• Dittus brothers serve and celebrate together

    Lt. Col. James Dittus performed his "Fini Flight" May 26, his last flight before leaving the 97th Operations Group; his brother Maj. Robert Dittus flew alongside him refueling Colonel. Dittus' C-17. A "Fini Flight" is a culminating flight in an aviator's career. It usually reflects the last flight

  • Tornados

    It's a grey, rainy day of thunderstorms, and just as the wind dies down and it seems like the storm is over... you hear something like a train, and the alarms sounding.Tornado.For many who are new to the Altus area, tornados are a frightening, unknown, force of nature. For many who have been here

  • Donald Obreiter, Commemorative Air Force

    Donald Obreiter works on Altus Air Force Base in the 97th Maintenance Directorate -- most of the time. When he's not there, he's still working on aircraft; aircraft too old, broken or outdated to keep flying, but these are aircraft that represent a vital part of our Air Force history. Donald

  • Two brothers reunite in-flight

    Air Force siblings and natives to Maspeth, N.Y., reunited in the skies over Colorado March 22. Despite a 13 year age difference and separate career paths, fate and strategic planning brought them together for a rare reunion in the skies above Colorado.Major DeMaso, a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot with

  • Wing Commander Surprises Altus Tech. Sergeants

    "I was honestly terrified. I was on leave and the wing commander was on the phone telling me he had just gotten off the phone with General Lorenz about the fact that Altus was missing something that was supposed to be in my office," said Technical Sgt. Aaron Widener, of the 54th Air Refueling

  • Altus Air Force Base Community Outreach-Animal Aid Society

    Members of Medical Logistics Flight organized the renovations to the Animal Aid Society cat room on 27-28 February 2010. Jeffery Beglin was in charge of the project and received assistance from Lori Jansen and First Lieutenant Aimee Safford, along with his two teenage children Brandon and Jenna.The

  • Airman helps neighbors during severe ice storm

    More than 1.5 inches of ice blanketed the Altus area Jan. 28 transforming the surrounding area into an awe-inspiring spectacle, which left more than 30,000 residents without power for several days. When adversity knocked on the door, a selfless Airman rose to the occasion to help neighbors in

  • Child Carseat Safety

    Buckling up little ones in a child safety seat is easy, right? Little ones are always so happy and eager to be buckled up in their car seats in the back seat all by themselves. Not so in the real world. "Research on the effectiveness of child safety seats has found them [safety seats] to reduce

  • Leadership Development for Civil Servants

    Once the scattered sounds of clanking forks and lunchtime conversations had settled, phrases such as "benchmark program" and "best practice" lingered in the air as Col. Stuart Shaw, 97 Air Mobility Wing Vice Commander, gave a speech recognizing the success of the first ever Leadership Altus Air

  • Oklahoma native helps Airmen serve

    One man is making a huge difference in the face of today's Air Force, but many of us never see him...we just walk by, never even knowing he's there. As foot traffic flows through the halls and stairways of the Colonel Burleson Consolidated Support Facility many people travel past a small office with