Hagel Vows to Prioritize Cyber, Nuclear Capabilities

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – Malicious cyberattacks are quickly becoming a defining security challenge “for our time, for all our institutions,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday during a speech in Omaha, Neb., at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

“They are putting America's economic and technological advantages and our industrial base at risk,” the secretary added. “And they threaten our critical infrastructure.”

Hagel noted some now-familiar defense challenges in the cyber realm: attacks are invisible, hard to track to their source, and potentially can be classified as either criminal activity or acts of war.

“Attribution is not impossible, but it is not as simple as identifying a navy sailing across the ocean or an army crossing a border to attack you,” Hagel said. “This is a fundamentally different, more insidious kind of threat than we've ever seen -- one that carries with it a great risk of miscalculation and mistake.”

It is also a global concern, he noted.

“Part of the answer to the cyber threat is working through and with international forums of common interests, and developing a common approach with all nations,” he said.

Hagel acknowledged that while America’s conventional military edge “remains overwhelming and unrivalled, our nation is dangerously exposed to cyberspace attacks.”

The secretary repeated statements he made last week in congressional testimony: defense spending for cyber capabilities will remain a top priority.

“The president and I asked for an increase in our cyber capabilities in the 2014 budget that I presented at Congress the last two months,” Hagel said. “We will do this even as we pare back force structure in almost all other areas where the military has excess capacity measured against the real-world threats of today.”
Responding to an audience member’s question on cyber after his speech, the secretary cautioned would-be enemies that the nation isn’t defenseless in the cyber realm. “We have considerable deterrent ability [and] capability to deter any kind of attack on this country,” Hagel said.

It’s no secret that everything from ships to banks runs through the cyber domain, Hagel noted.
“You start knocking on infrastructure of a country, you don't need to fire a shot, [and] you paralyze a country,” he said. “You paralyze command and control of your military. You wipe out bank accounts.”
Even seemingly minor disruptions could have a serious affect, Hagel said. “I mean things maybe as mundane as all the traffic lights go out in big cities -- well, big deal. Well, [have you ever] been to New York City or Los Angeles when there's no traffic lights?”

Hagel said the whole question of cyber “leads to the change, the dramatic change in threats to our world and our way of life; and we have to be more agile in our military and everything we're doing to [manage] that.”
Hagel also discussed nuclear capabilities, noting much of his Nebraska visit would involve U.S. Strategic Command, which has its headquarters near Omaha. Stratcom’s mission includes maintaining a safe and effective nuclear deterrent.

Hagel noted yesterday that President Barack Obama announced the United States will pursue negotiated reductions with Russia of up to one-third of the number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons allowed under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

The secretary said he strongly supports those reductions, and added that three things will not change:
-- The United States will maintain a ready and credible deterrent;

-- It will retain a triad of bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines; and

-- It will make sure that its nuclear weapons remain safe, secure, ready and effective.

Even in an era of declining resources, Hagel said, the United States has invested substantially in the nuclear enterprise.

“DOD will continue to make these investments in order to sustain our weapons and delivery systems and ensure that we retain the expert personnel,” he said.

Stratcom’s mission remains critical and relevant, Hagel added. “A safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent remains essential to our national security, and we will maintain that capability,” he said.

Reserve aerial spray unit swats 'skeeters' at JB Charleston

by Master Sgt. Bob Barko Jr.
910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

6/20/2013 - JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. -- "There must be thousands of 'em, millions of 'em. What are they doing?"

"It looks like they're preparing an invasion."

Even though this dialogue is from the 1996 science fiction blockbuster film, "Independence Day," it is an accurate description of the annual real-life assault from saltwater marsh mosquitoes on the people who work and live at Joint Base Charleston, S.C.

In 2012, Air Force Reserve Command's 910th Airlift Wing aerial spray unit from Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, deployed to Charleston in response to an emergency call to do battle with the disease-carrying pest insects inundating the joint base.

The spray mission was such a success that the pest management team at JB Charleston asked that the spray unit make the base a part of its annual rotation. This year, the 910th returned to the installation June 14-16, to continue the war on the pesky 'skeeters.'

Youngstown's 757th Airlift Squadron sprayed approximately 16,500 acres on Charleston. One area in particular, known as the spoils site, was a prime target for dispersing the mosquito control product.

"That area produces 40 million mosquitoes per acre," said Tony Mincey, JB Installation Pest Management coordinator. "It's a 30-acre site."

Charleston was in dire need of the 910th's one-of-a-kind pest control methods, according to Lt. Col. Frank Galati, mission commander for the Charleston operation.

"The pre-mission mosquito trap counts were as high as 880 (insects)," said . "We only need about 20 in the trap to go ahead with the aerial spraying, so they really needed it done."

Pest management teams check the mosquito traps a few days after each spray mission to gauge effectiveness.

"The trap counts really tell the tale of how effective the spraying was to knock down the target pests," said Mincey. He said the trap count went from 177 to 1 in the days following the spray mission.  "That is a massive improvement. So, we really appreciate what the 910th has done for us and we are already talking about them coming back next year."

Through Airmen's Eyes: Raising awareness for Lupus

by Lt. Col. Belinda Petersen
Air Reserve Personnel Center Public Affairs

6/19/2013 - BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Staff Sgt. Nicole Turley, client support technician from the Air Reserve Personnel Center, thought she had grown up with a family who all had healthy lives. It was not until Turley was an adult that she found out her aunt was diagnosed with Lupus.

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys. Their research estimates that at least 1.5 million Americans have Lupus and more than 16,000 new cases of Lupus are reported annually.

For reasons not known to Turley, her aunt kept it hidden from her family for years before it was revealed. "I had never heard of Lupus, so when I found out about my aunt's illness, I wanted to research everything I could about it," she said.

"Three things stood out to me," said Turley. "First, there is no cure. Secondly, there is a lot they do not know, so the Lupus Foundation of America was created as a non-profit organization where all the funds they receive go directly to research to find a cure for Lupus."

"Finally, certain ethnic groups have a greater risk of developing Lupus, which may be related to the genes they have in common," she said. "This resonated with me because my family is of Native American descent and enrolled with the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan."

Turley immediately started donating to the Lupus Foundation of America, but she wanted to do more. "I believe sharing information about Lupus to fellow Airmen and their families will benefit them everywhere," said Turley. "Many people in the military probably know someone with Lupus or have been personally affected by Lupus."

That's why Turley organized "Nicole's Team" for an event called Walk to End Lupus Now held in Denver. For the past two years, Nicole's Team participated in this family-friendly, non-competitive 5K walk that not only raised funds, but also raised awareness.

"The most awe-inspiring was when they had people talking on the stage about Lupus," said Turley. "The speaker asked how many people in the audience have been diagnosed with Lupus in the past 5, 10, 20 and 30 years. Seeing all these different people around me with their hands raised was just beyond words."

Another benefit of participating in an event like Walk to End Lupus Now is the chance to meet other people and rally together to support one another. More than 1,200 people participated. "I spoke with a woman from the Buckley AFB classifieds group on Facebook whose mom died of Lupus and she also had been recently diagnosed with Lupus," she said. "It was great to have her walk with my team."

Turley was happy to find out that her team raised $349 more than the previous year. "Nicole's Team made $865 during this year's event held in Denver on June 2nd, which is amazing to me," she said.

