By Airman First Class Carl Good, 628th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. – Joint Base Charleston celebrated the return of its Airmen from the inaugural Air Force Force Generation Expeditionary Air Base deployment, also known as AFFORGEN XAB.
Recently, JB Charleston welcomed back 250 Airmen from Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, who played integral roles in the success of the new Air Force deployment model.
Their contributions were pivotal as they served as the command-and-control and establishment force elements for the XAB.
“This is a historic moment for the Air Force and Joint Base Charleston,” said Col. Adeleke Ekundayo, 628th Mission Support Group commander and XAB commander. “It is the first time we have deployed as a team and returned as a team under the new AFFORGEN model.”
AFFORGEN represents a transformative shift in Air Force readiness and deployment, operating on a 24-month cycle: reset, prepare, certify, deploy. This cycle enhances predictability for commanders and bolsters Airmen’s preparedness for future conflicts. Airmen undergo thorough training in advance, ensuring smooth transitions, skill enhancement, and readiness for action.
At the heart of the deployment, JB Charleston Airmen served as the central hub overseeing and managing the operations of the XAB. Additionally, JB Charleston was instrumental in establishing all essential elements for the base’s functionality, from facilities to personnel, ensuring operational readiness and effectiveness.
In celebrating the return of these dedicated Airmen and their crucial role in advancing the AFFORGEN deployment model, JB Charleston underscores the Air Force’s commitment to readiness and adaptability in an ever-evolving global landscape.
“It has been more than 20 years since the Air Force has changed the way it presents and generates forces,” Ekundayo said. “This first AFFORGEN deployment is a step toward creating a capable and sustainable force for the future warfighting mission.”
Charleston, South Carolina is renowned for its charming gift shops offering locally-made and inspired products. Some of the top-rated gift shops in the area include:
Indigo, located downtown (4 Vendue Range, Charleston, SC), specializes in handmade items by local artists and carefully curated gifts from across the country. Local Love CHS on James Island (1238 Camp Rd Suite E, Charleston, SC) focuses exclusively on locally and sustainably made products, supporting Charleston artisans.
The Flower Cottage (31 Elizabeth St, Charleston, SC), a long-standing floral and gift shop, arranges beautiful fresh flowers and offers unique gifts for all occasions. Pluff Mud Mercantile in West Ashley (2408 Ashley River Road, Unit R, Charleston, SC) curates a selection of apparel, jewelry, home decor, and locally-made items like candles and soaps.
Well Furnished located at 34 Windermere Blvd, Charleston, SC, provides an intriguing mix of furniture, textiles, art, and jewelry for home decor. The Paper Canopy located at 93 Spring Street, Suite C Charleston, SC, offers carefully curated gifts, paper goods, card and more for the creative spirit in all of us. They also offer workshops for all ages.
Other notable mentions are Tiger Lily Florist (1614 Camp Road, Charleston, SC) for floral gifts and Southern Christmas Charleston (75 S Market St, Charleston, SC), specializing in festive ornaments and decor year-round. The city’s downtown area also has several specialty shops worth exploring.
GovCIO, a technology company government contractor with more than $1 billion in government contracts, officially opened its first Charleston office and high-tech lab strategically located less than a mile away from Joint Base Charleston and U.S. Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic.
A ribbon cutting and reception was held recently at 1217 Remount Road in North Charleston with members of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, AFCEA Low County Chapter and other stakeholders in attendance.
The location will provide a convenient location for the GovCIO team to host technical demonstrations for its government partners and provide a flexible space to collaborate on existing and future projects, said Emyly Hall, senior communications and marketing specialist with GovCIO.
“The primary drivers behind this office location were proximity to NIWC/Joint Base Charleston and the ability for the building to contain both an office and a lab capable of providing a significant amount of power for our highly-technical development projects,” James Buckingham, vice president, Defense Services Group at GovCIO, said.
The GovCIO office will support up to 14 employees with several more working at lab stations, Hall said. Twelve employees relocated to the Charleston area as new hires and GovCIO anticipates adding several new full-time positions to the Noth Charleston office as the company continues to grow.
“This move signals our enduring commitment to our partners, including the U.S. Naval Information Warfare Center and we are excited about this next chapter and the expanded opportunities this new office brings,” stated John Anderson, GovCIO sector president, National Security Services, in a press release.
Over the past year, GovCIO has grown to over 3,000 employees globally, with annual revenue increasing by 17%. The company has contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Military, IRS, NASA, the National Institute of Health and more.
On May 2, the company announced it was one of five awardees on a five-year $1.5 billion total value contract with the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) Judiciary IT Services (JITS) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to provide a full range of IT services, technical and management expertise, information technology solutions and capabilities and nationwide judiciary support.
Dining at Herd Provisions is a transcendent experience that awakens the senses and leaves you craving more. This Charleston gem offers a masterfully woven tapestry of ambiance, impeccable service, warm hospitality, and exquisite cuisine that elevates it to the upper echelons of the city’s renowned culinary scene.
An Inviting Atmosphere
As you step through the doors, you’re immediately transported by Herd Provisions‘ modern, open design. The deep, rich wood tones, open kitchen and bar, airy two-story space, and elegant outdoor dining area adorned with twinkling lights and lush foliage create an inviting, yet sophisticated ambiance that puts you at ease.
Service That Shines
What sets Herd Provisions apart is its ability to deliver a fine dining experience with a casual, comforting touch. Our server, Clara, exemplified this balance with her charming demeanor, extensive knowledge, and impeccable timing, allowing us to savor each moment without feeling rushed.
A Culinary Masterpiece
The true stars of the show, however, are the meticulously crafted dishes and libations. We began our journey with perfectly crafted cocktails – a bold South African Cabernet for me and a delightfully tart Anansi rum concoction for my companion. The hand-pulled burrata and crispy pork belly appetizers were so sublime that we could have stopped there, savoring each bite for hours.
For our entrées, the pesto radiatore with local shrimp and the wok-fried lentils with wreckfish were explosive stories on a plate, each bite more delectable than the last. Complemented by a French red with hints of Morello cherry and violets, these dishes were true works of art.
Wok Fried Lentils with Wreckfish – spring veg, pickled dukkah, puffed rice, spicy tamari
A Sweet Finale
No dining experience is complete without dessert, and Herd Provisions did not disappoint. We shared a decadent brownie with a boozy peanut butter whip and an espresso martini, providing the perfect sweet finale to our culinary journey.
Herd Provisions has crafted a dining experience that lingers long after you leave, a testament to their commitment to quality, service, and hospitality. It’s a must-visit destination for anyone seeking a truly remarkable culinary adventure in Charleston.
Summerville, South Carolina is booming. We thought we would take a moment and share 5 interesting things about Summerville!
5 Interesting things about Summerville, South Carolina you may not know
1. Summerville occupies parts of three different counties – Dorchester, Berkeley, and Charleston. Its large geographic area spans over 18 square miles.
2. The town is considered the birthplace of sweet tea. In 2015, Summerville set a world record by brewing over 144,000 gallons of sweet tea in a single day to solidify this claim.
3. Summerville has one of the highest concentrations of professional athletes from a single town, including A.J. Green (Cincinnati Bengals) and Brett Gardner (New York Yankees).
4. In 1900, Summerville was listed as one of the two best places in the world for treating certain lung diseases due to its high concentration of pine trees.
5. The town passed the country’s first tree protection ordinance in 1847, shortly after being founded, making it illegal to cut down trees of a certain size.
Summerville’s rich history, natural beauty, and small-town charm make it a unique and interesting place, beyond just being a suburb of Charleston.
