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  • Fire protection specialists with the 182nd Civil Engineer Squadron, Illinois Air National Guard, operate a simulator to teach children how to escape a burning building at Wingman and Family Day at the 182nd Airlift Wing, Peoria, Ill., Sept. 12, 2015. The event was organized to promote resiliency in Airmen and their friends and family. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Lealan Buehrer/Released)

    Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape™

    We’ve made many technological advancements in fire prevention and safety over the last 100 years, but one of the most important and one of the most low-tech aspects of fire safety hasn’t changed, and that is having a plan. What do I mean by "have a plan?" Have an escape plan to get out of wherever you’re at if it catches on fire. This is especially importantly at home and especially if you have children.
  • Airmen participate in a Sexual Assault Awareness run.

    I’m not running for myself

    My feet hit the ground and within a large team of people I start my run. I’m grateful for the sun and forgiving weather, but even on a dreary day I would still be here running. Maybe it was the sun shining light in support and for a bright change, and if it was raining I would’ve seen it as the rain releasing all of the sorrow and suffering that is being held.
  • Man playing instrument.

    A Uniform: The Cloth of Our Nation

    Back in 1981, our unit did our two-week annual training at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz. I was 21. It was a community relations mission, indoor concert, at a retirement home. I remember this so clearly. A resident came up to me — a woman, an elderly woman — and she looked at me, and she said, “Steve! Steve! I knew you’d come back.” And she hugged me. I’m 21, thinking “Oh boy, what’s this all about,” you know?
  • 2nd Lt. Sam Norville posing with her college diploma after graduating.

    How the military saved my college career

    I always talked about joining the Air National Guard in high school, but education was so engrained in me growing up that I didn’t think twice about college when the time came. I packed up, headed for the University of Illinois at Springfield and quickly learned that it was going to be very difficult to pay for my own schooling without an income if I didn’t want to go into serious student loan debt.
  • Pastor Ethan Carnes, a firefighter and chaplain with the Timber-Hollis Fire Protection District evaluates the condition of two Boy Scouts who are playing the roles of victims of an aircraft crash at the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport in Peoria, Ill. April 22, 2017. Thirty-eight agencies and more than 200 exercise participants took part in the full-scale mass casualty exercise. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Todd Pendleton)

    Our community stands ready for disaster

    Our community stands ready when disaster strikes. Under a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, or MABAS, umbrella, Peoria County agencies plan, prepare, train and respond to a multitude of incidents and emergencies all over the county. Thirty-eight agencies and more than 200 exercise participants took part in the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport full-scale mass casualty exercise last month. Required every three years by the Federal Aviation Administration, the April 22 exercise simulated an aircraft crash with 57 passengers requiring advanced medical treatment and expedient transportation to medical care.

  • Spring Cleaning…For Fitness?

    Most people use spring cleaning as an opportunity to get rid of the clutter in their lives. If an item doesn’t bring you joy, it’s time to let the item take a trip to the dumpster or become a treasure for someone else. Why not apply this same concept to your fitness routine?

  • It’s LOVE that makes the world go round!

    Ah… Valentine’s Day. The day for roses, chocolate, Hallmark cards, dinner and dancing, romance and the many expressions of love. What are the special things that make you feel special? What do you really mean when you say you love someone, and how important is it to love yourself, or is that just psychological mumbo-jumbo and gobbledygook?

  • The five seconds that could kill anybody

    Last year John suffered a brain injury that makes him go into a daze for about five seconds at any random moment.He was ready when it came time to renew his driver's license, but Senior Master Sgt. Jim Cole, John's son and our base's safety NCO in charge, knew he couldn't allow it. Five seconds of distracted driving was too dangerous.John was

  • Adapt and overcome, or die

    My firstborn child recently turned two months old. Amidst the irresistible joy of having a new little buddy, I look back over these last eight weeks and wonder how my spouse and I survived.I am a writer, but there are no words I can find adequate enough to describe the terror of sleeplessness that was brought down upon us. Remember doing dorm guard
  • U.S. Army Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody is shown cropped and pasted over a flag in an undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Army to the Associated Press in 2008. The Army claimed the portrait did not violate policy on photo manipulations because it did not “misrepresent the facts or change the circumstances of an event.” The Associated Press disagreed and announced Nov. 14, 2008 that it would refuse to accept photos from the Department of Defense. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)

    Becoming a social media sap: Part 2 of 4

    February 2014 showed the Internet's ability to alter the course of careers and lives. Between a prisoner of war/missing in action symbol being disrespected, mistreatment of a flagged casket, and incriminating selfies, social media caused a paradigm shift in just days. Supervisors must now prevent it from happening again. They have to teach Airmen
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