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  • 'Alterior' Motives: Healthy living in a fast food world

    It's an immutable fact of life that no matter if you're an airman basic working on the flightline or the wing commander, everyone must eat.But this often runs into another immutable fact: we here at the 48th Fighter Wing are seriously busy. We're supporting fighter operations, combat search and

  • Meeting a friend, 35 years later

    Long before computers, e-mail or Facebook, I have always enjoyed writing letters and sending photos.Back in the early to mid 1970s, I attended a consolidated high school in Taylorsville, N.C. During that time I joined a pen-pal club and was excited about the opportunity to write people in foreign

  • British Billy salutes Greyfriars Bobby

    Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom -- at least, that's what Aristotle is supposed to have said. I know that, as a cat, I have many wondrous attributes, but being man's best friend isn't one of them. I am far too vain and self-centred a creature for that. I may be a companion, teacher,

  • British Billy's Happy Hogmanay

    As the other Alpha male in our happy homestead happens to be a proud Scotsman, my whiskers are already bristling with anticipation as the New Year approaches. The Scots have always preferred to postpone their seasonal celebrations for a few days to welcome in the New Year, an occasion called

  • British Billy's Merry Christmas

    As you spend your Christmas in the U.K., no doubt you will want reminders of Christmases at home to make you feel festive, but why not add to that yuletide glow with some good old British traditions as well? Some of you have asked me why we tend to refer to Father Christmas here, rather than use the

  • British Billy welcomes the Winter Solstice

    I know it feels as if winter has been with us for a few weeks already, but in the northern hemisphere, the first day of the season of winter falls on or near Dec. 21, otherwise known as the winter solstice. Of course, for our antipodean chums in the southern hemisphere, the same date will mark their

  • A landlord asks: Are you going away this winter?

    As some of you may not know, our British winters can be unpredictable to say the least. As temperatures plummet overnight and during the day at times, our homes suffer the stresses, especially the hidden water pipework, normally located in the attic.No matter how many times the home is checked

  • Action Line: Enforcing left-hand-drive vehicle headlamp conversions

    COMPLAINT:I suggest 48 FW, 100 ARW, and 501 CSW develop plans to enforce headlight conversions on left-hand-drive vehicles for USAFE forces serving in the UK.Drivers with un-converted left-hand-drive-vehicle headlights create a significant driving hazard, especially during winter months. On-coming

  • British Billy and the Great British Panto

    However you plan to celebrate the Christmas season this year, let me recommend you book yourself a seat at one of the many pantomimes, or pantos as we like to call them here in the UK, which will be taking place at theatres and town and village halls up and down this land from now until January.

  • Are you getting paid enough?

    Are you getting paid enough? Some people think you are getting paid too much. Some of you may recall the uproar among our troops created by a Cindy Williams article in the Washington Post in January 2000 when she argued against a hefty pay raise for the military. Luckily for us, Ms. Williams was in