USO and Partners Invite Americans to Grant a Wish for Our Heroes Veterans Day 2012

Americans can support the men and women of our nation’s armed forces who have exemplified service, sacrifice and strength for our country at uso.org/grant-a-wish

Arlington, VA. (Oct 23, 2012) – The USO and partners will recognize Veterans Day with Grant a Wish for Our Heroes, an initiative that will give Americans opportunities to thank those who serve in the Armed Forces by granting wishes for our troops and their families by supporting them in a variety of ways. Through Grant a Wish for Our Heroes, Americans can take part in supporting the unique programs and services most requested by our troops and families by supporting the USO and its many partners at uso.org/grant-a-wish. 

 “Grant a Wish for Our Heroes is a call to action for anyone who wants to take a moment and give back to our troops and military families in the ways they’ve told us helps the most.  USO offers concrete ways, big and small, to show our troops that Americans appreciate their service and sacrifice,” said Sloan Gibson, president and CEO of the USO. ‘We value our partners’ commitment to help USO grant these wishes, delivering what’s needed to our men and women in uniform at home and abroad on Veterans Day and every day.”

For years, troops and families have been telling the USO what programs and services they need the most through a comprehensive annual survey, “Tell USO,” and the USO has responded.  Our programs help ease the stress of deployment for both troops and their loved ones.  Others provide the comprehensive support our servicemen and women need when they return home.  And many help our wounded, ill and injured troops as they recover and re-enter their new lives as veterans. 

This Veterans Day, the USO asks Americans to help support these USO programs and initiatives that our troops have requested most:

•           Holiday Boxes for Deployed Troops- Many deployed troops spend holidays away from their families. The USO helps bring a touch of home to troops with boxes containing decorations games, snacks, movies and themed items. All designed to bring holiday cheer those serving in the most remote corners of the world.

•           Connecting Troops to Families Back Home- Missing the birth of your child may seem hard to imagine, but it’s a reality for many of our troops overseas. The USO has made it possible for some of our military dads to witness the birth of their child, via Skype. This November, we'll also be helping those dads send some special items home to their newborn and mom- so they can be a part of those first precious weeks of their child's life.

•           Support Child Heroes- Help the USO provide the book “Little CHAMPS” (Child Heroes Attached to Military Personnel) to military families in order to ease their challenges and fears of deployment, relocation and injury of a loved one. Author Debbie Fink provides a book that tells the story of five child heroes and their military lifestyles and raises awareness of military connected challenges.

•           Education, Employment and Community Reintegration for our Wounded Warriors- USO Warrior and Family Care provides Hire Heroes USA/USO Workshops and Careers Opportunity Days for wounded, ill and injured service men and women, their spouses and caregivers. The workshops focus on resume writing, mock interviews, professional work practices and translating prior military experience into a civilian career. Career Opportunity Days are in collaboration with Hire Heroes USA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and offer our healing heroes, spouses and caregivers a non-traditional career fair where employers connect on a personal level based on interest and background. Employers conduct mock interviews and provide feedback, providing an additional level of support for transitioning troops to meet with employers offering jobs.

•           USO Warrior & Family Center at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda- On November 7th, the USO will break ground on its second 20,000 square-foot building that will support our healing heroes and their families battling invisible wounds like traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress. The first center at Fort Belvoir is scheduled to open in 2013 and will support our healing heroes recovering from physical wounds. The two centers will include movie theaters, classrooms, sports lounges, business centers, healing gardens and more.

Corporations, media partners and a variety of community organizations have signed on to the USO’s “Grant a Wish for Our Heroes” this Veterans Day include:

•           American Airlines: American Airlines is proud to be the official airline of the USO, Honoring those who serve, Veterans Day 2012.  aa.com/military

•           American Crew:  American Crew has teamed up with the USO to honor our troops with the 2012 Military Limited Edition product line.  americancrew.com/militaryedition/

•           AOL:  The USO will be featured as the Cause of the Day this Veterans Day on aol.com and will take over AOL’s mail sign-in page for one day in November.

