Face of Defense: New York Guard Troops to Help Track Santa

New York National Guard

ROME, N.Y., Dec. 23, 2013 – New York Air National Guardsmen from the Eastern Air Defense Sector here will play a key role tomorrow night as the North American Aerospace Defense Command tracks Santa Claus and his reindeer on their annual global Christmas Eve journey.

"NORAD has supported Santa Claus' Christmas Eve operations for more than 50 years and we are always delighted to help," said Air Force Col. Dawne Deskins, EADS commander. "I can assure everyone that EADS will do everything in its power to assist Santa with his critical mission."

EADS' Sector Operations Control Center here will monitor Santa constantly as he travels across the eastern U.S. delivering toys and gifts. These activities are in support of the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., which leads the Santa monitoring effort.

NORAD starts its Santa tracking operation at 7 a.m. EST on Dec. 24. Children and parents can call the NORAD operations floor at 1-877-446-6723 [Call: 1-877-446-6723] for live updates on Santa or track Santa on the Web at www.noradsanta.org. The operations floor can also be contacted via email at noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.

Santa Tracking information is also available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/NORADTracksSanta?feature=watch; on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/noradsanta and on Twitter https://twitter.com/NORAD_SantaC.

The Santa tracking tradition started in 1955 when a Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Sears Roebuck & Company advertisement encouraging local children to call Santa listed an incorrect phone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number went into to the Continental Air Defense Command's operations hotline. Col. Harry Shoup, the operations director, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given location updates and a tradition was born.

In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created the bi-national air defense command, North American Aerospace Defense Command, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.

The Eastern Air Defense Sector is headquartered at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. Staffed by active-duty New York Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces detachment, the unit supports NORAD's integrated warning and attack assessment missions and U.S. Northern Command's homeland defense mission.

EADS is responsible for air sovereignty and counter-air operations over the eastern United States and directs a variety of assets to defend 1 million square miles of land and sea.

Obama Mulls Steps to Protect U.S. Personnel in South Sudan

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2013 – President Barack Obama wrote to Congress today that he’s considering taking additional steps to protect U.S. citizens, personnel, and property in South Sudan.

Yesterday, three CV-22 Osprey aircraft were approaching the town of Bor, South Sudan, when they were fired on by small-arms fire by unknown forces, according to a U.S. Africa Command statement.

All three aircraft sustained damage during the engagement, the statement said, and four U.S. service members onboard the aircraft were wounded during the engagement.

The damaged aircraft diverted to Entebbe, Uganda, where the wounded were transferred onboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 and flown to Nairobi, Kenya, for medical treatment, the Africom statement said.

All four service members were treated and are in stable condition, according to the statement.

The president, who is in Hawaii for his annual vacation, was updated today on the situation in South Sudan, according to a White House official.

The aircraft and U.S. service members that were fired on yesterday in South Sudan were on a mission “to protect U.S. citizens, personnel and property,” Obama wrote in a letter dated today that was forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

“As I monitor the situation in South Sudan, I may take further action to support the security of U.S. citizens, personnel, and property, including our Embassy, in South Sudan,” the president added.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is keeping a close watch on the situation in South Sudan and is reviewing options, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Adm. John Kirby said yesterday in a statement.

Whatever action the Pentagon takes, it will be conducted in coordination with the U.S. State Department, Kirby added.

Obama, Hagel Mark Passing of John S.D. Eisenhower

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2013 – President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sent statements of condolences to the family of soldier, author and diplomat John S.D. Eisenhower who died Dec. 21 at age 91 in Trappe, Md.

Eisenhower was the son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie. Like his father, the younger Eisenhower graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

President Obama’s statement reads as follows:

“Michelle and I send our condolences to the Eisenhower family on the passing of John S.D. Eisenhower. He grew up the son of an American hero, but emerged a great American in his own right - a brave soldier who served in World War II, the Korean War, and ultimately retired with the rank of Brigadier General, an accomplished writer and historian, a talented diplomat. His was a big and quintessentially American life - one of patriotism and character, learning and teaching, and a deep and abiding sense of service to his country. Our thoughts and prayers are with John's wife, Joanne, his son, David, his daughters Barbara Anne, Susan, and Mary, and his grandchildren - along with our gratitude for his extraordinary life.”

