Banded Brothers
Majors Gary "Ham'n" and Lane "Snap" Beene are more than blood brothers; they are banded together via the Air Force. The first and youngest, is an active-duty F-15 pilot assigned to the 60th Fighter Squadron out of Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and the other is a fulltime Air Force Reserve F-16 pilot with the 457th Fighter Squadron at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. Sunday was only the second time in their military careers that they flew together, or rather against each other in what has been deemed, a cage match. When asked who won the match -- well, let's just say the answer differs between the brothers. The air-to-air combat training these pilots get by pairing different fighter jets together gives them an opportunity to train on air-to-air combat tactics rather than air-to-ground.