While there is not a cure for Lupus, Turley's leadership by raising awareness and money may one day contribute to ending Lupus for everyone, including her aunt. One thing is for sure; you will see Nicole's Team again next year in Denver for the Walk to End Lupus Now.

Labor Department Website Features Women Vets’ Issues

From a Department of Labor News Release

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – Labor Department officials have launched a new website devoted to issues and challenges affecting women veterans.

The site is a collaborative effort between the Labor Department and the Veterans’ Employment Training Service and the Women’s Bureau.

The site highlights potential challenges that may affect the economic security of women veterans, including:

-- Disability: Women veterans are more likely than their male peers to have a significant service related disability. Thirty-five percent of women veterans have a disability rating of 50 percent or higher as compared with 26 percent of male veterans.

-- Marital: Women veterans are nearly twice as likely to be divorced as male veterans -- 18 percent vs. 10 percent.

-- Single parents: Eleven percent of women veterans are raising children alone, compared to 4 percent of male veterans. While veterans overall have higher median earnings than nonveterans, women veterans still tend to earn nearly $6,000 less annually than their male veteran counterparts.

The site also contains links with information on employment opportunities, education and health care options and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies.

Love, service, sacrifice define servicewoman's career

by Senior Airman Aubrey White
4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

6/20/2013 - SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Imagine an Airman who disarms explosive devices for a living, rides a Harley Davidson for fun and has tattoos all over, illustrating stories of love, pain and triumph.

Now imagine this Airman with long blonde hair; an explosive ordnance disposal technician; a servicewoman.

She is Staff Sgt. Kimberly Pate, 4th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal NCO in charge of operations, who was recently named North Carolina Servicewoman of the Year by the American Legion Auxiliary Past Presidents Parley in Raleigh, N.C.

To be considered for the award, Pate submitted a 750-word narrative about why she supports the role of women in today's military. She was chosen to represent North Carolina servicewomen at the auxiliary's state convention and is invited to attend the national convention in August in San Antonio, Texas, where she will compete against 49 other nominees for the National Servicewoman title.

"Women have made many strides over the years and proven themselves capable to achieve things that others have seen as 'not fit for them,'" Pate wrote in her essay. "I fully support people following their dreams and shooting as high as they can. If a woman wants to fly a jet, provide medical attention in the field, fight on the front lines or disarm improvised explosive devices, I say go for it."

As a woman in the military, she's glad to be able to fulfill the mission and inspire young girls to do and be whatever they choose; setting a positive example for young females like her step-daughter means more to Pate than any accolade.

"My daughter, Brianna Pate, 13, thinks I could lift a car with one hand and take on the world with the other; she thinks I'm absolutely awesome," Pate said. "For her to know she can do anything she wants to do and being a girl doesn't count her out, is rewarding (for me). There's nothing that limits her."

Although she appreciates recognition for her accomplishments in the military, Pate finds most satisfaction in being afforded the opportunity to serve her nation.

Pate joined the Air Force because she wanted to travel the world and give back to her country.

"After attending college for a while but not being sure of what exactly I wanted to do with my life, I finally went to talk to an Air Force recruiter," Pate said. "He asked me if I wanted to play with robots and blow stuff up for a living, so I said 'sign me up.'"

That visit to the recruiter's office marked the beginning of Pate's nearly 10-year career in EOD.

After waiting months for a position to open up in the career field, she was off to Air Force basic military training, then EOD technical training shortly thereafter.

Greatly outnumbered by men during technical training, Pate felt she needed to prove herself to become part of the EOD family. She did, and graduated at the top of her class.

When asked about the many triumphs throughout her career, Pate attributes them to the support she's received from the EOD technicians she's worked with in addition to her family.

"(EOD) is very much a family. No one can really understand it until they're a part of it. Regardless of branch of service, if you see our occupational badge on someone, you instantly know them; you would back them in anything and give them the shirt off of your back." Pate said. "My teammates can understand more in a silent conversation than anyone else can (after) days of talking. Anytime I feel like I need to get something out or relate to someone, these guys are who I look to."

With high deployment tempos and the daily dangers EOD technicians face, Pate had to learn to balance work, emotions and home life for her safety and the welfare of those around her.

"We're trained really well to get in 'go mode,'" she explained. "You set emotions and everything up on a little shelf in a box. You have a job to do so that's what you're going to do. You might realize an hour after you're done with a call something might have happened, but at the time of an emergency you're going step by step through threat analysis."

Although placing sentiments aside in times of crisis is a common practice for the EOD community, Pate never forgets that what she and her teammates do for their nation often end with the ultimate sacrifice.

"The longer you've been in this career field, the more people you know that go up on the (EOD memorial wall)," she said. "It's always in the back of your mind that there's a possibility you could end up on that wall, but it's such an honor to go out doing what you love and saving other people's lives. We want to be the ones to keep everyone else safe."

She knows all too well how costly the price of freedom is.

In 2011, Pate's husband, U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. EJ Pate, former EOD technician, was killed by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan. This tragic event was a turning point in Pate's career that led her to continue striving for greatness.

"About a month from coming home on my second deployment was when I was notified of my husband's death," she explained with pain in her eyes and a quivery voice.

The Pates were both deployed at the same time; she to Southwest Asia and he to Afghanistan. Her husband recently returned from a week-long mission and emailed her just to say he was back, safe and would call in the morning. A couple hours later, he woke up to tell her he couldn't sleep and wanted to let her know he was thinking about her and loved her. The entire next day, Pate just had a feeling she was going to get a phone call, whether it'd be from her husband or his unit.

She had the day off and decided to see a movie with some of her teammates and emailed her husband before heading off. During the movie, she received the call that changed her life.

Thoughts raced through Pate's mind as she tried to figure out a purpose for the call. Her mind drew a blank until she saw her new commander, his eyes blood-shot and swollen. At that point she knew.

"I dropped everything in my hands, stumbled back into the desk (and asked) 'what happened to my husband?'" Pate said.

They didn't answer.

"I knew at that point something horrible was wrong. They wouldn't talk; they just shook their heads, looked down and said 'I'm sorry.'" Pate said. "I remember screaming, yelling, asking them what happened; 'just tell me he's breathing, he got hurt. Do I need to go to Germany; do I need to meet him somewhere, is he okay?'"

Although she doesn't remember much of the conversation, she does remember they finally calmed her down and she fell to the floor, curled up sobbing and cried so hard she felt sick.

Her husband's unit notified her of the incident as early as possible, at the time they weren't sure if he was alive or not. According to Pate, his unit did everything they could to save her husband.

"I drove straight out to the flightline, ran up on the back of a C-130 with a backpack and headed to Germany because his body was not going to move without me. I was on the (flight that brought him home) and escorted him throughout the whole funeral."

In the time since her husband's death, Pate has tried to keep his memory alive, honor him and continue his work.

In order to commemorate her late husband, Pate submitted photos of her and her husband's matching tattoos and the story behind each piece of art for an EOD service member tattoo book.

"The bomb on the wrist was a matching tattoo EJ and I got because we didn't want the standard (EOD occupational badge) tattoo, but we wanted something to represent our job," she wrote in the book. "The bleeding heart, (with the script) 'Tantum Quondam,' is because everything in life is only once. You only live once, truly love once and die once ... EJ was my one true love and now he is gone."

If asked, Pate would say although life has brought her trials and tribulations, she finds solace in knowing what she does helps protect and defend her nation and its people.

After this tragic event, Pate was given the opportunity to step away from the EOD career field and move on with her life but instead chose to stay and "finish the job."

"I tell my kids all the time their dad died doing something with a purpose. I am extremely proud of what he did," Pate said. "We do our job; we do everything we can. Anyone in our position would do the same thing."

While her husband's death has altered her life and career, it doesn't define her as a person. She is an EOD technician, a woman in the military who said she is proud to be a wife, mother and servicewoman.

F-35 is backbone of Air Force's future fighter fleet, Welsh says

by Master Sgt. Angelita Colón-Francia
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

6/20/2013 - WASHINGTON, D.C. (AFNS) -- The Air Force's most advanced strike aircraft, the F-35 Lightning II, is a vital capability that the nation needs to stay ahead of adversary technological gains, the Air Force chief of staff told a Senate panel here, June 19.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said air superiority is critical to the nation's security and how the U.S. military plans to fight.

"The air superiority this nation has enjoyed for 60 years is not an accident and gaining and maintaining it is not easy," Welsh said. "It requires trained proficient and ready Airmen and it requires credible, capable and technologically superior aircraft. I believe the F-35 is essential to ensuring we can provide that air superiority in the future."

The F-35 is an unprecedented fifth generation fighter combining stealth technology with fighter speed and agility, fully integrated sensors and network enabled operations, and state-of-the-art avionics. However, design issues and production costs have put the F-35 program in real jeopardy.

Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall told the committee he believe those concerns have been addressed.

"The department's and my focus has been on the efforts to control costs on the program, and to achieve a more stable design so that we could increase the production rate to more economical quantities," Kendall testified. "Indications at this time are that these efforts are succeeding."

The Air Force intends to use a portion of the proposed fiscal 2014 budget to support current defense strategic guidance and modernization programs like the F-35.

"Potential adversaries are acquiring fighters on par with or better than our legacy fourth generation fleet," Welsh told the committee. "They're developing sophisticated early warning radar systems and employing better surface to air missile systems, and this at a time when our fighter fleet numbers about 2,000 aircraft and averages a little over 23 years of age -- the smallest and the oldest in the Air Force's history."

Welsh said America needs the F-35 to stay a step ahead and to "make sure the future fight is an away game and to minimize our risk to our ground forces when conflict inevitably does occur."

"The F-35 is the only real, viable option to form the backbone of our future fighter fleet," he said. "The F-35 remains the best platform to address the proliferation of highly capable integrated air defenses and new air-to-air threats."

Most Complex Bold Quest Yet Focuses on ‘Friend or Foe’ ID

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – Representatives from every U.S. military service and 10 other nations are wrapping up the final days of a coalition capability demonstration designed to increase combat effectiveness and interoperability while minimizing the risk of fratricide.

Bold Quest 13-1, which officially kicked off June 10 and concludes tomorrow, includes more than 1,300 participants from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, as well as Germany, France, Italy and Norway, John Miller, joint operational manager for the exercise, told reporters today. In addition, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom have sent observers.
About half of the participants are at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Miller explained during a teleconference from the exercise hub. Another roughly 700 service members are participating from bases along the U.S. East Coast and as far west as Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.
Bold Quest 13-1 is the 11th in the Bold Quest series, created in 2003 to provide realistic conditions for the services and international partners to test their combat identification systems and the techniques and procedures they use to engage them, Miller explained.

“That is really the essence of the whole effort: to create this complex operational environment that requires more than any one individual [entity] could do on their own,” he said.

During 10 days of exercises and data collection, participants are putting to the test not only their different technologies, but also their tactics, techniques and procedures to ensure they’re interoperable.

The premise, Miller explained, is that coalition members that operate together need to develop and test their capabilities together before they employ them in combat.

“Our assumption is that the user is going to use these systems in a coalition fight, which involves the U.S. services and [coalition] nations,” he said, “so demonstrating that interoperability is key.”

During Bold Quest, every service and participating nation brings its own technologies and objectives to the exercise. Bold Quest 13-1, for example, represents the first time the United States is using the demonstration to assess how new “identification friend or foe,” or IFF, systems developed independently by the services work in a joint and combined environment.

Historically, Bold Quest has focused on ground-to-ground and air-to-ground initiatives, Miller said.
“The initiative brought to Bold Quest reflected current operations,” he said, particularly real-world requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bold Quest 13-1 represents a new step in the exercise’s 10-year evolution. Focused for the first time on the air-to-air and surface-to-air combat domains, it is helping to address gaps that could impact future operations, Miller said.

Eighteen months in the planning, Bold Quest 13-1 is the most ambitious every conducted. “There has been no event in our series history more complex than this one,” Miller said.

That’s largely because the entire exercise is live. With no virtual or simulation play, it is relying on ground assets, aircraft and, for the first time, two Navy ships to gather and share combat identification information. U.S Fleet Forces, recognizing the importance of the takeaways, is contributing USS Jason Dunham, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and USS San Jacinto, a Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser, to the exercise, Miller said.

After 10 days of intensive flights and data-collection efforts to conclude tomorrow, evaluators will provided a detailed quantitative assessment.

The results could have an immediate impact on warfighters. For example, a new combat identification server demonstrated during Bold Quest 11 proved so effective that it was deployed to Afghanistan within months of the demonstration. The system collects and maintains the locations of U.S. and coalition forces in a single server that aircrews can access as they provide close-air support.

With the benefits of Bold Quest 13-1 yet to be fully determined, Miller said, the demonstration has had a tremendous training benefit for the participants.

“Bold Quest is not designed as a training exercise,” he emphasized. “But because we set the conditions to be as operationally representative as we can, there is a natural opportunity [for participants] to actually train to do the things they would normally do in their warfighting mission.” It’s an opportunity, he noted, that many have not had in some time because of pressing operational demands and, more recently, budgetary constraints.

The pace of Bold Quest demonstrations is picking up, with the next one slated for September at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in Indiana. Two more demonstrations are scheduled for the early months of fiscal year 2014.

Miller said enthusiasm for the exercise, particularly during a period of tough budget choices, reflects the effectiveness of Bold Quest in proving out technologies that will directly warfighting operations.
“This is about as good as it gets when you have participants here, working together as well as they are, committed to doing what they are doing and overcoming all the challenges,” he said.

CMSAF visits Shaw, conveys top priorities to Airmen

by Airman 1st Class Krystal M. Jeffers
20th Fighter Wing

6/19/2013 - SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody visited the men and women of 9th Air Force, Air Forces Central, the 20th Fighter Wing and tenant units of Team Shaw to get an update on the mission and dynamics of each unit while conveying his top priorities here June 17.

While at Shaw, Cody held an Airmen's call where more than 2,500 men and women from an array of units here were able to hear him discuss his main focus areas. Cody made the Airmen's call interactive by opening the floor to those in attendance, giving attendees the opportunity to ask questions.

Cody discussed his key focus areas : the deliberate development of Airmen; caring for Airmen and their families; and balancing Airmen's time. The CMSAF also made a point of speaking about sexual assault within the military.