Hagel’s statement reads as follows:

“Today Lilibet and I join the American people in mourning the passing of John Eisenhower, a true patriot whom I was fortunate to call my friend. The son of one of our nation's greatest leaders, John was an accomplished soldier, diplomat, and author. He was the longtime patriarch of an extraordinary family, and Lilibet and my thoughts, prayers and sympathies are with them today as they celebrate his rich legacy and his contributions to the nation he loved. He will be missed by all of us.”

As a major, Eisenhower saw combat during his 1952-53 service in Korea and received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Bronze Star.

Eisenhower departed the active-duty Army in 1963 and joined the Army Reserve, where he eventually attained the rank of brigadier general.

He became a historian and the author of several books on military history. Eisenhower received praise for his 1969 book, “The Bitter Woods,” a study of World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.

A list of his books can be found here: John S. D. Eisenhower

Fox Talks Readiness, Sexual Assault, Opportunity, ‘Top Gun’

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2013 – Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine H. Fox shared insights today into the upbringing that helped lead her to the Pentagon’s No. 2 post and said she’s using that same drive and determination to help the Defense Department tackle pressing issues ranging from sexual assault to fiscal challenges.

Fox, who become the highest-ranking female official in DOD history Dec. 5, never saw her gender as a barrier, she told National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin.

The only child of a nuclear engineer father, Fox said he encouraged her not to shy away from traditionally male pursuits -- such as majoring in mathematics at George Mason University in Virginia --- simply because she was a woman.

“‘You’re good at it, so you should,’” Fox said her father told her. “‘If you can do math, you can do anything.’”

“When I was starting out [in my career], I actually had that attitude,” Fox said. “I still have that attitude.”

Not everyone saw things the same way, especially early in her career. “Things were said and done … that would not be acceptable today,” she acknowledged. “But what I found is that if I was capable and I could make a contribution and I approached it as, ‘I want to help solve a problem and help you be better,’ very quickly, in my experience, the gender stuff just fell away.”

Fox went on to amass three decades of experience as an analyst and research manager focusing on defense issues, with a special emphasis on operations.

While serving at the Center for Naval Analyses in the mid-1980s, Fox gained a bit of unexpected notoriety when she served as the inspiration for Kelly McGillis’ character in the blockbuster “Top Gun” movie.

“The truth is, I had no choice in it, and I wasn’t thrilled. That was the truth,” Fox said of the movie’s portrayal of her as a sexy Top Gun pilot instructor and love interest to “Maverick,” a student played by Tom Cruise.

“The producers were looking for some way to cast a female role that both Kelly McGillis would accept and the admiral I worked for … would accept,” Fox explained. The producer threw out the idea of an aerobics instructor. Fox’s commander wouldn’t allow that character to be a naval officer. He recommended what he called “the perfect solution” for the female role, a civilian contractor serving as a Top Gun pilot instructor modeled after the tall, blonde and highly respected Fox.

Fox said she was able to provide some input into the character, spending a day with McGillis to explain her work and how she operated. Hollywood “really sensationalized the position,” she said, particularly the part about Cruise’s romance with McGillis -- “which was different, obviously, than what I was doing there.”

McGillis recognized how different the character she was playing was from the real Fox.

“I remember being called over to the set,” Fox said. “She stomped up to me and stuck her leg out, and she was wearing black seamed stockings for the initial scene,” when the “Charlie” character dramatically walks into a room full of Top Gun student pilots.

“I’ll bet you would never wear these to work here,” McGillis said, according to Fox.

Fox said she looked at McGillis and said, “You know what? Seamed stockings are not part of my daily attire. You are right.”

Fox said McGillis looked at the crew on the set and said, “See, I told you.” And the crew, Fox said, all said, “Too bad.”