The award-winning coffee roaster and bakery will open two additional locations later this year
CHARLESTON, S.C. (May 20, 2024) – Award-winning coffee roaster, Summit Coffee, will open its first Charleston-area cafe and bakery on Saturday, June 15th. Located at 565 Belle Station Road, just off Long Point Road in Mt. Pleasant, Summit Coffee will serve their award-winning coffees, including single origin and seasonal selections, and freshly baked pastries. In addition to the cafe, this location will also be home to Summit’s in-house bakery where laminated pastries, scones, cookies, muffins and other seasonal baked goods will be made from scratch daily to supply to each Charleston-area location.
To celebrate the June 15th Grand Opening, guests will have opportunities to win Summit Coffee prizes and participate in other activities. On Sunday, June 16th, guests ordering through the app can receive a complimentary Oat Milk Cappuccino while supplies last.
Upon opening, guests will find a warm and casual space to relax with a quality cup of coffee and a fresh pastry. The space will feature comfortable seating on the upholstered banquette with cafe tables, as well as elements designed specifically for families – making it the perfect neighborhood gathering spot. There will also be outside seating on the covered patio for guests to enjoy the fresh Lowcountry air. Guests are also invited to download the Summit Coffee app to order in advance and take advantage of exclusive offers and rewards available only on the app. Catering options will also be available via the Long Point Road location.
Summit Coffee is known for its unique and meticulous approach to sourcing and coffee roasting that results in delicious and consistent roasts. Established nearly 25 years ago, Summit is a family-owned and operated business that relies on long-standing relationships with small producers across the globe to provide some of the best coffee beans, which are then roasted in small batches to ensure the best flavors. In their cafes, Summit Coffee strives to create joyful, family-friendly environments for guests to relax and enjoy their coffees.
Summit Coffee Long Point Road will be open Monday – Friday from 6 AM – 5 PM, and Saturday – Sunday from 7 AM – 5 PM. For more information on Summit Coffee Long Point Road, please follow along on Instagram at @summitcoffeelongpoint.
Opening details on Summit Coffee’s upcoming Charleston-area locations are forthcoming.
Charleston Location Addresses:
Summit Coffee – Long Point
565 Belle Station Rd
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Summit Coffee – Old Village
411 Hibben St
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Summit Coffee – Nexton
408 Brighton Park Blvd
Ste 400
Summerville, SC 29483
ABOUT SUMMIT COFFEE
Through more than 25 years in business, Summit Coffee has earned its reputation as a locally loved and high-quality brand. Summit’s commitment to creating moments of joy is evident through its work serving each end consumer – from wholesale partners to customers at their 13+ cafes. Summit also prioritizes relationship coffee, sourcing from longstanding partnerships around the world and roasting in its certified organic headquarters. Each coffee blend is roasted in small batches to ensure optimal flavor. Behind the scenes, Summit Coffee is a longtime member of 1% of the Planet and Certified Climate Neutral. In the cafes, guests will appreciate Summit’s joyful, colorful, and family-friendly approach to coffee that brings communities together. Currently, Summit Coffee has neighborhood cafes in Charlotte, N.C., Asheville, N.C., and Atlanta, GA with additional cafes slated to open in 2024. For more information, please visit summitcoffee.com.
Three Clemson University astrophysicists have been awarded more than $1 million combined through the NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program to study active galactic nuclei, their obscuring material, and variability and periodicity.
Pablo Penil del Campo and Nuria Torres-Alba are postdoctoral fellows and Stefano Marchesi is an adjunct professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The grants, which are highly competitive, support investigations focused on the analysis of publicly available archival data from NASA space astrophysics missions.
Pablo Pencil del Campo is studying the quasi-periodic oscillations of blazers. His research may potentially uncover evidence of the existence of of a binary supermassive black hole. Photo credit: NASA
Four blazers
Penil will study quasi-periodic oscillations in blazars, a type of galaxy powered by supermassive black holes. Blazars appear bright in all forms of light, including gamma rays — the light with the highest level of energy — when one of the jets of matter happens to point almost directly toward Earth.
