Steve Liewer
@SteveLiewer
Military reporter, ex-Omaha World-Herald. Mizzou J-grad. Former combat correspondent, Stars and Stripes. 4th-generation Nebraska journalist.
Rivet Joint 62-4130 rotating back to Offutt after finishing up participation in Talisman Sabre 2025. Stop and a RON at Hawaii. It's terrible when the jet breaks down here. Someone slip the crew chief a C note....
#Thread Article on the hardship endured by the pilots while in captivity. Thanks to @SteveLiewer for the share omaha.com/news/military/…
I can't recall the last time a Rivet Joint was forced to fly around Europe while on a routine repositioning flight. Strange not to have clearance for the airspace.
RC-135V Rivet Joint out of Chania along the Med and likely heading to Mildenhall. All the other aircraft are Air Mobility Command assets. OLIVE41 64-14841
Oh yeah, both Rivet Joints deployed to Al Udeid have launched in rapid succession. These are fun days.....
Cobra Ball 61-2662 as Cobra-62 is outbound from Offutt and appears to be headed for an OCONUS deployment. No indications yet if it will head to Kadena to relieve 62-4128, or if it will stop at Elmendorf for operations against the Kura Impact Range. Odds are on the former, to…
New rules imposed by @SecDef on Pentagon media access further chill the free flow of information vital to the public. Our @Milreporters statement: militaryreporters.org/2025/05/mre-sp…
GULF OF WHAT? U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., was the lone GOP no vote Thursday on a House effort to codify part of President Donald Trump's push to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of Ameirca." From States Newsroom: nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/05/08/rep…
Big weather evacuation from Offutt ahead of tonight's expected storms. This is standard practice since the June 2017 tornado that hit apron and hangars.
Largest weather evac I've seen from the 55th Wing in a fairly long time. 2x Constant Phoenix - 64-14831, 64-14836 Combat Sent 64-14849 2x Rivet Joint 62-4125, 64-14841 TC-135W 62-4129
Constant Phoenix 64-14831 as Cobra-31 is out collecting air samples from Illinois to Texas. This route was previously flown in August of 2022, and May of 2024. Collectively, these results are used to establish the "normal" or "baseline" readings for airborne nuclear particles…
We had an interesting evening here in Omaha.
Saw this north of Douglas county from highway 74 @NWSOmaha
A pair of E-4B NAOC 747's active this evening. 74-0787 (near St. Louis) is headed to Robins AFB for standby alert duty. 73-1677 is up on a second possible check flight today. The first one only went off for less than an hour. It had not flown for 10 days.
Did not know a Titanic survivor wound up in Wahoo, Nebraska.
On the horrific night of April 15, 1912, Carl Johnson of Wahoo was one of the survivors when the "unsinkable" Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg. In May 1927, the Swedish immigrant shared vivid details about that night with the Omaha World-Herald. bit.ly/3RNOlEE
Rivet Joint 62-4135 is outbound from Kadena headed toward the East China Sea or maybe the DMZ. It's been ~ a month since they headed to Korea. China has been getting all the love..... MLAT track is a little wonky, as is typical in this area, it's outbound.
We’ve got our handy election results tracker up and running!
Check out up-to-date results from the 2025 City of Omaha primary election. omaha.com/news/local/gov…
I didn't get a chance to write about this before I left. 55th Wing is billing this as the largest exercise in its history. Usually it's USSTRATCOM involved in the big exercises at Offut.
The 55th Wing at Offutt is having a large (announced) exercise this week. 3 RC-135's flew over to Lincoln yesterday morning to simulate operating from a forward location. They are parking on the Air NG ramp, but have a fueling location set up on the Army Guard ramp. 64-14841…
USAF RC-135V Rivet Joint currently up southern New Mexico WARHK46 64-14846 Also up earlier today same area RC-135V WARHK41 64-14841
Trailing along behind Fist flight (with no association), is the TC-135W, 62-4129, inbound for PHNL. -129 has had an interesting week. They went to MacDill AFB March 25th (different). Then, up to Barksdale for the airshow where they impersonated an RC-135 while on static…
Definitely living the dream here. Could be worse!
What is a Midwesterner likely to say when you ask “how’s it going?”
Last spring, Omaha experienced its worst tornadoes in 50 years. This is a bad time to be cutting our weather forecasters.
Local members of Congress and meteorologists are concerned that Nebraskans won't be as prepared for stormy weather because weather balloons won't be released. From @mduceyOWH: omaha.com/news/local/wea…
I was laid off today after 11+ yrs at the Omaha World-Herald & 42 yrs as a reporter. No regrets, but I'll miss my great colleagues!
