Literally From The Ground Up-Craig Rudland Takes State Fair Reigns
“You know those small feet on the bottom of a ladder?’ Yep, I answer “Well I started below those, at the very, very bottom. I tell people I was the dirt underneath them feet” says new North Dakota State Fair Manager Craig Rudland. 2023 would mark the 42nd fair for Craig Rudland. Craig was still […]
12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Becoming tomorrow’s DAF ambassadors today
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (AFNS) —The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen for 2023 were recognized and honored during the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference Sept. 9-13. The 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year (alphabetically listed, by rank and command of assignment when selected) are: o Senior Master Sgt. Justin S. Cruz, […]
I’m Happy Minot
I came to write tonight with a different topic in mind but, as fate would have it, I’m sitting in my backyard watching the skies for the Northern Lights and realizing that I feel lucky to be at Minot. Now this is not something I ever thought I would say. I remember when my husband […]
‘Together with Veterans’ Enhances Military Community
You guys will hear me say this a million times over, the answer to making the most of any base is to build the community around you. I got the chance to sit with Randy McDonald, the Executive Director of the Minot Chapter of Together with Veterans and have a conversation with him about this […]
2023 Air Force Photo Contest
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas —Photographers of all ages and experience, get your cameras ready for the annual Air Force Photo Contest launched Sept. 15. The theme for this year’s contest, which runs through Nov. 14, is “101 Days of Summer.” “We’ve been asking patrons since June to capture the essence of summer through their […]
For Two Weeks I’m in Heaven
It’s a brisk fall morning. I grabbed a jacket on my way out the door knowing that more than likely it will be warmer this afternoon and the jacket will not be needed. It’s September in North Dakota, things are starting to change. Most of the birds that migrate south are gone. Above me is […]
Reshaping a Reputation
About two weeks ago I stood in front of a group of Minot’s leaders at the Military Affairs Committee (MAC) meeting. A PowerPoint I’d probably spent too much time perfecting projected behind me. My palms were sweaty. I’d known about this day for a long time, and here it was. More than anything I wanted […]
Spanning 3 Degrees of Latitude…
There’s a 1941 school map of North Dakota that hangs in my garage. Knowing of my interest in geography, one of my wife’s friends gave me that map when she moved away. I look at that map every day when I’m in the garage and after six years of hanging there, it still hasn’t gotten […]
Hollywood Horses
Old photographs have a way of bringing back to life events of years past. Recently I was looking through some photographs taken on the set of the movie “Dances with Wolves,” a 1990 big screen blockbuster in which I played an insignificant part as a Union soldier in the Civil War. I was one of […]
91st MSFS conducts Operation Frontier Thunder
Minot Air Force Base, N.D. —The 91st Missile Security Forces Squadron conducted Operation Frontier Thunder at Camp Guernsey, Wyoming, Aug. 28-31.Operation Frontier Thunder was a readiness exercise designed to simulate a deployed environment and provided an opportunity for Airmen of the 91st MSFS to validate their expeditionary skills. “Operation Frontier Thunder is the culmination of […]