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FEATURES

  • McConnell Couples: preparing for deploy

    Senior Airman Rebekah Beagle and Staff Sgt. Erik Beagle, both members of the 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron, are in a unique position: they are looking forward to an upcoming deployment, which is unusually optimistic for a young, recently-married couple.The excitement lies in a rare opportunity they

  • Staff sergeant beats cancer

    For many people Independence Day is all about celebration, spending time with family and watching fireworks light up the night sky. However, on July 4, 2014, there was no celebrating for Staff Sgt. Richard L. Johnson.On that fateful day at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., the 660th Aircraft

  • New tankers in old memories

    As the Air Force veteran and former Boeing Co. mechanic flipped through fragile scrapbook pages full of memorabilia, old pictures and newspaper articles sparked memories of his days as an Airman and his experience working for Boeing on the brand new model of KC-135R Stratotankers.Glen Mishler spent

  • MacDill Airman fights death, defies odds to remain in service

    "All I remember was calling my dad to tell him I didn't feel well, and then waking up three weeks later in the hospital with equipment hooked up all over my body and tubes attached to my nose and throat...I was terrified."Staff Sgt. Ryan Smith, 6th Operations Support Squadron Aircrew Flight

  • Museum shares story of service

    It was January 1945, the Battle of the Bulge was coming to an end and 21 year old Lt. Donald Clark found himself piloting a C-47A Skytrain over the Western Front. Its cargo bay, loaded with gasoline and ammunition, was on its way to Lt. Gen. George Patton's 3rd U.S. Army and its tanks, as they began

  • Uncle Walt

    Flying 35,000 feet over Louisiana, a senior master sergeant boom operator from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, pressed his hands against the floor to ease his nerves and prepare himself to make one of the final aerial refueling approaches of his 26-year career on Jan. 26, 2015."It is a bittersweet

  • Everybody loves rainmen

    Dark clouds began to roll in with heavy rain and wind. Just before the height of the storm an eerie silence fell over McConnell and the surrounding area as a forming tornado threatened to touch down and rip through the base.Craig McPherson, 22nd Operation Support Squadron meteorologist technician,

  • Running for life

    He spends his time running when he isn't flying a KC-135 Stratotanker or assisting in the daily operations of his squadron.Capt. Daniel Castle, a St. Joseph, Missouri native, only stopped running competitively to become a pilot, but now he is back at it. The only difference, he now races for the Air

  • Security forces partner with local police departments

    A school building may not seem like a typical place to conduct drug and explosive detection training, but that is exactly where McConnell security forces partnered with the Kansas Police Dog Association to carry out these exercises.The abandoned building in Independence, Kansas, provided a unique