• "...I wasn't really that cool..."

    "In high school I was the cool chick with a bike, but I wasn't really that cool."Airman 1st Class Shauna Harrison, 9th Comptroller Squadron special actions technicianHometown: Sacramento, Calif.(Each week we will share a story of a Team Beale member through a candid photo, simple quote or 30 to 60

  • "...I never imagined myself becoming a firefighter..."

     "After four years of working part time jobs, I joined the Air Force. I never imagined myself becoming a firefighter, considering I have a bachelor's degree in the medical field. Although I'm not in a medical career, it's been a great learning experience and I have a positive support system at

  • MC-12W Liberty: One year later, one year stronger

    Editor's note: This is part one of a four part series highlighting the MC-12W Liberty weapons system. It has operated at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., for more than a year, reaching several milestones which support Air Force leaders as they normalize intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

  • After 50 years, the U-2 remains on the cutting edge

    Whether people recognize it by the Snoopy-like nose or by the flat black paint and red lettering on the tail, the U-2 has become an Air Force reconnaissance icon in its 50 years of military operations.Since the first model was assembled in the 1950s, the aircraft's original, shiny aluminum skin has

  • Striving to reduce waste ‘every little thing counts’

    The 9th Civil Engineer Squadron is on a constant mission to reduce energy cost and conserve our precious resources through projects which upgrade old equipment, make lights automatic, and cool air before it is cooled.With the Air Force striving to reduce waste, how do you streamline energy use in an

  • 'Train'ing for the Mission

    As Susan Mertes pulls a rusty lever an 80 ton engine starts and the ground begins to shake. The iron tracks give out a deep hum from the vibrations of the train and a plume of thick black smoke billows into the sky. Mertes, or Sam as everyone calls her, has been operating this enormous government

  • Mustache season takes upper lips, Beale by storm

    They're popping up everywhere; some as a scraggly wisp of hair on the upper lip and some full and bushy, boldly decorating the face of its proud owner, and one knows - its mustache season. Until the end of the month, Beale members are participating, some with less success than others, in the

  • Not just a hobby; a lifestyle

    "If it walks, crawls, swims, or flies, it dies!" reads the bug guard attached to the front of Master Sgt. Chad Hepner's muddy truck.This saying is what the 9th Medical Group first sergeant tries his best to live by. He hunts so much that his family hasn't bought a cut of meat from a grocery store in

  • Beale EOD stays proficient on unlevel terrain

    The best way to deal with an improvised explosive device or an unexploded piece of ordnance is to blow it up in a controlled fashion. But what if that device is deep in a well, cave or underground irrigation system which can't be compromised by an explosion?The 9th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive

  • Arming the fight

    The 9th Security Forces Squadron armorers are tasked with the duty arming and disarming the law enforcement and security patrols that keep Beale safe. Security forces personnel must draw their weapons from the armory prior to assuming post, a process of weapon exchange from armory to Airmen."The