•           Bass Pro Shops:  Stop by a Bass Pro Shop and check out how Reelin’ It In For the Troops is supporting Operation USO Care Package. basspro.com/

•           Cheerios:  For every code entered from specially marked Cheerios®, Honey Nut Cheerios® or MultiGrain Cheerios® at Walmart, General Mill’s will donate $1.00 to the USO (up to $50,000). Additionally, consumers can send messages of support to troops and their families through the digital USO Thanks from Everywhere platform. cheerios.com/uso

•           CVS:  CVS/pharmacy will once again hold a USO donation campaign as part of its flu shot program during the week of Veterans Day. cvs.com

•           ESPN:  This Veterans Day, ESPN partners with the USO to help lift the spirits of America’s troops and their families.  Using its broad portfolio of multimedia assets, ESPN is driving awareness and action from November 4-11 by inviting its viewers and consumers to give a gift to our heroes through USO Wishbook – an alternative giving catalog benefiting troops and their families.  You can visit uso.org/espn beginning Nov 4th to select a gift and learn more.

•           Lockheed Martin:  Lockheed Martin will donate $1 to the USO for every new “Like” of their facebook page, up to $25,000. facebook.com/lockheedmartin

•           My Coke Rewards: Let our troops know they are not forgotten.  Donate your My Coke Rewards points to the USO and help support America’s troops and their families.  mycokerewards.com

•           NFL:  The NFL will support the USO with its annual Salute to Service campaign during the month of November through a fundraiser during games in Weeks 9 - 11 of the season.  Fans can also help support this campaign through an online auction at nfl.com/salute starting November 1, 2012.

•           Old Navy:  Old Navy salutes military families this Veterans Day and is proud to partner with the USO on “Operation Donation”. To support our troops and their families, we are collecting donations in all U.S. Old Navy stores between 11/8 and 11/12. (this language was approved and provided by Old Navy) oldnavy.com

•           Wells Fargo:  From November 1st through December 13th, Wells Fargo customers will have the opportunity to make a donation of up to $249.99 when using their Wells Fargo card at their local ATM’s. US states except Arkansas, Missouri, and the District of Columbia. wellsfargo.com

To learn more about Grant a Wish for Our Heroes, visit uso.org/grant-a-wish which highlights our USO corporate partners, USO best-in-class program partners and our USO locations and events that are granting wishes this Veterans Day.

About the USO

The USO (United Service Organizations) lifts the spirits of America’s troops and their families millions of times each year at hundreds of places worldwide. We provide a touch of home through centers at airports and military bases in the U.S. and abroad, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services. We also provide critical support to those who need us most, including forward-deployed troops, military families, wounded warriors and their families and the families of the fallen.

The USO is a private, nonprofit organization, not a government agency. All of our programs and services are made possible by the American people, support of our corporate partners and the dedication of our volunteers and staff.  In addition to individual donors and corporate sponsors, the USO is supported by President’s Circle Partners: American Airlines, AT&T, Clear Channel, The Coca-Cola Company, jcpenney, Kangaroo Express, Kroger, Lowe’s, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Procter & Gamble, and TriWest Healthcare Alliance and Worldwide Strategic Partners: BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation and TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG. We are also supported through the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381).  To join us in this patriotic mission, and to learn more about the USO, please visit uso.org.

Commander Eyes Army Troop Rotations in Asia-Pacific

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 – As operations draw down in Afghanistan, the senior Army commander in the Asia-Pacific said he looks forward to opportunities to begin 30- to 45-day rotational deployments that will enable soldiers to train with their counterparts throughout the region.

In another development, Army Lt. Gen. Francis J. Wiercinski announced yesterday that for the first time in U.S. Army Pacific’s history, an allied army general will assume one of its highest positions. Australian Maj. Gen. Rick Burns will join the staff Nov. 4 as deputy commanding general for operations.

