Strengthening the Housing Pillar: The Air Force has come a long way in improving housing for airmen and their families, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Wednesday. "We will have built or renovated over 23,000 privatized homes by the end of this fiscal year," he said in his address at the American Legion's 92nd national convention in Milwaukee. Lt. Col. Jeff Glenn, Donley's spokesman, told the Daily Report Wednesday that 1998 was the start date for counting the 23,000 homes. Donley said USAF's cooperation with private housing developers has been "a quiet, but successful" partnership. "[T]hat has allowed us to leverage taxpayer dollars, providing thousands of new homes to airmen that would otherwise have come years later than they were needed and at higher cost," he explained. Just last month, junior enlisted airmen moved into new homes at Barksdale AFB, La., that developer Pinnacle is providing. (Includes Barksdale photo caption by SrA. La'Shanette V. Garrett)

Reaper Crash in California: An Air Force MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft crashed Tuesday in southern California while flying on a test mission. USAF officials said the aircraft went down about one mile north of El Mirage Airfield in a sparsely populated area. No property damage or personal injuries were initially reported. The Reaper took off from Gray Butte Airfield, located about five miles east of El Mirage. Those airfields are midway between Palmdale and Victorville, about 15 miles south of Edwards Air Force Base. USAF will convene a board of officers to investigate the incident. (Wright-Patterson release)

Lakenheath F-15s Take Over Baltic Mission: An expeditionary contingent of airmen and F-15s from the 493rd Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, Britain, on Wednesday assumed responsibility for NATO's Baltic air policing mission. For the next four months, about 125 USAF airmen will operate out of Lithuania AFB, Lithuania; their F-15s will protect the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This contingent, known as the 493rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron during the deployment, replaced a Polish air force unit. "The men and women of the 493rd EFS are proud to be here . . . protecting the skies over the Baltic states," said Lt. Col. Skip Pribyl, 493rd EFS commander. He added, "This mission falls in line with what we do—establish air superiority." This is the third time since 2004 that USAF has had the rotational Baltic defense mission, and the second time for the Lakenheath F-15s. (Lithuania report by TSgt. Chris Stagner)

Happy Birthday, 688th IOW: The 688th Information Operations Wing at Lackland AFB, Tex., is now one-year old, having just celebrated its first anniversary. "While there have been cultural challenges, the professional men and women of the 688th have risen to the task and made incredible strides over the last year," said Col. Robert Skinner, the wing's commander. The wing comprises the 318th Information Operations Group, 38th Cyberspace Engineering Group, and wing staff. It is establishing the foundation for "full-spectrum, operational cyber excellence." The first-year strides include deploying about 170 of its airmen overseas and incorporating cyber operations into almost every Red Flag training exercise. Further, the 318th IOG created a computer-based training course to help transition personnel into USAF's new cyberspace specialty codes. More than 1,200 students were trained in the first six months, and more than 7,000 airmen will be trained next year. (Lackland report by Capt. Christopher Corbett)

Bagram Gets Enlarged Bladder: Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, has a new 200,000 gallon fuel bladder in place that doubles the fuel-storage capacity at the busy coalition air hub. "There are no fixed facilities here at Bagram. The fuel bladders allow us to store large amounts of fuel close to the fight," said SMSgt. Arnaldo Rodriguez-Matos, fuels superintendent for Bagram's 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron. Nearly 30 airmen, led by the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing's Petroleum, Oils and Lubricants (POL) flight, on Tuesday set up the 4,300-pound bladder in the plastic-lined dike where it now resides. "Most of my POL counterparts haven't ever done this before, so it was a good training opportunity," said Rodriguez-Matos. (Bagram report by TSgt. Drew Nystrom)

Common Base of Friendship: Members of the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota AB, Japan, last month hosted a Japanese group including World War II Imperial Army veterans. The guests came to mark the 70th anniversary of the installation, which was known during the war as Tama Army Airfield. "Seventy years ago, our peoples were locked in a great struggle, warriors fought, but the fruits of that war were cooperation and an alliance which has built two of the greatest economies the world has ever known," said Col. Otto Feather, 374th AW commander. Tadao Ito, now 92, a former Imperial Army maintenance commander, was able to tour the actual hangar that he used to work in. "I think American people, American government, American forces have made a great contribution to maintaining the peace of the world since World War II," he said. (Yokota report by A1C Katrina R. Menchaca)