AFCEA - Los Angeles

A team of senior-year engineering mechanics department cadets here built a Formula race car from scratch, scheduled to be showcased and raced May 8-11 at the Society of Automotive Engineers international competition in Brooklyn, Mich.

"The cadets undertake a huge learning curve where they must increase their knowledge of vehicle dynamics," said Capt. Adam Parks, engineering mechanics instructor and the team's advisor. "This competition takes every ounce of engineering savvy the cadets have to muster."
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A team of senior-year engineering mechanics department cadets here built a Formula race car from scratch, scheduled to be showcased and raced May 8-11 at the Society of Automotive Engineers international competition in Brooklyn, Mich.

"The cadets undertake a huge learning curve where they must increase their knowledge of vehicle dynamics," said Capt. Adam Parks, engineering mechanics instructor and the team's advisor. "This competition takes every ounce of engineering savvy the cadets have to muster."
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A team here is working to improve safety for warfighters by increasing accuracy of high altitude airdrops with mission planning tools.

The Joint Precision Airdrop System, or JPADS, is a family of equipment that consists of parachutes, mission planning systems, global positioning systems and computer hardware and software. The parachutes are guided by GPS to accurately deliver necessary supplies to warfighters in remote locales and austere environments.

"This need has multiplied greatly, especially during Operation Enduring Freedom," said Capt. Sean Carlson, the JPADS- MP section lead.
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First lieutenants will no longer meet a promotion central selection board to make captain, Air Force officials announced May 7.

Effective immediately, the Secretary of the Air Force approved the elimination of the Captain's Central Selection Board.

The Air Force is returning to the same promotion process that was in effect prior to July 2011. First lieutenants will now be informed by their chain of command if they are recommended for promotion to captain.

The Air Force is returning to a 100 percent promotion opportunity, allowing commanders to determine if an officer should be promoted.
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Two Eglin Air Force Base Airmen from the 96th Communications Squadron went for an early morning jog in the rain May 4 and did not stop until 7 p.m. that night, running more than 50 miles.

Airman 1st Class Thomas Church and Senior Airman Chris Gauthier are ultra-marathoners. They were competing in the 2013 Run for Kids Challenge in Birmingham, Ala., in only their second and first competitions respectively in the extreme sport. The Airmen's goal of 60 miles was hampered by unforeseen cold temperatures and a five-hour rain shower that soaked the runners and muddied the course.
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(This feature is part of the "Through Airmen's Eyes" series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.)

On July 5, 2011, Senior Airman Gideon L. Connelly was involved in a motorcycle accident in Baltimore County with serious damage to his left leg. The doctors told the Maryland Air National Guard repair and reclamation crew chief that, if he kept his leg, it would leave him with limitations to what he could do. However, if the leg was replaced with prosthesis, his abilities would significantly increase.
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Surrounded by his Air Force Warrior Games teammates as he trains to represent his service in archery, rifle shooting and sitting volleyball, Tech. Sgt. Axel Gaud-Torres feels like an Airman again.

Since his childhood in Puerto Rico, Gaud-Torres wanted to join the U.S. Air Force, a dream he realized when he enlisted after college in 1995.  He arrived at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., after space and missile maintenance training on his 21st birthday. But after he was injured by a car bomb while manning a checkpoint in Iraq in 2005, Gaud-Torres' feelings changed. He didn't feel he deserved to be an Airman anymore.
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(Editor's Note: Master Sgt. Shane Sullivan, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Equal Opportunity officer, lost more than 40 pounds, scored a 99.8 on his fitness test and won the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing's "Biggest Loser" competition during his deployment here.)

You want to get in shape during your deployment, but what does that mean? Do you want to lose weight or score better on your fitness test?

Before I left Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., for this deployment, I promised myself, and my leadership, I would return a new person. I set a lofty goal and told anyone who would listen, which initially helped me be accountable for my choices. I predicted I would lose 40 pounds. People encouraged me, but still pointed out it was a lot of weight and it would be tough.
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Holly Petraeus, the head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, discussed predatory business practices and personal financial tips with the military community here May 6.

Petraeus visited Yokota AB to hear first-hand of service members' financial hardships and to inform service members of her role at the CFPB, which opened its doors less than two years ago in the wake of the U.S. economic recession.

"There's really a double purpose for me when I go around to military bases and do town halls," Petraeus said. "The first is to let service members know that we are there for them and inform them of what we do. And also, it is important to not only tell them what we do, but to hear about what financial issues they are running into because that is what really informs what I do."
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Contracts valued at $5 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m.

National Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion Jack Beckman was added to the U.S. Air Force Enlisted Heritage Hall's Wall of Achievers May 2 at Gunter Annex here.

"Fast Jack," as he is called by fans, is a former Air Force sergeant and avionics technician on the F-111D Aardvark.

Beckman joins a notable list of former enlisted Airmen who have received the honor, including former President George W. Bush, retired Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, Johnny Cash and actors Gene Autry and Charlton Heston.
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Americans take drinking water for granted. We use it not only to drink and to cook but to water our plants, to bathe and even to flush our toilets.

In other parts of the world, however, potable water is hard to come by. Without the infrastructure to treat and distribute water through plumbing, people are more likely to drink water straight from unfiltered sources. Contaminated water kills an estimated 2.2 million people annually, according to the United Nations Environment Program, in addition to 1.8 million children under age 5.
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Americans take drinking water for granted. We use it not only to drink and to cook but to water our plants, to bathe and even to flush our toilets.

In other parts of the world, however, potable water is hard to come by. Without the infrastructure to treat and distribute water through plumbing, people are more likely to drink water straight from unfiltered sources. Contaminated water kills an estimated 2.2 million people annually, according to the United Nations Environment Program, in addition to 1.8 million children under age 5.
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Members of the 455th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron installed safe and secure bridges for local Afghans coming in and out of Bagram Airfield, May 2.

The 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron entry point controllers requested the bridges to provide safe passage to and from BAF for the airfield employees.

The 455th ECES structures shop was given a project to construct two bridges to replace old and rotting matting and wooden planks that went over a flowing river that divided the base and the town. This project was meant to be a more permanent structure for the contracted Afghan guards and the local populace.
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The California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing is providing two specialized firefighting C-130J aircraft and crews to assist with wildfires raging across the state.

Acting on a request for support from state emergency agencies, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. directed Army Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, California's adjutant general, to provide the support.
Baldwin also authorized air tanker base operations to be staged out of Channel Islands Air National Guard Station here, where the C-130Js are stationed, allowing shorter response times for all civilian and military aircraft working the fires in Ventura County.
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The 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron executed the first combat Extracted Container Delivery System, or XCDS, airdrop April 29, successfully demonstrating the increased accuracy that this new technology provides.

The new airdrop method is designed to pull the bundles out of the aircraft at a faster rate than the current airdrop process, which improves the overall accuracy of the drop itself.

"Normally a bundle falls out of the aircraft due to gravity, with the speed mostly dependent on the deck angle of the aircraft," said Capt. Raeanna Elms, with the 772nd EAS. "With XCDS, there is an additional parachute attached to a group of bundles, that pulls them out of the aircraft together and at a faster speed, resulting in a smaller dispersion area on the ground."
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Midway through retired Tech. Sgt. Katie Robinson's first track and field practice at the Air Force Warrior Games training camp, she pulled out a pair of butterfly wings from her workout bag and strapped them to her back. The wings were both comedy relief and symbolized a dramatic change several fellow wounded warriors noticed in her personality from her first Warrior Games last year.

"She's a little jokester, which is great because from what I understand, she was a little reserved last year," said Capt. Ben Payne, first year track coach. "But Katie doesn't have any reservations about being herself this year, either on the track or with the team. She makes it fun and goes out there and gives her all at everything she's doing competition-wise and makes everyone feel comfortable. She'll bring the butterfly wings out, and she'll bring out some laughs on the track."
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Three Airmen from the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron tragically perished Friday, May 3, near Chon-Aryk, Kyrgyzstan, in the crash of a KC-135 Stratotanker.

The crew and aircraft were assigned to the Transit Center at Manas near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The deceased are:
Capt. Mark T. Voss, 27, hometown of Boerne, Texas
Capt. Victoria A. Pinckney, 27, hometown of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Tech. Sgt. Herman Mackey III, 30, hometown of Bakersfield, Calif.

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A team of California Air National Guardsmen from the 129th Rescue Wing (RQW) aboard a HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopter and a MC-130P Combat Shadow refueling airplane, successfully completed a complex overwater rescue mission, extracting an injured cruise ship passenger more than 300 miles off the coast of San Diego this afternoon.

The 129th RQW received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard late Saturday concerning a critically ill passenger onboard the Netherlands cruise ship, Westerdam. The passenger was suffering from kidney failure and required immediate treatment beyond the capabilities of the vessel's medical staff. Upon mission approval, the aircraft and crews immediately departed Moffett Federal Airfield to stage for their final launch from Coronado.
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Contracts valued at $5 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m.