Instructor pilots assigned to the 3rd Flying Training Squadron fly in formation for continuation training March 13, 2024, in the Oklahoma skies. The instructor pilots conducted formation training in a T-1A Jayhawk to exercise their core fundamentals. (U.S. Air Force video by Airman 1st Class Ashley Crist)
A T-7A Red Hawk, assigned to the 416th Flight Test Squadron, lands at Vance Air Force Base, Okla., Nov. 7, 2023. More than 200 Airmen, including student and instructor pilots gathered in front of Air Control Tower to see what the future of Undergraduate Pilot Training looks like.
Capt. Kyele Bridel grew up with two dreams. Become an Air Force pilot and play soccer professionally. She has accomplished the first and is continuously striving toward the second.
Bridel is assigned to the 33rd Flying Training Squadron at Vance Air Force Base as a T-6A Texan II instructor pilot. She is also a member of the U.S. Armed Forces Women’s Soccer team.
Friday night, Jan. 24, the flying squadrons at Vance met to do battle on a brand new, purple-surfaced pool table. They were about to engage in a Crud tournament.
“It’s like full contact pool without a cue stick,” said James W. Shepherd, with the board of directors of Soldier’s Wish, the organization that helped provide the new Crud table to the Greven Crosswinds Club on base.
Chief Master Sgt. Hope L. Skibitsky, now the command chief of the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, has had an incredible journey, from leaving for the military at 17 with nothing to her name, to becoming a command chief.
Not many pilots can say that they have served in ground operations, were specifically trained for combat and rescue missions and can deploy at a moment’s notice. But 2nd Lt. James Barnard can.
He is one of more than 350 U.S. Air Force pilots delivered each year from Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma.