Charleston Air Force Base

Charleston Air Force Base (IATA: CHS, ICAO: KCHS, FAA LID: CHS) is a United States military facility located in the City of North Charleston, South Carolina. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force's 628th Air Base Wing (628 ABW), a subordinate element of the Air Mobility Command (AMC). It is part of Joint Base Charleston, which combined Charleston Air Force Base with Naval Support Activity Charleston.

Overview

A joint civil-military airport, Charleston Air Force Base today shares its runways with Charleston International Airport for commercial airline aircraft operations on the south side of the airfield and general aviation aircraft operations on the east side. The 437th Airlift Wing (437 AW) of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) and the 315th Airlift Wing (315 AW) of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) operate the C-17A Globemaster III from the base. The installation has also in the past maintained an alert site for rotational Air Combat Command (ACC) and ACC-gained Air National Guard fighter-interceptor aircraft.

Force play

In baseball, a force is a situation when a baserunner is compelled (or forced) to vacate his time-of-pitch base—and thus try to advance to the next base—because the batter became a runner. A runner at first base is always forced to attempt to advance to second base when the batter becomes a runner. Runners at second or third base are forced only when all bases preceding their time-of-pitch base are occupied by other baserunners and the batter becomes a runner.

A forced runner's force base is the next base beyond his time-of-pitch base. Any attempt by fielders to put a forced runner out is called a force play. Think of forced runners as bumper cars. If with a runner on first, the batter hits a ground ball, the batter must run to first, and since two runners are not allowed to stay on one base at one time, the runner who was on first to begin with is now bumper-carred by the advancing batter over to second. If there already was a runner on second as well, that runner is now bumper-carred over to third, and so on. If a runner is bumper-carred over to the next base by the advancing batter or by another runner who was bumper-carred by the advancing batter, then that runner is considered to have been forced to advance to the next base. If, however, with a runner on third, for example, the batter hits a ground ball, the batter must run to first, but the runner on third, not having been bumper-carred by the batter, is not forced to advance and can stay where he is if he elects to.

Military airbase

An military airbase (sometimes referred to as a military airfield, military airport, air force station, air force base or short airbase) is an aerodrome used by a military force for the operation of military aircraft.

Airbase facilities

An airbase typically has some facilities similar to a civilian airport—for example air traffic control and firefighting. Some military aerodromes have passenger facilities; for example RAF Brize Norton in England has a terminal used by passengers for the Royal Air Force's flights by TriStar to the Falkland Islands. A number of military airbases also have a civil enclave for commercial passenger flights, e.g. Beijing Nanyuan Airport (China), Ibaraki Airport (Japan), Burlington International Airport (USA).

Some airbases have revetments, hardened aircraft shelters, or even underground hangars, to protect aircraft from enemy attack. Combat aircraft require storage of aircraft ordnance. An airbase may be defended by anti-aircraft weapons and force protection troops.