MINOT–It happened while my family was at Logger Fest over the weekend. I was standing to the side of the bouncy-house obstacle course, waiting for my son to come down the final slide, when I heard foreign speech behind me.In another place I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But this is Minot, and visitors […]

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. —Team Minot welcomed Chaplain Lt. Col. Dallas Little as he was appointed as the Wing Chaplain at Minot Air Force Base, Sept. 13, 2022. Global Strike Command Chaplain, Col. David Kelley, presided over the ceremony, one of few conducted Air Force wide and the first ever at Minot AFB. The […]

With a service history of over nine years, including seven years at Minot Air Force Base, Deny has ended his career and now will retire to a good home, one that knows him well. Senior Airmen Ryan Gutshall has been part of Deny’s life for the past two and a half years, including eight months […]

Wait, what is journalism? It encompasses getting information about a person, place or event and writing it down for others to read about. Sounds easy right!? The Northern Sentry understands how important GOOD journalism is and how the craft is getting a bit lost on younger generations. So, the Jr. Journalism Program has been created […]

Who joined the Air Force to always stay in one place and never leave their hometown? Maybe some, but many join for the chance to go places, see new things and experience the world, among other reasons (job security, paid training, benefits, etc.). But we’re focusing on the travel aspect of the Air Force way […]

My favorite biannual holiday starts on Monday.That’s right, I’m talking about Trash Christmas.I know a lot of new folks have moved into Minot since the last Trash Christmas, so I thought it only fair to write about it again. (Read my first article on Spring Trash Christmas, here.) Isn’t letting all these newcomers know about […]

For the past several days the news has been dominated by the loss of Queen Elizabeth II and rightfully so. She was probably the best known person on the face of the earth. And while some people believe it has been overdone, there are plenty of Americans, plenty of North Dakotans, who have been mourning […]

Fall Festival Provides A Great Opportunity It was a nice day on Saturday, a bit cool in the morning, but by afternoon we had partly cloudy skies with a bit of sun and really nice temperatures, and as many people pointed out, no wind!At 9 AM there were well over 130 classic cars lining the […]

Reading this article, people who have been here last winter will think I am a crazed maniac when I say there are things to like about winter in North Dakota. I can assume everybody can agree that there are downsides, but don’t make it feel like it is a deathtrap. Believe it or not there […]

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. —Airman Amin Ahmadi, a 5th Logistics Readiness Squadron traffic management office apprentice, and Airman 1st Class Jorge Peralta, a 5th Force Support Squadron classification technician, were the first Airmen to go through the enhanced naturalization process, becoming citizens of the United States at Minot AFB, Aug. 31, 2022.After going through […]

Last Monday, I went to the Soggy Doggy Pool Paw-ty at Roosevelt Park Pool. My sons and I found seats on the bleachers to watch dogs jump from diving boards and wade in the kiddie pool. As I sat there, reveling in the wonderous thing it is to be alive and living in Minot, North […]

Now that harvest is in full swing, a lot of things come to mind, but there is one thing I doubt many people think about and that is the loss of the old, wooden elevators, sometimes called prairie skyscrapers. On Sunday, we made a trip to Bismarck to purchase a lawn mower and went through […]

A few weeks back we introduced you all to some of the local vocabulary at harvest time. I realize that there are a fair number of Minot AFB personnel that have grown up on a farm the Midwest, but then there are a lot of new Airmen and families, and I just want to make […]

Many of the traditional celebration events were put on hold during the two years of COVID protocol, and the Downtown Fall Festival was one of those casualties in 2019 and 2020. Retuning in 2021 with a more limited schedule of events, the downtown area was once again crowded with people ready to enjoy a fall […]

This Summer, I went on many adventures with my family which included camping, hiking and RV trips. The first adventure was Cross Ranch State Park with my scout troop. We had our Shake Out Camp Out to start the season. It was cold but we still went on a nice 5 mile hike. The second […]

Fitness and the military tend to run hand in hand. Military members are generally in shape and ready for physical activity. But what about their spouses? Abby Turner is one mil spouse who takes fitness of the mind, body and spirit into action in her movement of choice: yoga. Her dedication to this fitness activity […]

“Oh, it’s a beautiful dress! Did you ever see such a beautiful dress? And look! Glass slippers. Why, it’s like a dream. A wonderful dream come true!” The quote is from the classic Disney animation version of Cinderella. One would be hard pressed to find a person, young or old, who hasn’t heard a version […]

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D.—The ceremony was a part of a daylong event in honor of 9/11 Remembrance Day. As a part of the ceremony firefighters, security forces and medical personnel assembled in formation to honor the heroes from that day. “As mentioned before, many of you here joined after the events of Sept 11th,” […]

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar – United States ground and naval units, as well as coalition and regional partner air forces executed a Bomber Task Force mission across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Sept. 4, 2022. During the BTF, two B-52H Stratofortresses, assigned to the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command, conducted theater […]

How is a military spouse defined? A mil spouse is someone married to a military member. While that is correct by definition, what does that mean as far as expectations? Tradition dictates that mil spouses supported their spouse. That support has changed over the years. So what defines the ‘modern’ military spouse then? That definition […]