"BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- A team of female Airmen made history here March 30 when the F-15E Strike Eagles of "Dudette 07" blazed down the runway to provide close air support for coalition and Afghan ground forces.

The two-ship formation consisted of all females, two pilots and two weapons system officers, but more importantly, it marked the first combat mission flown from Bagram to be planned, maintained and flown entirely by females.

This mission represents the first combat sortie on record to involve only female Airmen from the pilots and weapons officers to the mission planners and maintainers, said Lt. Col. Kenneth Tilley, the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing historian.

Although the call sign for the mission may have been lighthearted, the sortie was all business calling for the pilots to travel to the Kunar Valley just west of the Pakistan border in support of a large Army operation that was underway.

"I have flown with female pilots before, but this was the first time I have flown in an all female flight," said Maj. Christine Mau, a 455th AEW executive officer. "This wasn't a possibility when I started flying 11-years ago."

While planning of the mission required support from women at all levels such as Capt. Kristen Wehle, the F-15 liaison officer at the combined air operations center, those involved evoked memories of legendary Women's Army Corps pilots and others for inspiration..."

-- Hey Taliban - How's that whole woman hating thing workin' for ya?

READ HERE

-- Photo by Sergio (ElDoctor on DeviantArt.com)

-- Look! NOBODY is in freaking METRO!!! I can do what I want! I can JUMP! I can ROLL if I want! I can roll!

"The U.S. agreed to NATO's request for a 48-hour extension of American participation in coalition airstrikes against targets in Libya and U.S. lawmakers cautioned Sunday the allies need to know more about the rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces before providing them with weapons.

Two weeks into the assault on Gadhafi, Republican lawmakers expressed concern that a stalemate could leave him in control of portions of Libya and with access to stockpiles of chemical weapons.

The U.S. is shifting the combat role to Britain, France and other NATO allies, but American air power is still in demand. Air Force AC-130 gunships and A-10 Thunderbolts and Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers will continue to attack Gadhafi's troops and other sites through Monday evening. These aircraft are among the most precise in the American arsenal.

After Saturday, no U.S. combat aircraft were to fly strike missions over Libya unless NATO officials specifically asked and authorities in Washington gave their approval. NATO assumed full control last week from the U.S.-led international force for all aspects of the operation in Libya as authorized by U.N. resolutions that include an arms embargo, enforcing the no-fly zone, and protecting civilians from Gadhafi's forces.

In an emailed statement, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Sunday that "poor weather conditions over the last few days" were the reason the alliance made the request. She would not elaborate. "This is a short-term extension which expires on Monday," she said.A senior U.S. military official said heavy cloud cover over Libya late last week curtailed allied airstrikes. Gadhafi took advantage of the lull, pushing east into the port cities of Ras Lanouf and Brega, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military planning. The 48-hour extension is intended to roll back the progress made by Gadhafi's army, the official said.

A decision yet to be made by the Obama administration is whether to arm the rebels with the firepower they need to take and hold ground against Gadhafi's forces..."

READ HERE

-- via a212.com.

-- "Humans are funny. We write novels, compose symphonies, invent mind-blowingly ingenious devices to help us see inside the atom and explore the far reaches of the universe. We paint masterpieces and build cathedrals. We're pretty smart. And then ... well, sometimes we let heavy things roll over us, or rest on top of us, or we try and lift other people with, say, our teeth. "O brave new world, that has such people in it!" exclaims Prospero's daughter, Miranda, near the end of Shakepeare's The Tempest. You can say that again, sister. You can say that again. Above: A strongman bears the weight of a car on his chest."

SEE HERE

-- "About Bucharest: Below Ground

Bucharest: Below Ground is a multimedia piece about street children who are forced to live in dirty sewers in Romania's cold capital.