In this study, he will use observations from NASA missions spanning more than 30 years to study four blazars that show signs of periodic, long-term (2-4 year) emissions in their gamma-ray band. Theoretical models have been proposed to explain the physical mechanisms responsible for these possible periodicities, including the presence of a binary system of supermassive black holes. In this project, Penil will use NASA archival data to search for similar periodic behavior in X-ray and ultraviolet optical bands.
“We aim to provide a detailed and complete picture of how and why these blazars vary over time,” Penil said.
Potentially, the results of the study may uncover evidence of the existence of a binary supermassive black hole at the center of one of these blazars, which would offer valuable insights into the galaxy’s evolution.
Chaotic environment around black holes
Marchesi and Torres-Alba will use publicly available observations from a variety of NASA’s X-ray telescopes to study the chaotic environment surrounding supermassive black holes that exist at the center of each galaxy. Their research will focus on those nearest the Earth in the “local universe.”
The environment around the huge black holes is made of gas that is rotating around and infalling on the black holes themselves, feeding them, increasing their mass and producing light and energy in the process. However, very little is known about this environment — from its structure and density to the exact distance to the black hole.
The gas is so dense that it absorbs the optical light, making these sources impossible to detect with optical telescopes. X-ray photons that are produced in close proximity to the supermassive black holes, while invisible to the human eye, are so energetic that they can penetrate the dense gas and be observed by space telescopes. That makes it possible for researchers to study and characterize the supermassive black hole properties. However, despite escaping, the X-ray photons are affected by the gas in a way that changes based on the gas properties (density and structure), which also allows scientists to study all its unknown characteristics.
How efficiently black holes grow
Marchesi’s research uses these X-ray observations to more deeply study the density of the material, which is thought to be linked to how much these black holes can feed and grow. Torres-Alba uses multi-epoch observations to see how the material changes with time.
Marchesi and Torres-Alba will study how efficiently black holes grow their mass by eating the gas that surrounds them and how the energy they produce in this process affects the environment both in their proximity and at much larger distances.
“This research will allow us to obtain a unique understanding of what type of processes are taking place in close proximity to some of the most extreme objects in our universe: black holes that weigh hundreds of millions of times the mass of our sun,” Marchesi said.
The sources the researchers picked for their analysis have been selected from much larger samples, using methods developed by Clemson alumni, who are part of the Clemson-INAF Compton Thick AGN Collaboration.
Novel machine-learning based method
Marchesi’s sample was gathered using a novel, machine-learning based method developed by Ross Silver, a former graduate student at Clemson. Torres-Alba’s sample was drawn from work of Xiurui Zhao, a former Clemson graduate student, who looked at data from more than 100 sources and, using multiple telescopes, found many of them to be variable. Torres-Alba will look at all available observations from those sources, creating the largest sample of known obscuration-variable supermassive black holes to date.
“We still don’t know if obscuration variability is common or not. This study will be one of the greatest insights into black hole structure,” said Torres-Alba.
Both projects will use over 20 years of observations with X-ray telescopes such as Chandra, NuSTAR, Swift-XRT and XMM-Newton, whose public catalogs contain hundreds of thousands of sources with X-ray data.
“This means we entered an era where we need effective selection criteria to extract from these catalogs those sources that are most likely to be ideal for our analysis and perform dedicated time-consuming analysis on just them, since it would be unfeasible to do so on all the known sources,” Marchesi said.
The studies by Marchesi and Torres-Alba will allow researchers to assess the reliability of the method developed at Clemson.
Several songs celebrate and evoke the spirit of Charleston, South Carolina through their lyrics and melodies:
“South Carolina Low Country” by Josh Turner pays homage to the singer’s upbringing in the coastal region, with lyrics like “I grew up in South Carolina, Singing all them bluegrass and country songs, I’d sing from Hannah down to Charlestowne, Getting all the people to sing along.” – Click HERE for lyrics.