"First and foremost we have to accept the fact that we have a problem," said Cody. "It is sometimes hard for people to do that because, if you haven't been personally touched by it, it is very easy to sit back and say we don't really have this problem. The fact is that we do have this problem and it is a big problem. It is impacting our Air Force, the Airmen and their families. We all have to accept the fact that we have a problem and we are all part of the solution. Those people who don't accept that fact are part of the problem."

"We have to fundamentally look at each other in different ways than we have been," he added. "The foundation for that is how we treat each other - that is with dignity and respect. We have an environment of trust - all of us: peer-to-peer, the reporting chain, and the chain of command. That takes a lot of work and that is what we are committed on doing."

Some of the other topics discussed included the proposed nominative selection process for recruiters, military training instructors, first sergeants, and other special duties that have broad impact on the creation, development and care of Airmen, and the future of the abdominal circumference measurement component of the Air Force's physical fitness assessment. Many Airmen were interested in the latter.

"I was really excited about the whole event," said Senior Airman Federico Devera, Air Forces Central knowledge operations manager. "It was very informative. He addressed some big Air Force topics and issues really important to us."

Cody started the discussion with a fact: The vast majority of people who fail the fitness assessment fail not because of the run, push-ups or AC, but sit-ups.

"Over the last three years we have administered the test more than a million times," said Cody. "Obviously, some of those people failed and had to re-test. Out of all the tests, 348 people passed every other component but failed AC. Of the 348, only 76 have been separated because they have been unable to subsequently pass the AC. There are a lot of people have done some pretty extreme things to get their waist measurement within standards who are not represented in the numbers."

"You have to understand that if we walk away from the AC we would have to go back to the BMI standards." Cody continued. "Department of Defense policy requires all services to do BMI. The Air Force has the only exception to that policy because we use the AC. We are going to do either AC or BMI. We may adjust the standards. We may add a provision where if someone passes all the components but fails the AC then we might go back and look at their BMI to see if they pass it and meet DOD standards. We will probably make a decision in the next couple of weeks."

In addition to holding an enlisted call for members of the 20th Fighter Wing, Cody also had lunch with members of Team Shaw and visited 9th Air Force, 28th Operations Weather Squadron and 20th Fighter Wing Airmen at their work centers. He also visited men and women at Airmen Leadership School.

"I thought it was very neat," said Staff Sgt. Michael Carney, 28th OWS weather forecaster. "He came over to the 28th OWS where we work because a lot of us wouldn't be able to leave (for the Airmen's call). You could tell that he cares about everybody. He took the time to shake everyone's hand and let them know that he actually cares about the people in his Air Force. To me, that meant a lot."

While Cody discussed his key focus areas, he also took time to recognize some of Team Shaw's top performing enlisted members. The chief visited with the Airmen and presented them with his CMSAF coin for their superior performance.

"It was definitely an honor to be coined by the CMSAF," said Airman 1st Class Nicole Sikorski, 20th Fighter Wing public affairs. "It feels good to be recognized at that level and to know that the hard work at the Airmen's (E-1 through E-4) level plays a key role in the Air Force's mission."

As Cody travels to different units speaking to Airmen and recognizing their hard work, he encourages questions which he answers as fully as possible.

"The men and women of Team Shaw received a great perspective from Chief Cody on what he termed 'family business,'" said Chief Master Sgt. James Davis, 9th Air Force command chief. "He discussed having an effective work-life balance, the effects of sequestration, deliberate development, and he placed emphasis on the most important topic of the day, sexual assault against fellow Airmen. There were many other topics discussed as he was candid and transparent on the future of our Air Force. Our Airmen appreciated him allowing them to express their perspective of how they see the Air Force from where they sit and stand on a daily basis."

"Overall the visit was very successful, because we needed to hear what our senior leaders are thinking and ask questions about issues that we don't understand; we were able to do that," Davis concluded.

Hagel: Stratcom Will Continue Key Defense Role

By Nick Simeone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – A day after President Barack Obama proposed deeper cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told service members at U.S. Strategic Command that nuclear deterrence has kept the peace for nearly 70 years and that Stratcom will continue to play an important role in national security policy.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel walks with Air Force Gen. C. Robert "Bob" Kehler, second from right, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, the command's deputy commander, and Army Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Z. Alston, the command's senior enlisted leader, on Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., June 20, 2013. Hagel met with senior leaders, received command briefings, and visited with troops and civilians to thank them for their service. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

“This institution is at the center of that responsibility,” Hagel told Stratcom employees after being introduced at its headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., by Stratcom Commander Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler. “Nuclear deterrence has kept world peace since World War II.”

U.S. Strategic Command and its elements are charged with overseeing the nation’s strategic nuclear deterrence as well as responding to space-based challenges and cyber threats. But even amid the “different times and new threats” facing the nation, Hagel said, Stratcom will continue to remain central to America’s defense. “Strategic Command probably has as much responsibility for those changes as far as threats, cyber, weapons of mass destruction, space, all elements that are literally part of this universe,” he noted.
The president called on Russia yesterday to negotiate new cuts in both countries’ deployed strategic nuclear weapons, beyond those agreed to in the 2010 New START Treaty.

“I note the president’s speech on our nuclear posture,” Hagel said at Stratcom today, “because it brings home in a very real way your assignment and responsibilities. Stratcom will remain a foundational piece of our national security for a long time.”

Yesterday, in remarks that followed the president’s, Hagel told an audience at the University of Nebraska the proposed cuts would still allow the United States to deter aggression as well as maintain the nation’s longstanding triad of nuclear-armed bombers, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-armed submarines.

Pittsburgh 8-day inspection a unit record

by Capt. Shawn M. Walleck
911th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

6/19/2013 - PITTSBURGH IAP ARS -- The 911th Maintenance Group here set a new record and personal best with an eight-day fly to fly, May 31 to June 7, 2013.

The C-130 left the hangar June 7 and was flown on a local mission and returned with zero discrepancies.

According to Tech. Sgt. Michael Wolfe, 911th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, it is all about the preparation that goes into the process before the aircraft enters the hangar.

"Scheduling, coordinating and lining up all the jobs are key components to the process, says Wolfe. "There's also a lot of hard work and late nights for these guys, but turning an aircraft around in only eight days make it all worthwhile. Our best to this point was 10 days," he said.

"Our goal here is to consistently get an aircraft through the ISO process within seven to 10 days, and then back in the air with zero discrepancies," said Wolfe.

50 SCS, Schriever celebrates Airman's life

by Staff Sgt. Julius Delos Reyes
50th Space Wing Public Affairs

6/19/2013 - SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- A video montage was shown two minutes before the ceremony began.  Photos of a man during Basic Military Training, at a family member's wedding, in a foreign country and more. Some showed him with his mother, his father, his sisters and many with his friends and co-workers.  Then a slide with just the inscription, "10 Dec. 1975 - 3 June 2013".

The main fitness center gymnasium was almost full. Men and women wearing service dress and others in airman battle uniforms gathered to recognize one of Schriever's own. Co-workers, friends and strangers attended the event. Regardless of their familiarity, everyone seemed to be struggling; losing someone is tough.

