• First sergeants serve for all Airmen

    Being on call 24/7, always on the go, working late, receiving calls in the middle of the night and missing out on important family time are sacrifices first sergeants make to aid others."Being a first sergeant is about putting yourself last and the Airmen first... basically aspiring to personify

  • Spreading the love

    Valentine's Day is a holiday used to celebrate love, and Airmen from Altus Air Force Base chose to spread the love by visiting and delivering cards to veterans at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Clinton Feb. 14, 2014.Airman visited with more than 200 veterans with hopes of brightening their day."I

  • Bump, Set, Spike!

    There is nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, and intramural sports are a way for everyone at Altus AFB to join with their respective squadrons and have healthy fun competing against each other.When it comes to intramurals, it does not matter the individual's skill level or experience

  • Fueling the base's mission

    The 97th Air Mobility Wing uses 827,000 gallons of fuel each week, but there is a lot of work that happens between the fuel arriving from the supplier and being put into the aircraft.The fuels laboratory here takes samples of all the Defense Logistics Agency Energy product fuels that are on the base

  • Training Airmen today to be NCOs tomorrow

    Every Airman is a leader, whether they lead by example as a peer or in a formal duty position. This is taught to each one of us from the time we enter the Air Force and is engraved into our memory by the end of our careers. As junior-enlisted Airmen begin moving into the non-commissioned officer

  • Cheese, wine, tankers and lots and lots of coffee

    'Twas 2:30 a.m., when all through the baseNot a plane was flying, not even a sim;But the students are up, studying awayA French pilot in particular: Capt. Aurélien Leray.The KC-135 Stratotanker training building is as dark as the sky outside, with the exception of room OFT-12, where Leray is

  • C-17 receives makeover

    Members of the 97th Air Mobility Wing Maintenance Division conducted an inspection of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III during a 720-day home station refurbishing Oct. 10, 2013. This inspection occurs periodically, to ensure the aircraft is operationally ready by cleaning and refurbishing

  • Veteran lives for international instruction

    Cary Davidson was a young captain when he trained his first international student pilot on the U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter 25 years ago. The year was 1988 and Altus AFB trained students from around the world on the C-141 and the U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. The KC-135 Stratotanker kept

  • An Airman's Story: DUI and the Road to Recovery

    (Editor's note: This is an update to an article that was published April 3, 2009 in the Kaiserslautern-American Newspaper, which is attached at the end of this article.)This is an update to an article I wrote while stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, for the local Kaiserslautern-American

  • Water quality, conservation at Altus AFB

    Water conservation has become increasingly important at Altus AFB due to an ongoing drought in Southwest Oklahoma. In addition to the amount of water, the quality of the water has also become an item of interest for on and off-base residents.The City of Altus is currently at stage-three water