CFACC Discusses the Air War in Afghanistan

Air Force Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, commander, 9th Air Force and U.S. Air Forces Central, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., spoke with online journalists and bloggers during a DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable, April 1 and explained his role as the combined force air component commander of U.S. Central Command, since February 2006. In this capacity, North has been overseeing the air war in Afghanistan along with all air operations for Iraq and other areas of Central Command’s theater. "We anticipate in 2009 that we will at least surpass 16 million pounds and most probably be up between 20 million and 25 million of pounds of air dropped equipment and supplies as the fight continues," said North. He added that another part of their mission is air medical evacuation. "[It] is a large portion of what we do to ensure either with rotary wing or light fixed wing that we're able to extract our wounded from forward operating locations, bring them to a theater level hospital in Afghanistan and then be able to [transport] them out to a regional hospital in Europe and then back to the states as required," he added.

Joining us on the call were Greg Grant, www.nextgov.com; Noah Shachtman, www.blog.wired.com; Jim Dolbow, www.blog.usni.org; David Axe, www.warisboring.com; CJ Grisham, www.soldiersperspective.com; and Andrew Lubin, www.themilitaryobserver.blogspot.com.

Air Force LIVE

Really good stuff going on over at Air Force Live.

“The mission of the medical ETT (embedded transition team) is to train, coach, and mentor

the ANA (Afghan national army) medical personnel in order for them to develop a self-sustaining medical system in order for the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to achieve security and stability,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Fieg, Deputy Team Leader and senior physician mentor of the 205th Corps, Afghan Regional Security Integration Command – South said Dec. 30th. Fieg said, while less than perfect, the ANA medical system are functional and have made remarkable strides over the past year.

Lt. Col. Fieg joined David Tate with the A Battlefield Tourist and Christian Lowe of Military.com for the DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable.

Air Force Reserve Squadron Combats Insect Infestation in Wake of Hurricanes

U.S. Air Force 757th Airlift Squadron Air Force Lt. Col. John Williams, commander of the 757th Airlift Squadron, along with Air Force Maj. Karl Haagsma and Air Force Senior Master Sgt. John Daniels spoke with bloggers about aerial spray missions and recent support to areas impacted by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. “Our aircraft are specially equipped,” Williams said. “We responded to the governor’s request through (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to spray and control the growing mosquito and fly population in the aftermaths of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.”

On the call with us were Chuck Simmins of America's North Shore Journal and Scott Malensek of Flopping Aces.

"The data we collect increases the accuracy of the forecast by 30% for the National Hurricane Center. At a cost of approximately a million

dollars per mile of coastline to evacuate ... (our mission) saves millions of dollars with every flight that we fly," Maj. Chad Gibson, Chief, Public Affairs, said of the work of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron "Hurricane Hunters" of the 403rd Wing of the U.S. Air Force at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. Maj. Gibson and Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, Chief, Aerial Reconnaissance Weather Officer, joined us today for a DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable.

Joining us today for the call was Grim from Blackfive, Jennifer Hlad of jdnews.com, and Colin Clark of DoD Buzz.

"We provide reach-back expertise for the critical management of disasters and humanitarian assistance medicine around the world," Col. Beadling

Yesterday, on the "Dot-Mil-Docs" radio show, we interviewed U.S. Air Force Col. (Dr.) Charles Beadling, Director of the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine. Col. Beadling discussed the center's work, including a new initiative called the Afghanistan Healthcare Sector Medical Reachback Program, aimed at reforming the current Afghan military structure.

"The United States has a history of trying to achieve desired effects with the absolute minimal collateral damage ...

and we use the same principles in network warfare" - Col. Tony Buntyn, Vice-Commander, U.S. Air Force Cyber Command on DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable today. Communication problems plagued us today but we persevered.

On the call with us today was David Axe of War is Boring, Christian Lowe of Military.com, Paul Crespo of Paul Crespo.com, Ryan Singel of Wired.com's Threat Level. and Paul McCleary of Defense Tech International.

"... we were received very graciously." Capt. Trevor Hall

We just spoke with U.S. Air Force Capt. Trevor Hall, the pilot-in-command of the first U.S. C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to deliver relief supplies into Rangoon International Airport, Burma on the DoD Bloggers Roundtable.

Joining us today was David Axe of War is Boring, Jason Sigger the Armchair Generalist, Austin Bay, Boston Maggie, Bruce McQuain of QandO, Grim from Blackfive, Andrew Lubin of the Military Observer, Bryant Jordan from Military.com, and Chuck Simmins of America's North Shore Journal.