Photojournalists find mentors through Air National Guard news program

by Tech. Sgt. Dan Heaton
127th Wing Public Affairs

12/8/2014 - SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich. -- About two dozen Air National Guard Airmen are better able to tell the story of America's Airmen thanks to a new writing mentorship program.

The course, Understanding Air National Guard News Writing - and More, was launched in early 2014 and relies on a long-distance mentorship program to allow Airmen in the Public Affairs career field to hone their skills as writers and journalists.

The program has already paid dividends, according to one graduate.

Senior Airman Elise Stout of the 126th Air Refueling Wing in Illinois wrote a news story in July that highlighted the contributions that Illinois Guardsmen make to U.S. Strategic Command.

"That article was about how we support the nuclear deterrent mission, one of the main things we do to defend the nation," Stout said. "The story went Air Force-wide and shows how the Guard supports the Air Force mission on a daily basis.

"I could see the big difference in that story, writing it as a journalist rather than the essay-style writing I do in my school writing," said Stout, who is also a student at the University of Illinois.

Stout, who has been in the Air National Guard for about three years, was among the last Public Affairs Airmen trained solely as a photographer, rather than as a photojournalist. Several years ago, the Air Force consolidated the photographer and public affairs specialist career fields, meaning writers were now photographers and photographers were now writers. While the initial training for new Airmen now includes both skills, sending all those Airmen who were already on the job back to the basic school was simply a logistical impossibility.

That presented a big challenge to Airmen like Senior Master Sgt. Preston Chasteen of Oklahoma's 138th Fighter Wing. He'd been a photographer since he first enlisted in the mid-1980s.

"I embraced the transition into the public affairs community, but I needed to gain a new tool in my tool box," Chasteen said. "Writing an Air Force news article is different than what you learn in Composition in a college class."

Hearing feedback from the field, public affairs leaders at National Guard Bureau in Washington and the ANG's I.G. Brown Training and Education Center in Tennessee started looking for a solution.

"Good, experienced news writers exist in the Air National Guard, but they are scattered at the various wings," said Master Sgt. Mike Smith, the principle architect of the writing class. "That left a lot of wings where they had some excellent photographers who were now being called on to be writers, but they had no training, they had no mentor on site," Smith said. "What we needed was a plan to put the mentors and the trainees together, despite the distances."

Smith's program spotlights five experienced writers from around the ANG and offers the tips, tricks and techniques from their collected experiences. The five-month program is built around a series of assignments given to the student writers to tackle during their monthly Unit Training Assembly with their home unit. The assigned stories are then edited by Smith, commented on by the mentors, and returned to the student. All of the editing is done by e-mail, with the periodic phone call when necessary. One of the benefits of the class is that the students are writing local stories about local operations, which, after the editing process, are then available for local publication - or beyond, as was the case for Stout's article.

Twelve students completed the course in early 2014. A second rotation recently began with 10 more students.

"I give the articles a hard edit. They come back with a lot of red marks on them, but our students are starving for this level of feedback. Our true mentors don't just tell us how great we are," Smith said.

Among the biggest challenges for the Guard journalists who are serving with their unit generally one weekend a month, is finding the stories and then carving out the time to get the story turned in.

Master Sgt. Tom Kielbasa, a photojournalist at Florida Joint Forces Headquarters, first learned his trade working as a newspaper reporter. Now, he's serving as one of the mentors in the class.

"At a daily paper, you need to have a story a day," Kielbasa said. "To find the news, you just start talking to people. Everybody has a story, especially on drill weekend."

Kielbasa said the course is also intended to force the journalist to get the story finished in a timely manner.

"Today's news cycle moves quickly," he said. "We have to operate at that same speed if we want to contribute to the discussion."

Smith said he intends to bring in additional mentors and to continue to offer the course on a twice-a-year schedule in the future. Interested Airmen or public affairs supervisors can contact TEC for information on participating in the next class cycle, scheduled to begin approximately May 2015.

C-5 Pacific channel - big crew with big mission

by Lt. Col. Robert Couse-Baker
349th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

12/8/2014 - TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.  -- The first thing you need to know about a C-5B Galaxy channel mission: everything is really big.

The plane is huge, distances are vast and even the sound is enormous.

As the mission begins, four TF-39 turbofans belt out their oversized metallic howl, accelerating more than 600,000 pounds of aluminum, jet fuel and precious cargo to takeoff speed. Maj. Nick Amenta, the aircraft commander with the 312th Airlift Squadron, pulls the yoke, the jet takes to the air, and departs west from Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

"We resupply the Pacific with high priority cargo and move passengers. The C-5 is very good for this because we have so much capacity," Amenta said.

The call sign for this particular mission is Reach 410, a five-day scheduled loop from California to Asia and back, in August of 2014. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the first stop in the 29,000 mile journey. This is just one of more than 500 Air Mobility Command missions flying every day, touching every continent, crossing every ocean.

This Air Force Reserve crew of 15 will take one small piece of this global mission. A crew of fifteen seems huge by the standards of modern aviation - the size of B-36 Peacemaker bomber crews in the Cold War -- but like everything about the C-5, it's just the size it needs to be.

In every crew position, pilots, engineers, loadmasters and crew chiefs, there is an array of skills and experience from very new to very seasoned.

Behind the pilots, sits one of the most seasoned aviators in the Air Force, Senior Master Sgt. Timothy Nichols, flight engineer evaluator.

Nichols' scans the activity on the fight deck with the calm wisdom of more than 12,500 hours of flight. Under his instruction is Staff Sgt. Daniel Massingill, flight engineer in upgrade training.

Massingill is calculating the time needed to climb from 28,500 feet to a more efficient 30,000 feet. Nichols makes him go over his numbers again, confirming the result, which is then conveyed to the pilots.

"I'm training the next generation of flight engineers. That's why I beat these guys up so much. They need to know their stuff," Nichols says. A subtle nod of the head indicates he's satisfied with the progress.

The other flight engineer in training is Tech. Sgt. Francisco Guerrero-Vasquez. At 25, he's the youngest of the crew and the newest on the airframe. It's a big change from his days as an active-duty crew chief on single-engine A-10 Warthogs and F-16 Flying Falcons.

"The C-5 keeps you on your toes, but that's fine, because I like staying busy," Guerrero-Vasquez said. He also likes the camaraderie of the crew, "It's like a big family; this is a team airplane."

And like every other C-5, the airplane is also a seasoned veteran of the last three decades of Air Force history. This particular C-5B, Aircraft 86-0024, rolled out of the factory in 1988. It quickly lost its "new jet smell" when it deployed for Operation Desert Shield two years later, flying mission after mission at its 840,000-pound maximum takeoff weight.

Nichols points to a well-worn, many times painted spot on a flight deck panel.

"It's like tree rings: there's Desert Storm, there's Bosnia, there's Afghanistan ..."

When the plane touches down at Hickam, passengers and cargo off load, fuel goes on and fresh cargo and passengers come aboard. This is going to be a "quick turn," meaning no overnight stay. This augmented crew won't rest their heads in billeting until they reach Japan.

As the sun drops towards the horizon, 100 miles north of Midway Atoll, thunderstorms and squalls drift below. The vast, inhuman scale of the world's largest ocean looks like something out of science fiction. But real history was once made in these waters.

In June 1942, the U.S. Navy turned the tide of World War II's Pacific Theater when it decisively defeated the Japanese imperial fleet in the Battle of Midway. There's no sign of the five aircraft carriers resting on the bottom of the sea, only a seemingly endless panorama of sea and sky.

In the nearly windowless troop compartment, 73 passengers rear-facing seats are missing the epic sunset. Master Sgt. Adam Goldsberry, loadmaster, tends to the passengers' safety and comfort.

This is a big trip for Goldsberry, as he doesn't get to fly overseas as often as he once did. He's studying business management at San Francisco State University. Back in the squadron, he's become the resident expert for processing orders and travel vouchers.

"I really enjoy the chance for interacting with my squadron members in my primary AFSC and helping passengers," he said.

"Sometimes you have to help small children clear an ear block during the ascent. A pacifier or a bottle will usually do the trick," Goldsberry said.

At the end of a very long first day out, Reach 410 arrives at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Senior Master Sgt. Dianne Valdez, the senior loadmaster on the trip, miraculously looks cheerful as she helps Space-A passengers disembark into the rainy, humid darkness.

Asked about her source of energy after almost 14 hours of flight plus ground time, she simply smiles and says, "I love flying."

When Valdez said that, her career flight-time odometer was just 130 hours shy of turning over 10,000 hours in the air. That gigantic achievement grew from a tiny acorn of serendipity. A friend had talked her into speaking with an Air Force Reserve recruiter.

"I looked at jobs they had open. 'Loadmaster' sounded interesting, so I said, 'I'll go with that.'"

The 19-year-old Valdez had never been on an airplane before.

After 30 years flying with the 349th, it seems to have worked out pretty well.

"It suits me; there's work to do," she said. "You have successes every day, little things like ensuring Space-A families are seated together."

The next morning, the C-5B provides everyone with another opportunity to find successes: the aircraft is broke.

"The C-5 has huge capacity, but is hugely complex. It has systems you don't even have on other airplanes," Nichols said. "The law of odds says something is going to break sometimes."

