through different deployment stations such as a mock fitness test, an obstacle course, and they learned about the roles of fire and emergency services, security forces, medics, and the explosive ordnance disposal team.
KUDOS gives the youngsters the opportunity to ask questions about mom and dad’s job and what happens during a deployment. The goal is to convey this very important information to families while having fun doing it. Younger children may need simple explanations while older siblings often require help assuming unfamiliar roles like managing household expenses and paying the bills. Families must also adjust to living without a significant other for long periods of time. Even after a member returns, families may still need help readjusting to normal routines.
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Baltic Sea. (September 15, 2024): With both Finland and Sweden joining the alliance, the entire Baltic Sea has become known as NATO’s Lake. In this photo by Corporal Elton Taylor, French Special Forces board a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 (Reinforced), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the French amphibious assault ship FS Mistral during Baltic Operations 24 (BALTOPS). The annual 21-day exercise involved more than fifty ships, eighty-five aircraft, and approximately 9,000 personnel. It is the first time that nearly all the 5,000 miles of the Baltic coastline are safeguarded by NATO forces.
At-sea, the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York conducted joint maneuvers with members of the French and Spanish navies. On land, armed forces from more than eight NATO nations conducted urban warfare training including tactical recovery of personnel, aerial insertions, and beach landings by Marines. NATO troops practiced deployment of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System in simulated combat scenarios.
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Raeford, North Carolina. (September 10, 2024): All most civilians know about the Airborne is what they’ve seen in films like the Band of Brothers, Soldiers jumping out of perfectly good airplanes drifting lazily to the ground. As you can imagine, there’s a lot more to it than that. In this photo by Megan Hackett, Army Staff Sergeant Mark Pierce, a member of the famed Golden Knights parachute team, performs an advanced canopy maneuver during a jumping competition held here this week.
The goal of every paratrooper is to effectively control their canopy as they direct their “flight” to the ground. The first consideration in “piloting” a parachute is the type of canopy involved. Canopy designs have evolved over the years from round to square to elliptical shapes which has increased the need for parachute control. A paratrooper controls a canopy by pulling on steering lines connected to “toggles” that direct the parachute’s flight. The trooper can toggle left and right or pull both toggles to slow the parachute’s descent. As every type and size of parachute flies differently under varying weather conditions, an expert parachutist must understand the subtleties of canopy flight to ensure a safe landing.
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New London, Connecticut. (September 10, 2024): There is a long-standing myth that Coast Guard training is the easiest of the services, nothing could be further from the truth. In this photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Matt Thieme, cadets carry a log uphill during sea trials, a daylong series of physical and mental challenges to mark the end of their summer training program. Obtaining a commission in the U.S. Coast Guard is no easy feat, both physically and mentally, and is one of the toughest programs in the military services.
The Academy was formed as the U.S. Revenue Cutter School of Instruction-Underway in 1876 and officially became the Coast Guard in 1915. the Coast Guard Academy's mission is to “graduate young men and women with sound bodies, stout hearts, and alert minds, with a liking for the sea and its lore, and with that high sense of honor, loyalty, and obedience.” The Academy also stresses initiative, leadership, and officers who are well-grounded in seamanship, the sciences, and have a strong resolve to serve their country.
Each year, about a thousand students attend the school to study one of nine majors including four types of engineering degrees that involve programs in naval architecture and marine science. In a typical Academy class, 88% played varsity sports in high school, 41% had a parent who served in the military, and 78% planned to pursue a technical major.
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Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. (September 14, 2024): The internet is flooded with videos of military drill instructors barking orders at frightened recruits and that has been damaging to recruiting. In this photo by Corporal Sarah Grawcock, Marine Sergeant Alberto Ochoa, a drill instructor with the 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, corrects a recruit during Basic Training… and a certain amount of yelling is involved. What is the purpose of this tactic and is it an essential part of infantry combat training?
Parents are reporting their kids are interested in joining the military but videos they have seen on YouTube leave them intimidated by the harsh rhetoric. Military officials argue the videos do not provide the proper context nor the functional reasons for why issuing orders at the top of your lungs saves lives in combat.
Take the first day of Basic, for example, where some two hundred confused and disoriented civilians pour off a bus who are totally unfamiliar with the military. Within five minutes of arrival, drill instructors teach this mob how to listen and learn, respond to orders, stand in formation, and move as a unit. Yelling orders may seem like chaos as drill sergeants pounce on recruits barking orders, but it is a carefully crafted performance. Every move an instructor makes is choreographed to shape raw recruits into the ways of military life. None of what a Drill Instructor does is arbitrary.
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Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. (September 5, 2024): It is an ugly fact of life that America’s enemies will not hesitate to use chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons against our troops. In this photo by Staff Sergeant Christina Russo, Senior Airman Ronald Cataldom is being decontaminated during a simulated chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attack. The exercise was made more real by “exposing subjects to an unidentified substance” requiring Airmen to set up a decontamination zone to treat the “victims” quickly and effectively.
Decontamination is the cleaning process conducted to prevent a wounded person contaminated with chemical, biological, or nuclear agents from infecting other wounded troops or the personnel who intervene. In general, decontamination is divided into three types: mechanical, physical, and chemical.
Nuclear agents are materials released by nuclear fission or through the release of other radioactive material, often called dirty bombs, which has the potential to affect human health. The procedure in the event of radiological attack requires two decontamination cycles with a radiation survey after each cycle. Warm water and a neutral soap are mixed to create an emulsifying fluid that dissolves the contamination while also directing the water away from the patient.
Biological agents are formulated to cause infection or disease, and these hazards include epidemics, animal plagues, and insect infestations. Treatment for bio-hazards involves using alcohols, chlorine dioxide, and hydrogen peroxide to kill infectious organisms.