The US Air Force has identified the service member who was killed after falling approximately 170 feet during a military fast-rope demonstration before a college football game in Texas.

Tech. Sgt. Ian Patterson, a 15-year Air Force veteran assigned to the 6th Combat Training Squadron, was one of four service members participating in a pregame demonstration ahead of UTSA's game against Navy at the Alamodome on October 17.

Videos shared online appear to show Patterson sliding uncontrollably down the rope before hitting the field. Paramedics treated him on the turf before he was taken to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The commander of the 57th Wing has since paid tribute to Patterson, describing the loss as a tragedy felt deeply throughout the unit and saying the focus is now on supporting his family, friends and fellow Airmen.

An investigation into the incident is underway.

Northrop Grumman’s new multi-mission radar system has earned effusive praise from Marine Corps leaders as it surges well past the halfway point in fielding. On the heels of that success, officials said this month, other potential customers, including the U.S. Army, have expressed interest in the system.

The AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar, or G/ATOR, is the Marine Corps’ solution for defending against a broad range of airborne threats, particularly in the Pacific littorals.

It replaces five older radar systems, and last year received an extended-range software upgrade that boosted its capability and advanced its ability to differentiate friends or foes in the air.

In a call with reporters Oct. 7, Northrop Director of Mission Systems Paul Weaver said the company had delivered 43 of the 60 G/ATOR systems the Marine Corps has ordered, of which five are designated for the Air Force and one for Navy test and evaluation.

At 9,000 pounds, G/ATOR is small and light enough to be transported by C-130 Hercules or MV-22 Osprey aircraft. It can be set up and emplaced by a four-person crew in under ten minutes, and can flex in power settings from 60 kilowatts for medium-range targets to 75 kilowatts for longer-range kills. Initial fielding to the Marine Corps began in 2018, and service leaders have suggested more recently that they might soon expand their acquisition plan.

The War Zone reported last month that the Corps’ Pacific-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit had employed the service’s Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept for the first time in combat during operations in support of the Operation Epic Fury conflict with Iran. It’s not clear if the G/ATOR system was part of that concept employment. But Weaver did suggest that the current conflict is highlighting its strengths.

With its lightweight footprint and capable 360-degree active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, the system, he said, can be flown into an austere location to establish an expeditionary air base, allowing the establishment of a surveillance perimeter while also enabling airspace control. According to the company, the system can identify launch points of hostile fires ranging from mortars to artillery and serve as a ground-based air traffic control manager. Drone warfare, Weaver said, brings out other strengths.

“It’s proving in recent conflicts and around the globe to perform exceptionally well in clutter, which makes it very helpful in identifying all classes of UASs and cruise missiles,” he said. “It’s not only providing awareness of what’s in the airspace around it at all altitudes. It provides weapons quality data and that performance, which means the warfighter can not only see it but also connect it to any available countermeasure that it has, whether that be kinetic or non-kinetic, and address it appropriately.”

October 19, 2026

Apologies if this is the wrong Page. I'm interested in my genealogy. My G-grandfather fought in the pacific before winding up in Australia post war. Now, I'm 100% Australian. But I'm quite proud of my American side. I have ancestors who fought in the American independence war, civil war, the Philippines, WWI and WWII. As an Aussie, it's very easy to get records for my relatives who served in the Australian army. But it's not as clear cut when looking for American service records.

Cheers for any help.

We seem to get this doom calling yearly but I’m pretty sure this is the third time this year.

I have a Father who works within the Nuclear industry and he was briefed upon entering Plymouth docks “not to be alarmed by people talking about war as this is common knowledge that we will be at war within 5 years” by the base upon entering.

Bizarre.

Bro, when I looked up or watch military videos in deserts. Why do they wear green and black camo sometimes in the middle of the desert? Why not just the standard tan camo?( Sorry, if calling it green camo or black camo is offense to you, them I am sorry, I don't know, what to called them?)

Hey everyone, I’m currently trying to join the Coast Guard, but I’ve been waiting for my medical waiver to be approved, and honestly, the waiting is starting to get frustrating.

I’ve already submitted the requested medical documents and statements, and I’ve been waiting for over a month. My waiver involves eczema and a possible peanut allergy, although my symptoms have been mild and I’ve never had a severe reaction or needed an EpiPen.

My great-grandfather’s Purple Heart was missing for decades, and the story of how it finally made its way back to our family is pretty incredible. My great-grandfather, Garland Filmore Grubbs, served in the Army during WWII and the Korean War. He received several military decorations, including a Purple Heart, Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and Korean Service Medal with three Bronze Service Stars.

Unfortunately, a lot of his military records were destroyed in the 1972 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, so there’s still quite a bit about his service that we don’t know.

Here’s where things get interesting.
Back in 2003, a woman named Debbie Hoffman found his Purple Heart in the attic of her home in Colonial Heights, Virginia. She and her husband had purchased the house from the Farley family, but nobody knew how the medal ended up there. Debbie gave it to her niece, Kate Neuman, who passed it along to her friend Angela Andrew. Angela was an Army personnel officer, and Kate figured she’d have a better chance of finding the family it belonged to.

What Angela didn’t know was that she’d spend the next 20 years trying to solve this mystery.
She contacted Army Human Resources Command, searched through military records, and eventually found some information about my great-grandfather on Ancestry. Unfortunately, she kept hitting dead ends, especially because so many of his records had been destroyed. Meanwhile, this Purple Heart was traveling all over the place with her. Germany, Mississippi, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, and Virginia. She kept it on her desk, and apparently, people would ask about it all the time. Even after retiring from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, she still held onto it.

Then, right before Veterans Day, someone brought up the medal again. Angela decided to give the search another try and somehow came across our family tree on Ancestry. After roughly 20 years, she’d finally found us.
She wrote a letter explaining everything, including how excited she was to tell all the people who had asked about the medal over the years that she’d finally solved the mystery.

I can’t get over the fact that someone held onto my great-grandfather’s Purple Heart for that long and never gave up on finding his family. She had absolutely no obligation to spend years researching a stranger, especially after finding out most of his military records were gone.
And I’m still curious how his medal ended up in some random attic in Virginia in the first place. That’s one mystery we may never solve. But now his Purple Heart is back with our family, along with a letter explaining its 20-year journey and some of his surviving military records.
It’s crazy to think about how many places this medal traveled and how many people played a part in getting it home. All because one woman found it in an attic and another refused to give up on finding its owner.

I wonder how many other missing medals are sitting in attics or boxes somewhere, just waiting to find their way back to someone’s family.

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