Speaking during a “DOD Live” bloggers roundtable yesterday, Wiercinski underscored the importance of expanded Army engagement as the United States implements new strategic guidance focused on the Asia-Pacific region. But acknowledging that neither the United States nor its allies and partners in the region have an interest in establishing new U.S. bases there, he said he favors troop rotations to support more exercises and other military-to-military engagements.

The Marine Corps already is pulling six-month rotational deployments in Darwin, Australia, and the first Navy littoral ship will begin a rotation in Singapore beginning this spring.

Similar arrangements for the Army will help regional armies get to “know each other and … know each other’s techniques, tactics, procedures and doctrine,” Wiercinski said.

“Relationships matter,” he told the bloggers, making it easier for militaries to operate together.
To reduce the time and cost of supporting troop rotations, Wiercinski hopes to pre-position equipment and supplies at key locations for the rotational forces to fall in on when they arrive in the theater. Equipment previously used in Iraq, or slated to be returned from Afghanistan as forces draw down there, could be pre-positioned in the Asia-Pacific region rather than mothballed in the United States, he said.

Pre-positioned equipment and a system of trained rotational forces provides more capability in the region and ensures better preparedness for contingencies that may arise, he said.

Asked about tensions on the Korean peninsula, Wiercinski said the United States’ goal is to use the diplomatic process to prevent conflict from occurring. “It will not serve anyone’s national interest if we have to go to conflict across the [Demilitarized Zone],” he said. “And everyone knows that no one would want that.”

Noting that nobody has a crystal ball that can predict what will happen or what capabilities will be needed, Wiercinski identified one exception. “I can absolutely tell you that there will be a natural disaster in the Asia-Pacific rim soon,” he said, whether it’s an earthquake, tsunami, typhoon or other disaster.
As a result of that likelihood, most of the exercises U.S. Army Pacific participates in include a humanitarian assistance and disaster response element.

“I think all of the nations that we have in the region are focused on this area, because we know that is the enemy that is constantly with us and will attack at some point of time in the near future,” Wiercinski said.
Asked if the U.S. “rebalance” to the Asia-Pacific marginalizes the role of the Army, Wiercinski offered an emphatic “no.”

Twenty-seven of the 28 militaries in the region are army-dominant, he noted, and 21 regional chiefs of defense are army generals.

“We live in the human domain – the land domain. It is where … the human state is affected by anything from humanitarian assistance [and] disaster relief to armed conflict,” he said. “It involves human beings on the ground, and that takes an army to sustain that.”

Recognizing that every military service has a role to play in national responses, Wiercinski said the Army is uniquely organized and equipped to provide the sustainment the entire military needs to operate.
“We are the service that is in there for the long haul,” he said. “When something occurs on the ground, it is the Army that has the staying power that is there to assist.”
 

McHugh: Army Can Expect Fewer Resources, Same Mission

By C. Todd Lopez Army News Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 – With budget cuts already in place and more cuts possible next year, the Army can expect fewer resources to accomplish a mission that likely will not shrink, Army Secretary John M. McHugh said here yesterday. Speaking before the opening session of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, McHugh said the nation's economy, and how it affects the Army budget, is something that worries him. After more than 11 years of war, he said, "the Army is going to do its job with less." Budget cuts and force reductions were a long time coming, he said, and the Army has been aware of them for some time. "We've seen this day coming for some time," he said. "We've been given the opportunity and the time to get it right, to plan, to prioritize and adjust force structure, equipment and training. We are doing it." A critical component of the Army's future is integration of reserve forces. Since 2001, McHugh said, the Army has learned the importance of an operational reserve component in meeting mission requirements. Continued training and readiness of the reserve components is "paramount to the Army's overall readiness and stability, and our nation's security," McHugh said. "We are going to make sure we do that, and [that] we do it right." Part of the Army's effort in that direction includes a “total force policy” directive McHugh signed that says the Army will man, train, and equip active and reserve components in an integrated, operational force to provide predictable, recurring and sustainable capabilities. McHugh said the directive outlines a number of measures to make integration of those forces seamless, including uniform processes and procedures for validating pre-deployment readiness, developing and implementing unified personnel management and pay systems, ensuring that equipping strategies promote procurement programs for a total force, and facilitating opportunities for soldiers to move between active and reserve-component assignments throughout their careers. At a news conference following the conference’s opening ceremony, Army Chief of Staff of Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said that as the Army heads into an uncertain future, it starts from a "position of strength," as a result of veterans and Army leaders who have been in combat for 11 years now. And because the Army is an all-volunteer force, he said, he expects many of those same leaders to stay in the Army "and to pull the Army into the future." The Army will adapt readiness and training models to prepare units to better operate "in what we believe will be more and more complex environments that we are going to have to fight," Odierno said. To deal with those complex environments of the future, the general said, he is now focused on an Army that can deploy at "several speeds," at "several sizes," and that can respond to "several contingencies." "The Army provides a depth and capability that no other service provides -- tooth to tail -- [from] combat all the way down to every kind of logistics and combat service support that you can provide," he said. "We're the only service that does that completely, tooth to tail." McHugh said the Army's key to the future is its full-spectrum capability, and the capacity to go anywhere and do any mission. The ability to do that, he said -- the Army's adaptability -- means that it can serve as a hedge for the uncertainty of the future.

Wisconsin National Guard names new state chaplain

October 23, 2012 Wisconsin National Guard Public Affairs Office The Wisconsin National Guard will welcome a new state chaplain in November.  Lt. Col. Douglas Fleischfresser of Oconomowoc, Wis., has been selected to succeed Lt. Col. Kevin Hoogland of Merrill, Wis., who will retire next month. The state chaplain is a traditional, rather than full-time, National Guard position and guides the Wisconsin National Guard's vision of providing ministry and service to its members and families. Fleischfresser most recently served as the command chaplain for the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team from 2008-2012. During that time he also served as command chaplain for the Joint Area Support Group and the International Zone in Baghdad, Iraq when the 32nd Brigade deployed to Iraq from 2009-2010.

Fleischfresser joined the Wisconsin Army National Guard as the 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry's chaplain Jan. 3, 1991. Transferring to the Illinois Army National Guard in 1995, he served as chaplain for the 1st Battalion, 123rd Infantry, 1st Battalion, 123rd Military Police, and the 33rd Area Support Group. While with the Illinois National Guard he mobilized for Operation Noble Eagle immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, and in Afghanistan from 2004-2005 as Theater Base of Operations Command Chaplain in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Returning to the Wisconsin Army National Guard in 2005, Fleischfresser served as the 64th Troop Command chaplain until being assigned to the 32nd Brigade. 

Fleischfresser and his wife Sheri have three children - Kayla, a fifth-grade Lutheran School teacher in Baltimore; Whitney, an Airman 1st Class with the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 126th Weather Flight; and Nikolas, a Specialist with the 32nd Military Police Company. 

Fleischfresser began his pastoral ministry in 1987, serving Lutheran congregations in Winchester, Ky., Shawano, Wis., East Peoria, Ill., Charleston, Ill., and Oconomowoc, Wis. He presently serves as development director for Lutheran Counseling and Family Services of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa.

Hoogland's military career began in 1986 as a chaplain in the Arkansas Army National Guard's 39th Infantry Brigade. He transferred to the Wisconsin Army National Guard in 1987 and served for many years as battalion chaplain for the 632nd Armor Battalion in Wausau. His next assignment was as command chaplain for the 32nd Brigade, with whom he deployed to the Middle East in 2005-2006. During this deployment he was selected to be the state chaplain. He will retire from the Wisconsin Army National Guard in November 2012. 

Military service is a cornerstone of Hoogland's family. His grandfather served in World War I, his father served in World War II, and his wife, Cpt. Sandy Hoogland, is a physician's assistant in the Wisconsin Army National Guard who recently deployed with the 724th Combat Engineer Battalion. Their youngest son Aaron graduated infantry school and airborne school at Fort Benning, Ga., and hopes to begin Special Forces training through the Special Operations Preparation Course at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Hoogland served his first parish in Waldenburg, Ark., and has served Faith Lutheran in Merrill, Wis., since 1987.

Cooke award nominations due in February

by Gloria Kwizera

Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas – Air Force officials are seeking nominations for the 9th Annual Department of Defense David O. Cooke Excellence in Public Administration Award.

The award was created to promote, perpetuate and recognize the type of exceptional contributions David O. Cooke made to the federal service, said Air Force Personnel Center officials. His career spanned more than 55 years, 45 of which were with the DOD. He was widely recognized for promoting a cooperative spirit and improving operations.

This award recognizes non-managerial civilian employees with 3-10 years of federal career service as of Dec. 31, 2012.

Nominees can be from any functional area, and will be evaluated on their commitment to public service and demonstration of personal and professional integrity.

Organizations and base-level personnel must contact their major command, field operating agency, or direct reporting unit for applicable suspense dates and additional information regarding nomination procedures.

Each MAJCOM, FOA and DRU may submit one nomination. Completed nomination packages are due to the Air Force Personnel Center by Feb. 25, 2013.

For more information about Air Force recognition programs and other personnel issues, visit the myPers website at https://mypers.af.mil.

AF seeks Spirit of Hope nominees

by Gloria Kwizera

Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas – Air Force officials are accepting nominations for the 2013 Spirit of Hope Award.

The award recognizes a military member, former military member, civilian or organization that epitomizes the values of Bob Hope – duty, honor, courage, loyalty, commitment, integrity and selfless dedication.

Organization and base-level personnel must contact their major command, field operating agency or direct reporting unit for applicable suspense dates and additional information regarding nomination procedures.

Each MAJCOM, FOA or DRU may submit one nomination per category. Completed nomination packages are due to the Air Force Personnel Center by Feb. 20, 2013.

For more information about the Air Force awards program and other personnel issues, visit the myPers website at https://mypers.af.mil.

Green Flag keeps Airmen and Soldiers mission-ready

by Senior Airman Kristin High
2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs

10/22/2012 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- "If the band played a piece first with the piccolo, then with the brass horn, then with the clarinet, and then with the trumpet, there would be a lot of noise, but no music," said Gen. George S. Patton during World War II. "To get harmony in the music, each instrument must support the others. To get harmony in battle, each weapon must support the others. Team play wins."

In true teamwork fashion, approximately 165 Airmen and 12 F-15E Strike Eagles from the 335th Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., traveled to Barksdale AFB, La., to participate in Green Flag East. This exercise, taking place Oct. 8-20, is a simulated combat operation held between Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Polk, La., to employ close air support and hone communication between air and ground forces.

Green Flag East supports the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, which trains soldiers in highly realistic combat environments.

"The integration of Army and Air Force assets is vital to the mission," said Maj. Jennifer Fujimoto, 335th FS deployed director of operations. "During this exercise, we are collaborating with Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, Fort Bragg, N.C. In order to effectively and efficiently use our resources, we have to be able to integrate with the Army, Navy or Marine Corps."

Participating in Green Flag East brings players together to validate or develop the tactics, techniques and procedures used during the fight, she added.

Usually, the Airmen and soldiers who participate in Green Flag together end up deploying together.

"It's important to the Air Force and all services because it is a learning process," said Fujimoto. "We are training the way we fight."

In addition to building cohesiveness, another objective of the training is enhancing integration with maneuvering ground troops.

Fujimoto said the sorties flown here provide aircrews a first look at how they will operate and interact with a brigade-sized Army unit and Air Force air liaison officers and joint terminal attack controllers.

It is a complex exercise because of the variety of missions assigned. The ability to gain experience is what helps out the aircrew because they never know what their first real combat mission is going to be, she added.
"Green Flag definitely helps during our deployments," said Senior Airman Lawrence McGregor, 335th Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew chief. "Even though it's fast paced down range, we have a feel for things that could possibly happen so we are more prepared to carry out the mission."

The exercising and training received at Green Flag helps solidify the joint procedures that will be required during our next allied expeditionary force rotation, Fujimoto added.

In 2011, more than 1,125 Airmen and more than 32,000 soldiers came to Barksdale to participate in Green Flag East.

USSOCOM senior enlisted advisor speaks on family preservation

by Senior Airman Whitney Tucker
27th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

10/22/2012 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- By all accounts, they were the perfect military family. The husband: hard-charging and gallant. The wife: beautiful and accomplished. Yes, like a page ripped from a child's picture book, the Faris family was 'Happily Ever After' come to life, or so it seemed.

Beneath the counterfeit smiles and entwined fingers, a war was raging in the Faris home; an emotional conflict fueled by insecurity and punctuated with the ear-splitting silence of words left unsaid.

Air Commandos, spouses and civilians from Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., sat slack-jawed and spellbound as Army Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Faris, U.S. Special Operations Command's senior enlisted advisor, and his wife, Lisa, described the decay of their 22-year marriage in graphic, unabashed detail at the base theater, Oct. 9.

"The Chris and Lisa Show," as Chris aptly calls it, is in keeping with an initiative by Adm. Bill McRaven, USSOCOM commander, that calls war-weary service members to fight for the survival of their families in the face of seemingly insurmountable emotional turmoil.

For Chris and Lisa, what had begun as love at first sight quickly disintegrated into a marriage filled with hate and resentment as years of back-to-back deployments, combat and unimaginable loss ate away at the foundation of their relationship.

For years, Lisa struggled in vain to reignite the spark between herself and her husband. But as the cycle continued: deploy, redeploy, refit, train - she saw her spouse become a shell of the man he once was, internalizing his pain and retreating further and further into himself.

"First, all I wanted was to make him happy," she said. "I would make sure his favorite ice cream was in the freezer and I would cook his favorite foods, but soon I realized it didn't make a difference. He wanted to live as roommates. He didn't want to be a part of the family we'd created together and it was like being slapped in the face."

From Chris's perspective, he was simply surviving. Having first mastered the art of detachment during the infamous 1993 Black Hawk Down incident in Mogadishu, Somalia, his estrangement from his family was nearly absolute by 2007 when combat operations peaked in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"When I was home I couldn't answer the phone," he said, "I was always checking my watch; always wondering whether my men had made it through the night or if I'd be delivering another notification of death, hearing another blood-chilling scream."

Such was life for Chris and Lisa; walking on egg shells around one another and endlessly teetering on the brink of dissolution. And on a day like any other, Chris broke.

"'You disgust me!'" he yelled into the audience, with the depth of past conviction audible in his voice. "'Don't you know what's important in the world?! I'm the Command Sgt. Maj. of the joint task force; if any family should care what's going on, it's you!' Listening to them talk about reality television when men and women were overseas dying made me sick. I wanted nothing to do with them."

Shortly after D-Day in the Faris house, Lisa began therapy at the urging of her eldest daughter.

"My therapist asked me what I wanted out of life," she said. "After a lot of thinking and a lot of bawling, I asked her to help me find the strength to leave the love of my life."

Unbeknownst to Chris, his wife had made the decision to end their marriage. As the holiday season drew nearer, fate smiled on Chris in the form of a frank conversation with his youngest daughter; a conversation that would ultimately save his family and resurrect his long dead marriage.

"My youngest daughter said to me, 'Dad, do you know how old I was the last time you were home for my birthday?'" he recalls. "I told her I didn't know and she informed me that I had missed every birthday since she was 10. Eight years of missed birthdays. That was hard to hear, but it was like an epiphany for me. I resolved to make a change."

Today, Chris and Lisa Faris are devoted to using their story, however ugly or raw, to help other families navigate the mine field that is military marriage. Though they made the decision to shed the hateful, antagonistic people they had become, the Faris' are very clear on one point: they've still got a long way to go.

