AVON PARK AIR FORCE RANGE — Get ready for the pyrotechnics and the loud booms. The Avon Park Air Force Range will host its semiannual training operation next week. Atlantic Strike VII, a large-scale training exercise where bombers and joint ground forces from all over the South simulate urban warfare missions, will train numerous military personnel for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. The training missions require forces to participate in what amounts to a war game with role-playing guerilla fighters, insurgents, sniper fire, roadside explosives and many of the conditions faced by their counterparts supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. ...more

June 11, 2008

The teenager with the red handkerchief across his face dances for the camera, keeping time to a beat only he can hear. ...more

December 22, 2007