The ceremony began June 14. It was a memorial service for Tech. Sgt. Edward Weber, an American Airman, a leader, a friend, a coworker, a brother and a son. Weber died in a motorcycle crash June 3 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"The day before the accident, I ran into Sergeant Weber three times," said Lt. Col. Lynn Plunkett, 50 SCS commander, during the service. "I said jokingly, 'Sergeant Weber, are you stalking me?' He said, 'No, ma'am, I am just out and about all the time.'"

Plunkett continued and talked about Weber's leadership style and work ethic as well as his love for the Air Force.

"Sergeant Weber was a model Airman," she said. "You heard a lot of stories about him today, his accolades, his leadership style, how he mentored his Airmen and his technical expertise. He lived by the Air Force core values."

Weber was the guy who made it happen, Plunkett said.

"He wasn't just the guy who made sure he got face time," she narrated. "He was the guy who just wanted to take care of his folks and get the mission done."

Plunkett also recounted the day of the accident and of learning that one of her worst nightmares as a commander had come true.

"For all commanders, they never want to lose an Airman," she said. "I am also an Airman, I am a friend, I am a supervisor, I am a subordinate, I am a mother and I am a sister. I feel for each of you today."

During the ceremony, friends and coworkers relayed stories about their experiences with Weber as well as his professionalism and how he was when he was out of uniform.

"The biggest things I valued [of Sergeant Weber] were the small things," said Staff Sgt. Nicholas Riascos, 50 SCS. "We would just crack jokes and bond with each other, making the time pass and making everybody laugh. He always had a great attitude. His selflessness to the mission and his attitude were contagious."

Staff Sgt. James Baker, 50 SCS, recounted Weber's love for riding and how they rode even during the cold weather.

"Through all the steak, beer, bikes, sports and ammo, Ed was one of the most genuine people I've known and the first person I would ride anywhere in this world with," Baker said. "Riding is a way of life and my life will never be the same. But those who knew Ed know he would tell you to keep on riding for him and never ride a motorcycle with a backrest. Rest in peace, buddy."

Master Sgt. Kevin Sargent, 50th Space Wing, said people generally thought of Weber as quiet and reserved.

"Behind this exterior was an individual with great talent and passion," Sargent said. "[Weber] was an avid motorcycle rider, incredibly intelligent, athletic, and caring and so many other things. He was also very close to his family, friends and coworkers. A lot of people care about him."

Throughout the ordeal, Plunkett found a higher respect for the men and women of the 50 SCS.

"To Sergeant Weber's family, thank you for being here, thank you for your son, thank you for his service, for making us part of your family for the past [few] weeks," Plunkett said. "To the men and women of 50 SCS, thank you for the Airmen that you are and for what you do every day for our mission and each other...Keep it up. We got this and we will make it through this and be stronger for it."

The people began to disperse from the gym as the montage of Weber's photos played one last time. Then the bugler played the last note of the taps, signifying the end of the ceremony.

Just like his life, the montage can't be extended with future photos of Weber anymore. His smiles can't be seen, his laughter and voice can't be heard and new memories with him can't be made; he can now only be remembered.

New senior leadership takes charge of 33rd Fighter Wing

by Chrissy Cuttita
Team Eglin Public Affairs

6/20/2013 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Another career fighter pilot took the helm of the 33rd Fighter Wing June 14 in an official ceremony attended by Team Eglin, their family and community.

Col. Todd Canterbury formally accepted the role when he received the wing guidon from Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas. Col. Andrew Toth served as the 33rd FW commander from March 31, 2011 until he passed the colors to Canterbury at the ceremony.

The new leader of the F-35 Lightning II Integrated Training Center has held assignments as an Air Force Weapons School Instructor, Air Force Thunderbird demonstration pilot, director of operations, fighter squadron commander, and vice wing commander. Canterbury is a command pilot with more than 3,900 hours in the F-35A, F-15E, F-16 and MC-12W aircraft, including 650 combat hours. Prior to arriving here, he served as the as executive officer for the Deputy Commander United States Forces Korea, United Nations Command, Seoul, South Korea.

"It's very exciting to join the F-35 team and continue the success here," Canterbury said during the ceremony. "I can think of no better place to be than right here at the forefront of the F-35 training program developing our next generation of F-35 pilots and maintainers."

Toth remembered fondly how far the wing "Nomads" and the F-35 Integrated Training Center team have come since he arrived just a few months before they their first joint strike fighter was delivered in the summer 2011. The 2012 "year of execution" began with standing up the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-501 and Air Force flying operations. It ended with an AETC "ready to train" which allowed the wing to begin its first official F-35 pilot courses in 2013.

"Your steady, constant performance will get the system where it needs to be," he said addressing the wing's three groups one last time. "The strategic impact of the maintenance group to get jets flying cannot be measured. As unsung heroes, the Academic Training center understood the focus on the aircraft but plowed forward to get simulators and learning systems ready before 700 students showed up last year."

Leadership acknowledged the skill, determination and talent brought to the F-35 program from the wing. Their work in meeting daily challenges has visibility in the defense, political and international circle.

"Under the wing's outstanding leadership, the men and women here executed their responsibilities in today's highly dynamic environment and helped shape the future so our military and nation remain strong today and tomorrow," said Rice. "Skillfully training 50 pilots and 722 maintainers from three branches of service and our international partners is a significant accomplishment."

While Canterbury serves as commander, the wing will go from a phase of standing up the Department of Defense's home for F-35 training to becoming operationally ready for the combat air forces.

"The path that you set right now will be walked by future generations of Airmen, Sailors, Marines and coalition partners around the globe," said the new wing commander. "Now is our time to perfect our tradecraft as professional warriors and instructors....you are setting the foundation for the next 50 years of F-35 operations."

Approximately 1,900 members from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Lockheed Martin Corp., Pratt and Whitney, other contractors and international partners make up the team behind the training wing for the three F-35 variants, organized under Air Education and Training Command.

Nomads not only said their farewells to Colonel Toth, but later that afternoon celebrated their vice commander's retirement. Marine Col. Art Tomassetti, a 15-year veteran of the F-35 program, has been at Eglin since the wing stood up under AETC in 2009. His replacement, Navy Capt. Paul Haas, arrives just in time to see the Navy squadron he once commanded receive their first carrier variants of the joint strike fighter.

Hagel: Opening Combat Jobs to Women the Right Thing to Do

By Nick Simeone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – Opening more jobs in the military to women -- in particular lifting the combat exclusion -- is the right thing to do, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today as he brushed aside any notion that the armed forces would have to lower standards to do so. Hagel’s comments came during a visit with troops at U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., in response to a question about whether the policy change could affect mission success. On Tuesday, senior defense and military officials unveiled the services’ respective plans for lifting the combat exclusion for women. “I think everyone understands it’s the right thing,” he said. “It’s not a matter of lowering standards to assist women to get into combat positions.” Hagel added that part of the process will be finding “the right balance of implementation.” The plan to remove gender-based standards was announced by former Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta in January. The branches have a deadline of January 2016 to follow through – including ending the ban on women serving in the Navy SEALs and the Army Rangers -- with any exceptions requiring the approval of the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs chairman. “Why shouldn’t [women] have the same opportunities as men?” Hagel responded to his questioner. Hagel also said increases in cases of sexual assault in the military are a “scourge and a very, very dark mark on all of the success of this institution.” He said “there is no higher priority” he has as defense chief “than to make everybody accountable all the time, up and down the line.”