In her far-more serious role today as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s deputy defense secretary, Fox has the real-life responsibility of advancing, among other issues, Hagel’s crackdown on sexual assault in the military.

The recently passed 2014 Defense Authorization Act includes provisions that require DOD to strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault, and President Barack Obama recently announced a year-long review of the progress made to eliminate sexual assault in the military.

“Sexual assault is obviously an egregious and complex problem,” Fox said, but emphasized DOD’s commitment to confronting it.

“I learned when I was first in the Pentagon working for Secretary [Robert M.] Gates that if you really want to tackle very, very tough things in this behemoth organization, it takes the secretary to take it on personally,” she said. “Secretary Hagel has done that with sexual assault. He owns this problem. He has required all kind of things of the force.

“The service chiefs are doing the same thing,” Fox continued. “They see it. They are concerned about it and they are owning the problem.”

The challenge for the service leadership, she said, is figuring out how to solve it within their services.

Fox said she regrets that she can’t simply rattle off a list of the top three things they should be doing but aren’t.

“I wish I could, because if I could, they would do them,” she said. “But I am confident that we are going to keep tackling it until we find those things and we do them.”

Budget reductions represent another big challenge Fox is focusing on in her new post. The reductions impact “all aspects of defense,” she said, and require every service branch to come up with the best way to maintain their readiness posture.

Fox used the analogy of a parent whose teenage son plans to set out for a long drive in the middle of the winter. After making sure the teenager knows how to drive, the next step in preparation is to tune up the car so it wouldn’t break down along the way.

“It is the same thing for flying planes or operating ships,” Fox said. “So ultimately, all the services need to find a level where they can keep that balance. And that is what we are trying to figure out right now.”

"676" Stratofortress static display stands proud

by Scott King
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

12/19/2013 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- There's a story behind everything, and it holds true to the B-52 Stratofortress static display in the Heritage Park near the entrance of the base.

The B-52, serial number 56-0676, is a D model and has a long and impressive history. It was delivered to the Air Force in August 1957, and its first assignment was at Fairchild. During its service career, "676" transferred to numerous Strategic Air Command bases and even returned to Fairchild in the late 1960's.

The 92nd Air Refueling Wing historian, Jim O'Connell, knows the importance and history of this aircraft.

"We are very fortunate to have such a historic aircraft in our Heritage Park," O'Connell said. "Since it was stationed here in the 92nd Bombardment Wing several times during its active duty career [including its first assignment], this is its home - Fairchild is where it belongs."

However, "676" was not assigned here during its most memorable flight. On Dec. 18, 1972, during Linebacker II operations over North Vietnam, "676" became the first B-52 to shoot down an enemy MiG aircraft. The tail gunner, Staff Sgt. Samuel O. Turner, fired his 50 caliber machine guns at a MiG-21 as it moved in to attack the B-52. Turner reported a "gigantic explosion to the rear of the aircraft" and was credited with being the first tail gunner to log a confirmed kill during combat in a B-52.

"I often say that '676' was the first B-52 to shoot down a MiG, but then I have to correct myself," O'Connell said. "The aircraft didn't actually shoot down the MiG; a U.S. Air Force noncommissioned officer shot down the MiG. Although we often focus on aircraft because they're big, fast and powerful, we have to remember that it was the Airmen who flew, maintained and supported those aircraft who have defined our outstanding airpower legacy. That being said, I am still proud to have '676' at Fairchild, because it carried so many Airmen into battle and returned them home safely - it was a great warrior."

The red star on the side of "676" identifies it as a MiG killer. There have been only two B-52 MiG kills in history, the other one occurring on Dec. 24, 1972, also during the Linebacker II campaign. The second B-52 MiG killer is on display at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

On Oct. 12, 1983, "676" departed its last active duty base, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to fly here to its final resting place. This was the Air Force's last B-52 D model flight. B-52 D serial number 56-0676 served our nation well.

