BM2 Gino Fiori, U.S. Coast Guard Station Panama City, discusses a point with Senior Master Sgt. Jason Bennett, 1st Air Force first sergeant during the second day of Backbone University July 25. Backbone University is a professional military education opportunity that gathers and educates mid-level NCOs and petty officers from across NORAD and U.S. military services about joint operations and interoperability in a no-syllabus, open-ended forum. Its content is based on the senior enlisted advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff handbook, “The Noncommissioned Officer and the Petty Officer, BACKBONE of the Armed Forces.” Local senior enlisted facilitators each presented a chapter to the whole group, and then participants split into smaller, open-discussion groups. This class included Royal Canadian armed forces, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy personnel. (Air Force photo by Mary McHale)