The Air Force ran on forms, acronyms, and the occasional act of faith. Most problems came to us via work order: a few scrawled words, a tail number, a location on the flight line, and a set of boxes waiting for signatures. The paper didn’t have much personality, but the people who filled it out […]
Air Force
Posted inNewsroom
Inside the Wait for War: Military Families Brace for What Comes Next
Caryl Banks dragged a kitchen chair beneath the overhead light and climbed onto it with a bucket of warm, soapy water balanced on the countertop. She wrung out a sponge, lifted it toward the ceiling, and began working it in slow, deliberate circles. Water slid down her forearm and dripped onto the kitchen floor. It […]
Posted inReflections
A Marine Father, an Air Force Son, and the Distance Between Them
My father has been running longer than I’ve been alive. As his son, without understanding or explanation, he expected me to run with him. He was a Marine, but he’d been running long before he enlisted. He escaped from an abusive, alcoholic home in North Carolina at age 16. He eventually found safety and structure […]
Posted inReflections
I Carried Death’s Shroud With Me From Afghanistan. But I Do Not Fear It
Death first appeared in my life when I yelled, “Take cover!” Sirens wailing in the distance, flak vest slipping off my shoulder, I ran for the nearest bunker in the darkness. Barely 18 hours in-country. I hadn’t fully unpacked, butI knew the location of every bullet in my magazine, felt them digging into my chest. […]
Posted inReflections
Air Force Veteran Didn’t Need Permission to Drink—or Find New Path to Sobriety
Air Force veteran, who faced backlash from Alcoholics Anonymous, tries psychedelics to stay sober
Posted inReflections
I Wanted Peace, Freedom, and to Vote in Vietnam. The Air Force Was Not Amused
In August 1968, I turned 22 years old, and for the first time in my life I was eligible to vote in a presidential election. The only problem was that I was in Vietnam and when I suggested to my boss that I be given some time off to return to New York to cast […]
Posted inReflections
On a Remote Military Base During the Vietnam War, Books Offered an Escape
During the Vietnam War, an Air Force radio operator becomes the librarian of a remote base in the Philippines.
Posted inReflections
Football Dreams Led to ‘Fat Boy Flight’ and an Over-Forty-Year Air Force Career
Air Force four-star general started his military career with dreams of playing football for the Air Force Academy and joining the NFL.
Posted inReflections
In That Moment I Learned My Service to This Country Could Not Transcend My Skin Color
Raising his right hand to serve in the U.S. military could not shield Jimmy Anderson from the harsh realities of racial prejudice in his community.
Posted inNewsroom
30 Years On, Veterans Recall the Desert Storm Air War
People tend to remember Desert Storm as a short, easy war. Compared with the “forever” wars, that makes sense: a 100-hour blip in the annals of history.
Posted inReflections
Baseball Games in Tokyo and a White House Tour—“I Bet It Never Smells Like Fart in There”
When the Secret Service let a member of the Air Force into the vice president’s vehicle, he thought to himself, “I bet it never smells like fart in there.”
