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  • Traveling Abroad - Colombian street mime in Bogota (Photo by TSgt Samuel Bendet)

    TRAVELING ABROAD - Airman deployed to a foreign country learns a few rules of the road while visiting Bogota, Colombia

    Bogota, Colombia, is a city of contrasts, consisting of high-rise buildings standing next to colonial churches. It's a city of universities, theaters and shantytowns. It is a mixture of influences, Spanish, English and Indian. It's a city of great wealth and unprecedented poverty.When I visited Bogota to do a story on an Air Force team working with
  • The Colombian Air Force recently built and altitude chamber for thier aircrew.. It is now in operation. Members of the physioloical team from AETC are here to make sure the Colombians prrogram meet US Air Force requirements, therefore allowing neighboring nations to train here. (Photo by TSgt Samuel Bendet)

    GETTING HIGH IN COLOMBIA - Instructors assist South American forces

    In Bogota, Columbia, about 8 million people are nestled high in the Andes Mountains at more than 8,600 feet above sea level. That makes the Colombian air force's newly installed aerospace physiology altitude chamber facility, or the commando aero de transporte, the highest in the world.So when a three-man U.S. Air Force mobile training team spent
  • Shudder to Shutter - Self portrait (photo by Tech. Sgt. Samuel Bendet)

    SHUDDER TO SHUTTER

    A month after I'd graduated from the technical school that officially transformed me from amateur shutterbug to professional Air Force photographer in March 2002, I received my initial alert assignment. It wasn't at all what I expected, and it gave me my first real look at how fragile life can be.Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., was my first duty
  • TSgt David Henry is a world-class body builder. (Photo by TSgt Samuel Bendet)

    OH, HENRY! - Airman is world-class bodybuilder

    When Tech. Sgt. David Henry was in high school, he played drum in the marching band. But he isn't your typical band camper. Henry is a muscle-bound Mr. Olympia.A weapons expeditor at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Henry has won five professional International Federation of Body Building titles and was crowned Mr. Olympia in 2008 in the under
  • A Narrow Escape - Soaring over the Gulf of Mexico off the shores of Galveston, Texas, a powered parachutist prepares to land near the scene that nearly claimed the life of one of his brethren. (photo by Tech. Sgt. Samuel Bendet)

    RESCUE LESSONS LEARNED

    In all drowning events, medical personnel must be consulted, even if it appears the victim is OK. Secondary drowning can occur even when the victim is immediately resuscitated with no apparent problems. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, you only need to inhale four ounces of water to drown and even less to injure the
  • A Narrow Escape - Soaring over the Gulf of Mexico off the shores of Galveston, Texas, a powered parachutist prepares to land near the scene that nearly claimed the life of one of his brethren. (photo by Tech. Sgt. Samuel Bendet)

    A NARROW ESCAPE - Powered parachutist nearly drowns after crashing into ocean

    When a powered parachute driver crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 200 yards from shore, his craft landed upside down, trapping him under water. It took us more than five minutes to reach him. We found him still submerged, buckled in his harness and entangled in his lines.Our hearts raced from the exertion of fighting the waves and from the knowledge
  • OFF BY A DIGIT - While he sometimes uses a prosthetic on the ring finger he severed while on a mission in Rwanda, Maj. Sang Kim said he prefers not to use the fake appendage. (Photo by TSgt Samuel Bendet)

    OFF BY A DIGIT - Major severs ring finger during mission in Rwanda

    Maj. Sang Kim rang in the New Year in atypical fashion ... by losing part of his ring finger.On New Year's Day 2009, Kim, a C-17 Globemaster III pilot, flew from his home station at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, en route to Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda in eastern-central Africa. He and his crew had been tasked
  • UNDER A GUNMAN'S GAZE - On April 20, a 22-year-old man with a history of violence walked into a bookstore in Wichita Falls, Texas, and started shooting. He wounded four women, then drove to a bar and killed an employee outside before he drove home and took his own life. (photo illustration by Tech. Sgt. Samuel Bendet)

    UNDER A GUNMAN'S GAZE - HOW ONE SERGEANT TURNED INTO THE ULTIMATE WINGMAN AFTER FACING A DERANGED KILLER

    On April 20, a 22-year-old man with a history of violence walked into a bookstore in Wichita Falls, Texas, and started shooting. He wounded four women, then drove to a bar and killed an employee outside before he drove home and took his own life.This tragedy sounds like so many we hear about on the news each and every night. We've almost become
  • As many have discovered in the history of aviation, there are sometimes situations where "the book" simply doesn't help. A case in point happened one semi-sunny Arkansas summer afternoon at the Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., C-130 Center of Excellence "schoolhouse." (photo by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Hannen)

    NOT by the BOOK - Faced with a unique landing gear malfunction, a C-130J crew had to get innovative to return home safely

    "... Arrow 96, wind 240 at 11, cleared to land." "Roger, cleared to land, Arrow 96. ... Alright guys, this is it. If the gear collapses, I'll do what I can to keep it on the runway. 'Co,' if the plane starts to settle, feather the props as soon as you feel it lean. If that happens, once the aircraft stops, everybody get out as quickly as you can --
  • Colonel Bruce W. Lovely is the Director of Manpower and Personnel, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. He is responsible for development, management, and implementation of personnel, manpower, and services plans, policies and procedures for the largest education and training system in the world. He controls the personnel programs impacting more than 60,000 military and civilian personnel assigned to AETC. (Photo by TSgt Samuel Bendet)

    STREET SMARTS - How I survived the past 40 years on a motorcycle

    A few years back, I was riding a Triumph Trident motorcycle down a back country road, at night, in the rain, going about 50 to 55 mph. Halfway through a turn, I saw a white, bulky mass in the middle of my lane about 80 feet away. It took a moment for my mind to register what it was ... a large mattress!Initially, I froze.With little time to react,
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