About Poul Madsen

Poul Madsen was born in Denmark in 1978 but has since lived in Belgium, USA and India. At the age of 24 he turned to photography and was accepted into the Danish School of Journalism. Since then his main focus has been documenting social and cultural issues and exploring new and innovative ways of presenting narrative story telling for the web. Poul condisers himself part photojournalist and part multimedia producer. Awards include: Best ofPhotojournalism, National POY, China International Press Photo and ChinaHumanity Photo Awards among others.

The Bombay Flying Club is a collaboration between two Danish photojournalists, Poul Madsen and Henrik Kastenskov. Both are educated from the Danish School of Journalism. In 2005 they did their first web documentary about a spate of suicedes in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since then they have spent countless hours trying to learn advanced Flash Actionscripting while exploring the possibilities of turning still photography towards a more film documentary oriented style. Today they are both working as full time freelance photographers and multimedia producers. Their next multimedia project is a story about untouchables in India who are still affected by the 2004 tsunami."

SEE HERE

-- Whoo! He's good.

"JOHANNESBURG -- More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in a western Ivory Coast town, a Catholic charity said Saturday, adding that the mass killings happened in an area under the control of forces fighting to install the country's internationally recognized president.

The U.N. military spokesman said he had no information about mass killings in Duekoue, though he confirmed there are nearly 1,000 peacekeepers based there.

Spokesman Patrick Nicholson of the Roman Catholic charity Caritas said workers visited Duekoue on Wednesday and found hundreds of bodies of civilians killed by bullets from small-arms fire and hacked to death with machetes.

He said they estimated that more than 1,000 civilians were killed.

The International Federation of the Red Cross put the death toll at Duekoue at about 800, in separate and independent visits Thursday and Friday.

Nicholson, the Caritas spokesman, said the killings occurred over three days in a neighborhood controlled by fighters loyal to internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara, though it was not clear who the perpetrators were.

"The massacre took place in the 'Carrefour' quarter of town, controlled by pro-Ouattara forces, during clashes on Sunday 27 March to Tuesday 29 March," Nicholson said. "Caritas does not know who was responsible for the killing, but says a proper investigation must take place to establish the truth."

He said the victims included many refugees from fighting elsewhere in the country, where rival forces had been battling over a disputed November election.

Caritas' investigation would indicate that people were killed at close quarters in a small neighborhood of a town of just 50,000 people as pro-Ouattara fighters began a two-pronged assault that brought them swiftly to Abidjan, the commercial capital and seat of power, within days..."

-- Where is the USA and French spearheaded UN humanitarian army? C'mon, Obama - where's the "humanitar-ian bombing" on this one? No Oil? No help.

READ HERE

SEE HERE

"A "gunshot-like sound" woke Brenda Reese as her Southwest Airlines flight cruised at 36,000 feet. Looking up, she could see the sky through a hole torn in the cabin roof.

The Boeing 737 lost cabin pressure after the hole developed Friday, prompting frightened passengers to grope for oxygen masks as the plane made a terrifying but controlled descent.

One passenger called it "pandemonium." Another watched as a flight attendant and another passenger passed out, apparently for lack of oxygen, their heads striking seats in front of them.

Officials said Flight 812 lost pressure because of a fuselage rupture. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the pilot made a "controlled descent from 36,000 feet to 11,000 feet altitude."

His safe emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, about 150 miles southwest of Phoenix, drew applause from relieved passengers.

No serious injuries were reported among the 118 people aboard although a flight attendant was slightly hurt, according to Southwest officials. The cause of the hole was not immediately known. The FBI called it a "mechanical failure," not an act of terror or other foul play.

The plane is a 15-year-old Boeing 737-300. Southwest officials said they would pull about 80 similar planes out of service for inspections of the fuselage, forcing the airline to plan to cancel roughly 300 flights Saturday.

Southwest operates about 170 of the 737-300s in its fleet of about 540 planes, but it replaced the aluminum skin on many of the 300s in recent years, spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said. The roughly 80 planes being grounded have not had their skin replaced, she said..."

READ HERE