"Our marriage is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination," Chris said. "But the good thing is, we're back to arguing about the normal things - we have the same issues any couple would. We've made the decision to work at it, to see it through to the end. The point I'm trying to make is I had become consumed by the all-powerful phrase 'mission first'. But it should be about mission accomplishment. True readiness begins at home and the commander and I are committed to preserving the family and the force."

Aviation safety resources expand with proactive safety website

10/22/2012 - KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Information and resources for use of the aviation safety community have expanded with the launch today of the Air Force Aviation Safety ProSEF website. The site is also accessible from the Air Force Safety Center home page.

The initiative of the Air Force Aviation Division is intended to reach Department of Defense and civilian counterparts who are interested in making an impact on mishap reduction and seeking new processes and tools to improve the safety culture.

The website is designed to promote an exchange of information among Air Force major command safety officers, proactive safety advocates throughout the Air Force, as well as industry and government organizations, safety center officials said.

The pages outline the concepts and benefits of Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA), Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) - the newest tools to transform Air Force safety and find the mishap precursors that may otherwise go unnoticed.

"We now have the tools to transform Air Force Safety and find the mishap precursors that may otherwise have gone unknown," said Col. Stephen M. Matson, chief of the Air Force Safety Center's Aviation Safety Division.

"ProSEF offers another means for us to stop a given mishap before the rate goes up, leaving us with more confidence in the future of our mishap prevention program," he said. "Until we spend more effort proactively identifying hazards and preventing mishaps, we'll never be able to spend less effort and resources investigating the aftermath."
(Courtesy of Air Force Safety Center Public Affairs)

Europe Remains Important to New Strategy, General Says

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 – Europe remains important, even as the United States shifts its strategic focus to the Asia-Pacific region, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast here today.

“Europe remains one of our key strategic partners, Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling said. “If you take a look at the rebalancing strategy toward the Pacific, … Europe still has a very important part to play.”

European nations are contributing significantly to U.S. alliances, the general said, noting that 40,000 soldiers from allied countries are serving in Afghanistan. “Ninety-one percent of those … come from the European footprint,” he added. “These are people that we helped train, that we exercise with, that we partner with, that we conduct engagements with.”

Even with the shift to the Pacific, European nations provide a lot of capability, Hertling said. Their commitment to the defense of South Korea is one example, he told the group, and the European nations have many other interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

Still, he said, the U.S. presence in Europe is dropping. Last week, Hertling presided at a ceremony that cased the colors of the 170th Brigade at Baumholder, Germany, and he will soon case the colors of another U.S. brigade. “We are trying to right-size the [U.S.] force in Europe,” he said.

The Cold War is over, and no one knows it better than the commander of U.S. Army Europe. The need for large tank formations on the continent is gone, he said, so even with the loss of the two brigades, the Army will have what it needs to conduct missions in Europe, including contingency operations, partnership exercises and theater security operations.

Last year, the general noted, U.S. Army Europe troops conducted 1,100 security operations missions, and missions continue.

U.S. Army Europe is part of Exercise Austere Challenge, which kicked off this week in Israel, and the command plays a part in the Northern Distribution Network, getting supplies for U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. “We continue to run things like missile defense, countercyber exercises, logistics support to allies [and] support to NATO and contingency operations,” Hertling said.

In addition, a peacekeeping effort continues in Europe. More than 1,000 American service members are part of NATO’s Kosovo Force in the former Yugoslavia. Most of the troops in the operation are Army National Guardsmen. U.S. Army Europe is responsible for providing the final training the troops receive before deploying to Kosovo and for the logistics they receive while in country.

“We have reinforced that brigade on several occasions when there have been crises,” Hertling said. “They continue to do significant stability operations in Kosovo, training the Kosovar forces as well as patrolling. It is still … calm, but tense, in Kosovo. It gets tenser at times, depending on what’s going on.”