731st AMS continues peninsula-wide logistics success

by Senior Airman Christopher Mitcham
731st Air Mobility Squadron

6/20/2013 - OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- As winter was winding down in the "Land of the Morning Calm", Airmen from the 731st Air Mobility Squadron stationed at Osan prepared to transition air freight operations to Kunsan Air Base for a projected two-month partial runway closure.

A team of close to 20 aerial porters received their first scheduled 747B cargo aircraft April 29 at Kunsan.

The 731st AMS proved to be masters of logistics operations, ultimately handling 22 cargo aircraft and proving the capability to operate from any location on the Korean peninsula.

The support of the 8th Fighter Wing leadership, transient alert and Air Mobility Command-contracted air terminal and ground handling services personnel, helped make partial runway closure operations successful. The team used a mixture of war reserve material along with their assets to accomplish their mission at the alternate location. Over the course of 30 days, they moved 894 tons of in-transit and terminating cargo through Kunsan including 83 tons of sensitive and hazardous cargo.

Additionally, the team assisted mortuary affairs by providing dignified transfer with distinction and honor. Although it was a very sad moment on the flightline, these Airmen realized the magnitude and scope of their mission as transporters to serve in this capacity. Construction at Osan progressed ahead of schedule, and so the 731st AMS was able to transition operations back a month early.

"I enjoyed the workload and camaraderie among Airman and Korean Nationals," said Yi Sang Pok, 731st AMS load planner. "You could feel that there was a close bond across the team and I think that it's what got us over each obstacle."

Throughout the month there was little slowing down this team as they continually strived for excellence. Always working safely, despite difficulties, the team downloaded and uploaded cargo to maintain the 731st AMS's outstanding 98 percent on-time aircraft departure reliability rate.

"Even when times were tough, we found a way to stay resilient and accomplish the mission at hand," said Airman 1st Class Roberto Rodriguez, 731st AMS aircraft services technician.

Throughout all the chaos and movement, the 731st AMS continued to innovate and save the Air Force money and protect resources, even in a different location. The typical thin plastic cargo pallet cover costs $6 per piece and is used to shelter household goods from inclement weather and insects as service members move to new assignments. By experimenting with prototype cargo pallet covers, 731st AMS Airmen in the runway closure mission alone managed to save the Air Force scarce funds by replacing pallet covers on 114 pallets containing household goods and more importantly, avert damage from the elements due to a lack of covered storage.

"Tracking, applying and moving the prototypes was challenging, but you could tell it was helpful for the environment when we saw the amount of plastic it saved," said Senior Airman David Webster, 731st AMS aircraft services technician.

The 731st AMS showed it's no challenge to move logistic operations at a moment's notice to any location on the peninsula. For these Port Dawgs, runway closures and other difficulties will not interfere with mission success, as they continue to lead the way for all of the Pacific Air Force.

Wounded Warrior Becomes Military Doctor

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
FORT BELVIOR, Va., June 19, 2013 – Ten years ago, Army Capt. Christian Labra’s spirit was as broken as his body.

Ten years after being wounded in Iraq, Army Capt. (Dr.) Christian Labra has completed medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is about to graduate from a three-year residency at the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. Now he is preparing for his first assignment as a board-certified family physician in Germany. DOD photo by Donna Miles   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

A U.S. Military Academy graduate deployed to Iraq just a few months after the initial invasion, he was pumped up about the importance of the mission and the close camaraderie he felt with his fellow 1st Armored Division soldiers.

All that came crumbling down on him -- literally -- during a night patrol outside Baghdad in late 2003. Labra and another soldier, searching out the source of mortar attacks that had been pummeling U.S. forces, approached a cinder block wall that blocked a known weapons cache.

They pulled a pipe that extended from the wall, suspecting that the insurgents used it to scale the wall and get to the trove. The wall immediately collapsed, breaking both Labra’s legs and his pelvis. He got a personal introduction to battlefield medicine and wounded warrior care as he was whisked from Baghdad to Kuwait and ultimately, to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Looking back to the ordeal, Labra said he was struck by the skill and compassion he encountered from the moment of his injury. He remembered the combat medic who rushed to care for him at the scene. The Humvee driver who did everything within his power, albeit it unsuccessfully, to avoid bumps in the Baghdad streets while hurrying Labra to the combat support hospital. The medic who handed him a satellite phone when he woke up in the middle of the night, one leg now encased in a metal contraption, and urged him to call his worried parents to let them know he was OK.

That was just the beginning of Labra’s exposure to military medicine. He praised the professionalism of medevac crews who braved enemy rockets to ferry him to Baghdad International Airport, then on to Kuwait and Germany. The labor and delivery nurse who stayed beyond her shift when he arrived at Landstuhl to wash his body and give him the first shave he’d had in days. The hospital roommate who, despite his own excruciating injuries, hobbled to Labra’s bedside to comfort him during a particularly fitful nightmare.
“There was so much compassion, so much caring,” he said. “It was just a perfect storm of good care.”
And perhaps most influential of all, Labra remembers the orthopedic doctor, Army Maj. John Friedland. Also a West Point graduate, Friedland treated Labra’s broken bones and helped him realize that he could turn the worst experience of his life into something positive.

“He was exactly the guy I needed at that time in my life,” Labra said.

Labra arrived at Landstuhl feeling like the bottom had fallen out of his world. “One day I was walking through Baghdad. I was in charge of 35 to 40 guys, and I took that very seriously. And the next day I was the guy who was leaving early, before all of them, on a plane to Landstuhl,” he said. “I felt bad for myself. I was depressed. I felt like a failure.” While he struggled to shake the self-loathing, Labra watched the hospital staff tend to a steady stream of combat-wounded troops.

Because his unit was based in Germany at the time, Labra was among the rare patients not quickly transported on to the United States. He became a familiar face at Landstuhl, and the staff took pleasure in getting to see his slow but steady progress.

While coming to terms with his unexpected turn of events, Labra said he found inspiration in his caregivers.
He’d always planned to one day go to law school, then join the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. But seeing the life-changing care military medical practitioners provide every day, Labra found himself considering a career in medicine.

“I know how thankful I felt toward them, and saw how rewarding it had to be, and I know it had to be a good job,” he said.

Friedland encouraged Labra, inviting him along as he treated the flurry of patients that arrived with wounds from the Fallujah offensive in Iraq. The rest of the Landstuhl staff, recognizing Labra and excited about his new interest in medicine, stoked his ambitions by sharing their own experiences.

“They all wanted to show me how great it was to be doing what they were doing,” he said. “That experience really cemented for me that this was what I wanted to do.”

In many ways, Labra called his decision to go to medical school the key to his own emotional healing. “I had this hole I needed to fill,” he said. “And I realized that by going into medicine, I could take my own experience and make this bad thing that had happened good.”

Labra, who moved on to an assignment as operations officer for a recruiting battalion in Albany, N.Y., started taking night courses to get the prerequisites needed for medical school. Difficult as it was to juggle both, it got him what he wanted: acceptance into the same medical school Friedland had attended, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

The university, on the grounds of Walter Reed National Military Center in Bethesda, Md., is the only school of its kind dedicated to educating military doctors, graduate nurses and other specialized health-care professionals. This past spring, U.S. News & World Report identified the university’s F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine as a top-tier medical school in its “Best Graduate Schools 2014” rankings.

