The Mobility Forum The Mobility Forum

Significant progress has been made against COVID-19, but it is still a pandemic. As part of a whole-of-government effort to slow and eventually end the pandemic, the United States sent medical supplies and equipment to India starting on April 28, 2021, as that country battled a devastating outbreak.

In its third year, MOBILITY GUARDIAN 2021 successfully marked a pivotal moment in Air Mobility Command (AMC) history. Conducted biennially, MOBILITY GUARDIAN is AMC’s largest and longest enterprise-wide training event. This year, more than 1,800 mobility, combat, and reserve forces, as well as forces from the U.S. Army, were in attendance.

Getting behind the wheel after drinking, even just one time, can have tragic consequences— for you and others. This grim reality is why Daltyn Ryan Stout shares his story. The young man went from looking forward to a bright future with a promising career to a 20-year prison sentence for murder after a tragic accident.

“Without fuel, the Air Force mission does not get accomplished,” said SSgt Garrett Huntoon, 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron Fuels Service Center Controller.

I was the Director of Visual Information Services and an aircrew-certified photojournalist assigned to McGuire Air Force Base (AFB), NJ, from 1996 through 2002. We were constantly jockeying to hop on missions to document and tell the story of the tanker and airlift squadrons (AS). We became very close with both the crews and the “bookies” and were always on the lookout for a good story. We would review flight/mission schedules, particularly during weekends, such as refueling B-2 bombers and FA-18s, or airdropping fun stuff like Humvees out the backs of a formation of C-141s. When we were not flying, we would take official photos and passport/visa/ isolated personnel reports, document traffic accidents, and capture those usual grip-n-grin ceremonial events. We were also in tight with the loadmasters, as they would occasionally return our flip-top bottles to Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

The Chain Reaction article, published in The MATS Flyer, August 1955, highlighted the first time a land-based aircraft arrestment occurred. Following lessons learned during the Korean War, a need for a reliable land-based aircraft arresting system (AAS) arose.

Emily Brontë, in her poem “Fall, Leaves, Fall,” described the autumn season well: “Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me, Fluttering from the autumn tree.”

Ah, autumn! It is a time for fresh starts—a new school year, cooler temperatures that beckon one outside for a walk through crunchy fallen leaves, and just beyond, the winter holidays. It is hard not to like fall.

More than one-half of all fatal motorcycle crashes involve another vehicle. Most of the time, the car or truck driver, not the motorcyclist, is at fault. There are many more cars and trucks than motorcycles on the road, and some drivers do not “recognize” a motorcycle—they ignore it (usually unintentionally). Motorcycles are the smallest vehicle on the road, which means they are the hardest to see. Because of their size, they seem to be traveling faster than they are, so it can be difficult to spot motorcycles and gauge how far they are from our cars. When a motorcycle accident does happen, it is always serious because motorcyclists do not have the protection that a car provides. There is nothing separating motorcyclists from the road or contact with your vehicle. When it comes to motorcycles, there is no such thing as a fender bender. That is why it is so important to remember these safety tips for sharing the road.

Mishap-Free Flying Hour Milestones

This past year, Air Mobility Command (AMC) hosted two Line Observation Safety Audit (LOSA) safety investigation boards (SIBs).

Airmen with the 621st Air Mobility Operations Squadron pose for a group photo April 24, 2021, at the newly renovated weapon system suite at Joint Base McGuire­Dix-Lakehurst, NJ. The weapon system suite empowers Air Mobility Command and Control experts to execute air operations remotely, supporting combatant commanders across a full range of military operations.