The recent song “South Carolina” by Anna Daley Young captures the bittersweet feeling of leaving the state, with lyrics referencing locations like Clemson University and the line “I’ll miss you South Carolina, needs you and you’ll go do what you do.”
“Come Back Song” by Darius Rucker is a reminder from our own hometown musical hero that the heart of home is Charleston, South Carolina. Click HERE for lyrics.
“Holy City” by Edwin McCain – “Sunrise in the Holy City; The kings and queens shuffle by; I’m born here of my own ashes; Just lay me down here when I die” – As you can read from this verse, there is a poetic love letter bleeding through the music sheet in this beautiful ode to Charleston, South Carolina by Edwin McCain. Click HERE for lyrics.
Many other songs mention Charleston or South Carolina in their lyrics, evoking the state’s distinct culture and landscapes.
The music and lyrics remind listeners of the rich heritage and natural beauty found in this coastal region.
You may have seen small signs along the roadways throughout the Lowcountry to “Save the Fair”. There is a grassroots effort that has been launched to raise awareness and support for the Coastal Carolina Fair who may be in jeopardy extinction.
What is at stake:
The Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) is moving forward with a plan to take control of portions of the Coastal Carolina Fair property to use as a mega bus stop.
This proposed government land grab will hurt the Fair. It could result in the loss of a huge portion of Fair property and cause irreparable harm to the future success of the Fair and its ability to raise the revenue that is used to support local charities, first responders, military, and student scholarships.
The Fair and its partners support thousands of people in need and work to provide everyday necessities year round.The Fair also provides an opportunity for hundreds of small businesses and vendors to sell their goods and services, supporting the local economy and each vendor’s individual livelihood.
If the Fair lost any bit of its property, it would negatively impact attendance and its ability to raise needed revenue for its Lowcountry charitable partners.
The Coastal Carolina Fair’s Positive Impact Here In The Lowcountry:
Tell members of the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments that CARTA needs to look at other areas for their bus service and leave Fairground property alone!
High Wire Distilling Co, located at 311 Huger Street, Charleston, South Carolina, may be one of the fulfilling places to spend time in Charleston, South Carolina. From its intoxicating smells, to the urban and rustic decor, to the barrel room, to the distillery, High Wire takes you to a place where you can experience some of the finest spirits in the country from the kindest staff on the peninsula. High Wire is an exploration into the drink palate. We wanted to share some pretty awesome facts about our own High Wire Distilling and if you have not stopped in for a drink or bite, make this part of your next Charleston agenda.
10 Cool Facts about High Wire
1. They revived the nearly extinct Jimmy Red corn variety to make their award-winning 100% corn bourbon. This heirloom corn was a favorite of bootleggers for moonshine.
2. They use locally-grown grains and botanicals, segregating the corn from different farms to capture the terroir or regional flavor nuances in their spirits.
3. Their limited release spirits like the Lowcountry Agricole Rum made from South Carolina sugarcane and Watermelon Brandy are highly sought-after.
4. The founders applied their background in artisanal baking to distilling, using unique grains and experimenting with different mash bills and barrel finishes.
5. They make creative gins using local botanicals like Charleston Black Tea and the only caffeinated plant native to North America, the yaupon holly.
6. High Wire was the first distillery to operate in downtown Charleston since Prohibition.
7. They spent $1.5 million to move into a new 24,000-square-foot facility in 2020, allowing expanded production and visitor experiences.
8. Their Jimmy Red Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon, using 2018 grain, is one of the only bottled-in-bond bourbons produced in over a century.
9. The owners successfully lobbied for a 2021 law allowing distilleries to serve food, open on Sundays, and extend hours, changing the distilling landscape in South Carolina.
10. They partnered with Clemson University to bring back Jimmy Red corn from near-extinction, now grown on 470 acres across the state.
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