Labra said he chose USU because he knew from the start that he wanted to be a military doctor. His dream, he said, was to become as skillful and compassionate a doctor as Friedland had been to him. “I wanted to emulate this guy I look up to so much,” he said. “I was very indebted to my doctor, and I felt that I didn’t want to squander all this experience that I had gained.”

After four years of medical school, from 2006 to 2010, Labra chose to specialize in family medicine. It’s a field he said will give him an opportunity to build relationships with his patients and to become their ally in addressing their medical needs.

Next week, Labra will complete his three-year residency at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital here. As he reports to his first assignment as a board-certified family physician at Kleber Kaserne in Germany, he recognizes that he has come full circle, from patient to caregiver.

“When I think back on everything, how could I not have gone into medicine?” he said. “From the moment I got hurt, everyone who took such wonderful care of me and motivated me to defy the odds, making this all seem like a foregone conclusion.”

Labra said his only hope is that he can live up their example as he helps patients confront through their own medical challenges.

“I am where I am because people took really, really good care of me, and I am so incredibly grateful,” he said. “Now, as a doctor, I want to be the kind of ally who can lead someone through the dark. To be able to do that is really powerful. It is awesome when it works.”

350 ARS helps raise the roof, provides a home

by Staff Sgt. Jess Lockoski
22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

6/18/2013 - MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan.  -- While some may argue having a house doesn't essentially mean having a home, active duty Airmen are provided roofs over their heads through their military Basic Allowance for Housing, satisfying the basic necessity.

A group of McConnell Airmen from the 350th Air Refueling Squadron recently "paid it forward" by helping construct a house and a home for a deserving family during a Wichita, Kan., Habitat for Humanity project.

"About 15 Airmen from the squadron participated in the build," said Staff Sgt. Justin Walsh, 350th ARS boom operator. "We started the project about the middle of May when the framing was pretty much up. We put the siding up, and from there, we put basically the roof on."

The Airmen attended the home dedication with other community volunteers, June 17, to see the finished project and watch a single mother of two children receive the keys to her new home.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit Christian housing ministry that works in partnership with low-income families to improve their living conditions, where selected families pay closing costs and monthly payments on a no interest, no profit mortgage. Families also work with volunteers to build their Habitat homes.

"Having the Airmen volunteer helps lower the cost of the homes for the families," said Marci Hawks, Wichita Habitat for Humanity development director. "Volunteer labor is equal to around $20,000 in saved paid labor costs per house. It's also encouraging for our organization and the families to have the support of our local Airmen and know they are committed to giving back to the community they are stationed in."

Wichita hasn't been the only location Walsh has built a house in. He first started volunteering for Habitat while stationed at Dyess AFB, Texas.

"I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment being able to help because this isn't a mandatory function," said Walsh, a prior aircraft engine maintainer, who likes to work with his hands and enjoyed the construction work. "(The squadron) rarely leaves people hanging. We said, 'Let's take a shot at it,' and we had a really good turnout."

McConnell Airmen have been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in large groups since 2009. Hawks said in addition to building houses, they have also worked on special events and have helped the organization relocate.

On average, it takes roughly 20 days of volunteering and hundreds of volunteers to build each house - a house that undoubtedly becomes a true home for most.

"Most tell us it means stability for their family," Hawks said, "which is something they haven't experienced ... also a real sense of home and a feeling that they have accomplished something they never thought they would - owning their own home."

Helping give people that gift is something the Airmen foresee with future construction opportunities.

"I absolutely would do this again in the future," said Walsh. "The community welcomes us with open arms everywhere here, and it's been real nice to be able to help out."

Program fights mosquitoes, trains Airmen

by Maj. Dave Wilson
Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs

6/19/2013 - ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFNS)  -- Air Force Reserve Command is expanding its Innovative Readiness Training, or IRT, program this summer to help communities control mosquitoes.

C-130 Hercules aircrews will spray Williston and Minot in North Dakota June 30-July 3, and York County and the City of Poquoson in Virginia July 22-26. These communities are prone to high mosquito populations due to standing water, flooding and high precipitation.

In addition to drastically decreasing the number of irritations and infections, and the threat of West Nile Virus due to mosquito bites, these IRT missions will provide essential real-world training to aircrews, pest management personnel and maintenance members that they would not have otherwise received.

"From an aircrew perspective, this type of training is necessary for the safe, efficient performance of our assigned duties," said Maj. W. Travis Adams, an aerial spray instructor pilot.

Adams and his fellow citizen Airmen from the 910th Airlift Wing, Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, perform the Department of Defense's only full-time, fixed-wing aerial spray mission.

They typically conduct a variety of aerial spray missions over military installations, and for federal agencies using four specially modified aircraft equipped with Modular Aerial Spray Systems, or MASS. The MASS equipment sprays insecticides that target biting insects such as mosquitoes, biting midges and filth flies.

The IRT program provides a clear line of authority for the 910th AW to apply aerial spray on non-federal property without the requirement of a host federal entity. That means citizen Airmen can provide aerial spray over much larger urban areas, and receive essential training they don't get from regular operations.

According to Maj. Kerya Reyes, the chief of the IRT program at Headquarters AFRC, the command has used IRT missions successfully in other career fields, including civil engineering and medical squadrons. Citizen Airmen benefit from the training received while building dams, bridges and other community-use structures or working immunization lines and other medical treatments in off-base clinics at little, to no cost to the communities.

Reyes said IRT aerial-spray missions produce highly-qualified military personnel capable of evaluating medical insect-borne threats to troop and public health, as well as establish an appropriately implemented plan to break the cycle of disease transmission, which can result in an epidemic.

Each IRT aerial spray mission trains about 16 to18 reservists. These Airmen can step up to support combatant commander needs, or requests for support from other federal agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Defense Support of Civil Affairs.

The AFRC and the communities it supports mutually benefit from IRT missions. Communities pay for the insecticide, and the command uses training funds to pay for the rest of the costs. The Air Force already designates specific funds for fuel, maintenance and other travel costs for training.

The command took ownership of the aerial spray mission in 1973, but the U.S. military has been flying the mission since 1947.

The 910th AW started flying the aerial spray mission in 1992. Aerial spray teams also use the systems to control vegetation growth on military bombing ranges, and to help disperse oil spills. Since 2005, the wing has responded to three major natural disasters, including post hurricane applications for Katrina and Gustav, and an oil dispersant operation after Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.

New Standing Headquarters Focuses on WMD Elimination

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2013 – It’s a nightmare scenario: an adversary has assembled a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction with plans to inflict devastation on the United States, its allies and friends, and the world.

A standing headquarters element established in February 2012 and expected to reach full operational capability within the coming year is part of a coordinated U.S. military effort to identify, counter and secure -- and, when necessary, to eliminate -- WMD threats.

The Standing Joint Force Headquarters for Elimination was stood up to provide geographic combatant commanders the planning, intelligence and operational capability required in the event that they need to eliminate a foreign nation’s WMDs and WMD programs, Army Maj. Gen. Lucas N. Polakowski, the organization’s commander, told American Forces Press Service.

The headquarters works in support of the president’s National Security Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of hostile states and terrorists, he explained. Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, calls this the No. 1 threat to U.S. national security.
Kehler established the headquarters to provide expert planning, intelligence and operational capability for combating and eliminating WMDs. The goal, he said when announcing the stand-up, is to provide a full-time, trained joint command-and-control element able to integrate into forward headquarters to help manage the elimination mission.