AFRC commissions artist to document heroism

by Senior Master Sgt Minnie Jones
433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs

12/18/2013 - Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas -- Maj. Warren Neary, an Individual Mobilization Augmentee historian, was commissioned by the Air Force Reserve Command's History Office to paint scenes of Air Force Airman who were recognized during the 2013 Air Force Association's Air and Space Conference.

Neary, a civil-servant historian at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is also a member of the Air Force Art program.  "AFRC's History Office thought it would be interesting to have an Air Force artist, who is also a reservist, create the paintings of these great reserve Airmen and their stories," Neary said.

One of subjects of Neary's paintings will be Capt. Adriana Valadez, a reservist assigned to 433rd Aeromedical Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, who was acknowledged at the conference for extraordinary heroism.

Valadez was deployed with the 651st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. While flying on mission call-signed "Bandage 33" in late March 2013, Valdez and her five-person medical team picked up an Air Force Combat Controller, Tech. Sgt. Zach Rhyner, who had been severely wounded on a battlefield in northern Afghanistan. The Airman suffered extensive wounds, including a gunshot through his leg fracturing his femur.

Rhyner's condition began to deteriorate while en route to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. He began to bleed heavily and his blood pressure dropped.

Valdez contacted the aircraft commander and had the aircaft diverted to Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. While in flight, the aircraft met with turbulence, making it difficult to keep pressure applied to the wounds. To assist better Rhyner, Valdez strapped herself to the side of his litter and continued to apply pressure to his wounds to control the bleeding until they landed.

Once the painting of the Bandage 33 mission is finished, Neary understands the original portrait may hang in the Office of the Chief of the Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon. Additional copies will tentatively hang at Headquarters AFRC, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and the 433rd Airlift Wing here.

"It is always a pleasure creating paintings of our Airmen in action serving our county. And naturally, it's a subject that I enjoy as a member of the Air Force Reserve," Neary said.

Individuals can view other artwork of Neary at the U.S Air Force Art Collection website at http://www.afapo.hq.af.mil/Presentation/main/Index.cfm.

Face of Defense: Deployed Airmen Prepare for Holiday Feast

By Air Force Senior Airman Hannah Landeros

379th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 20, 2013 – Being separated from family during the holidays can be a tough time for deployed service members.

At the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing here, the 379th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron food services team works to bring holiday food and cheer to service members and civilians away from home for the holiday season.

The Independence Dining Facility accomplishes this and feeds the most people in the U.S. Air Force Central Command area of responsibility 24/7.

Holiday meal planning begins nearly two months before the event takes place.

More than 100 volunteers, including other country nationals and military members make up the team that prepares the meal and provide an atmosphere of holiday cheer.

“Our body, mind and souls need a little relaxation from time to time, and celebrating the holidays is a great way to consume the good stuff,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Tanja Hawkins, the 379th’s EFSS food services coordinator, and a Waynesboro, Va., native, deployed from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

Holiday dinners boost morale and make service members feel at home, Hawkins said.

During the holiday dinner, senior leadership volunteer by serving meals to service members, coalition partners and contractors, explained Air Force Airman 1st Class Sean Jeffcoat, a Fayetteville, N.C., native, deployed from Malmstrom Air Force Bace, Mont.

“It really means a lot to our customers when they come in and see their leadership and mentors going to work with their aprons and chef hats,” Hawkins said.

It’s a team effort bringing the holiday spirit to a deployed location, Jeffcoat said.

The dining facility provides 2,000 to 2,500 meals during the holiday season. Combined with the other dining facilities on base, approximately 9,000 meals are served during this time.

Along with preparations for the holiday meal, members of the food services team continue their daily duties providing quality assurance to the dining facilities. These duties include temperature checks on the freezers, regular temperature checks on food being served on the line and ensuring that the appropriate food is served.

Quality assurance is provided to ensure public health standards are met.

“The best part of a project is seeing the other personnel in awe,” Jeffcoat said. “We appreciate it when patrons show their gratitude for our hard work.”