Leveraging the capabilities of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Stratcom’s Center for Combatting Weapons of Mass Destruction, for which Polakowski serves as deputy director, the SJFHQ-E would deploy to augment a combatant commander’s staff in conducting the mission, Polakowski said.

“It is such a specialized area, so [the combatant commands] don’t have the complete depth of [chemical, biological and radiological] and counter-WMD expertise that we have resident in these three organizations,” he said. “These three entities, under the headquarters mantle, would provide that resource and expertise to the combatant commands and any command underneath them.”

Experts assigned to the SJFHQ-E would provide capabilities needed to command and control operations that involve going into a foreign nation to locate, characterize, secure, and disable or dispose of hostile WMDs and WMD programs so they no longer pose a threat, Polakowski said.

Typically, such missions would be conducted in close coordination with allies and partners, he said.
Having a permanent headquarters trained and ready to act, if needed, improves the Defense Department’s ability to plan, train for and execute highly complex WMD elimination operations, Polakowski said.
“This is another tool in our toolkit, so that if the requirement arises, we as a nation are ready,” he said. “We want to have a deliberative and in-place capability that we have trained upon and are ready to execute if our nation calls on us to do it.”

To prepare for such a mission, the SJFHQ-E works closely with the combatant commands, conducting crisis planning and testing response procedures during major exercises.

“We train and prepare in peace in order to be ready when and if the nation needs to call upon this capability,” Polakowski said.

The SJFHQ-E reached initial operating capability in September 2012, after reaching major milestones during the Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2012 exercise in South Korea.

Polakowski, who assumed command in March, said he hopes to increase the level of support the SJFHQ-E provides to the combatant commands as he continues to build his staff. By design, SJFHQ-E will be a relatively small element that he said probably will top out at fewer than 100 members.

But capabilities -- rather than numbers -- are Polakowski’s priority. He hopes to achieve full operational capability within the next year, which means the SJFHQ-E will have the breadth of capabilities it needs to take on more -- and more demanding -- missions.

The best use of the SJFHQ-E’s capabilities, he said, will be if they are never needed to respond to a real-world crisis.

Ensuring a robust ability to conduct the WMD elimination mission, the standing joint force headquarters and its partner organizations send an important message to potential adversaries who have WMD programs or are working to develop them, he said.

“It puts them on notice,” he said, letting them know that “we, as a standing joint force headquarters, are prepared in case of the need to go in, locate, secure and help with the elimination of a potential foreign adversary’s program.”

“This should serve as a deterrent to those trying to establish their own WMD programs,” he said. “And if they already have one, it should dissuade them from continuing to maintain it.”

Bones turn and burn during surge operation

by Senior Airman Jonathan Stefanko
7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

6/17/2013 - DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The 9th Bomb Squadron tested the capabilities of their aircrew and maintainers during a four-day surge operation June 10-13, launching a total of 58 sorties and setting the stage for future operations.

The training mission allowed aircrew members and maintainers to practice as if they were operating in a deployed environment, with the goal to launch as many sorties as possible within the shortest amount of time. To do this, hours of mission planning was accomplished beforehand, shrinking what would normally have taken two days to put a B-1 in the air into one.

"The typical process for a flyer would be to come in and plan for six hours, brief and then fly the next day," said Maj. Mike Taylor, 9th BS chief of weapons and tactics. "But to fly the amount of sorties we needed for the surge, the mission planning was done before we arrived, allowing us time to come in, get what we need and fly, all within about two hours."

Furthermore, due to the increase in flights, the B-1 Bomber required more maintenance than usual, according to the 7th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Airmen, who ensured more jets were in the air than on the ground.

"The B-1 can be very labor intensive at times, especially when we are short on man power, money and resources," said Master Sgt. George Campbell, 7th AMXS production expeditor. "But as a maintainer, we never want to turn down a challenge. When told we needed to launch almost double the amount of aircraft we normally do, we went straight to work and hit it head on."

To accomplish the mission successfully, maintainers had to incorporate hot pit refueling, a procedure that rapidly refuels an aircraft while the engines are running. By doing this, the longevity of the jet is increased, reducing the need to replace parts. Maintainers say this step is crucial for an aircraft that has been around since the 1980s. The procedure also allows the aircrew to keep valuable systems running, which decreases the time it normally takes to restart the systems and then re-launch the aircraft.


"I take a lot of pride in the aircraft I work on," said Senior Airman Antwan Henry, 7th AMXS crew chief. "There are numerous times I would come in early, stay late or even work through my lunch break because I believe in having my aircraft ready. Going through the surge gives us an opportunity to train all of our new Airmen, so they have a better understanding of the importance of what we do and how to accomplish it to the best of their ability in a timely manner."

Triple amputee gives words of wisdom during visit to Okinawa

by Airman 1st Class Malia Jenkins
18th Wing Public Affairs

6/18/2013 - KADENA AIR BASE, Japan  -- Bryan Anderson, a triple amputee and Purple Heart recipient, visited Okinawa June 12-19 to deliver his message of perseverance and determination to service members and their families across the island.

"His reach is much more beyond the military and wounded Soldiers," said Dick McLane, Anderson's manager. "There's a whole community of people with disabilities he supports and serves, especially the kids."

Anderson enlisted in the U.S. Army April 2001 and was a military policeman as a sergeant. He served two tours in Iraq and was injured October 23, 2005, due to an improvised explosive device.

As a result of the explosion, Anderson lost both his legs and his left hand. Although his life has changed, he still has a positive attitude on life, an energetic personality and is one of many examples of resiliency throughout the military.

"It's really all about your attitude and how you look at things and perseverance basically, adapt and overcome," Anderson said. "Just because something bad happens doesn't mean you have to have a (crappy) life."

Anderson said he's all about doing things for the first time. The two years in Iraq seemed like they flew by and those two years were new experiences and that's what he cherishes now; new experiences, he said.

"I don't see this as a bad thing or a tragedy. It's just another life experience that has taught me a lot about who I am, what I'm capable of and opened a lot of doors that might not necessarily (have) opened otherwise," Anderson said. "I have a great life and I'm very thankful for what I have, what I do and who I am."

Although he lost three limbs, he doesn't see his injury as being debilitating. Since he used to be a gymnast, he now sees the world as his personal jungle gym.

"People underestimate the power of having fun," Anderson added. "I think in life, (having fun) is important. Even being in a wheelchair, I think about it as skate boarding all the time."

Since his injury, Anderson has become the national spokesperson for Quantum Rehab, a division of Pride Mobility Corp., and USA Cares, which focuses on assisting post 9/11 veterans in times of need.

He also has had the opportunity to be featured in a Marvel Comic, be a murder suspect on Crime Scene Investigator's New York episode and has written a book, No Turning Back, about his experience of being in an explosion and his struggles with being an amputee.

He emphasizes taking advantage of opportunities as they present themselves and challenges everyone around him to do the same in spite of the challenges they face.

Before Anderson departed the base, he left the 18th Wing with one thing, to look at the world with a different eye and to see the positives in life.

"Life is what you make of it," Anderson said. "Don't do things for the last time, do them for the first time."