Tech. Sgt. Gregory La Francis and Senior Airman Isiah Crosby, crew chiefs from the 349th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, discuss the problem with the flight engineers.

Decades of mechanical C-5 knowledge address the problem from multiple angles and come to an assessment: it's either 45 minutes, which would be good, or several days, which would be really bad. Swapping out a toaster-oven-sized part will determine which one. Fortunately, Yokota supply has the part in stock. Seconds after the part is installed, the crew gets the good-to-go and everyone instantly switches back into takeoff mode.

La Francis and Crosby look stoked. Crosby explains why the work is so rewarding.

"On the road, it's go, go, go. You get to exercise your full potential," he said.

Crosby was working in a credit union in the San Joaquin Valley and didn't feel he had the opportunity to explore his full potential. He joined the Air Force because he felt he had more to offer life than sitting at a desk.

"Wish I'd come in sooner," he said.

Capt. Jordan Kalish is another member of the crew who saw the huge opportunity the Air Force provided. His family has no history with aviation, but he knew he wanted to fly.

Kalish joined 349th AMXS as a C-5 crew chief at age 17-1/2. He turned wrenches for six years while earning his bachelor's degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. From there, he was able to compete for a commission and a slot in flight school.

Today he's an Air Force Reserve instructor pilot. On the civilian side, he flies 737s for Southwest Airlines.

"Most people don't know how to connect the dots. They need to know it's possible to advance if you're willing to put the work in."

Osan Air Base, Korea is another quick turn.

The 121-foot by 17.2-foot cargo box -- just slightly longer than Wright Brother's first flight -- is packed full with the maximum 36 pallets of cargo.

Over the drone of generators and whine of turbines, K-loaders do the monster mash in the rainy dark; old cargo goes off, new cargo come on. The loadmasters practice their Tetris-like art by arranging the pallets just so.

"Besides weight and balance, and floor loads, we have to consider which pallets are coming off at the next destination and which ones are going through to a future stop," said Senior Master Sgt. Justin Toomsen, loadmaster evaluator.

At the start of the duty day at Kadena Air Base, Japan, the sun is high in the sky, but it's the middle of the night back home in California. Everyone is tired, even though everyone got a full night's sleep.

"The fatigue is cumulative. First day out you can do a long day, then it catches up with you," said Master Sgt. Gerard Garrotte, flight engineer.

"Everyone has to practice good Operational Risk Management. It's a lot of responsibility. You have to decide what presents a risk, what's worth holding up a mission," he said.

Just as an army marches on its stomach, so does an aircrew. Collectively, the crew seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the hours and offerings of every Exchange and commissary in the Pacific. The supplies go into the refrigerator to be cooked in flight in the galley.

Amenta buys fresh ingredients to make a vegetable guacamole dip from scratch. "It's not hard to eat healthy on the road, but you have to plan ahead."

There's a lot of down time on a channel mission, but none of it is wasted. Pilots, engineers, loads, crew chiefs, each with their own circle of responsibility, teach the next generation. Some of the training is formal; more is by osmosis and example.

While planning the final leg of the mission, Amenta gives 1st Lt. Meaghan Cosand some advice about being an aircraft commander:

"As an AC, you have to think about tomorrow. Aside from putting out a few fires, today will take care of itself."

Tomorrow comes uneventfully with a text-book-perfect landing back at Travis. The mission ends close to the time that was programed weeks before at the Tanker Airlift Control Center in Illinois.

Compared to the humid summer heat of the south and east Pacific, the Delta Breeze has a chilly edge. Everyone is happy to be home. It's time for the bag drag to the crew bus, and return to the squadron. A week later, some of the same crew members will be on the road again.

Epilogue:

Three months after the flight of Reach 410, C-5M Super Galaxies are rapidly replacing the B-model galaxies. The modernized jets are delivering higher reliability, greater efficiency and even more capacity than before. However, the unique banshee howl of the TF-39 turbofans has been replaced by the ordinary airliner sound of the new generation engines. Aircraft 86-0024 is scheduled for M-model conversion in December.

Oct. 16, 2014 on a Pacific Channel mission, Senior Master Sgt. Dianne Valdez, surpassed the milestone of 10,000 flying hours. Her cumulative flight time is the equivalent of 1.14 years in the air, all of it as an Air Force Reservist assigned to the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base.

Reserve Airmen participate in anti hijacking exercise

by Maj. Tim Wade
433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs Office

12/7/2014 - Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas -- The 433rd Airlift Wing, local and federal agencies participated in a Joint Base San Antonio-led anti-hijacking exercise here Dec. 3 .

The scenario centered around a disgruntled service member attempting to hijack a C-5A Galaxy, according to Senior Master Sgt. Robert Kusterer, 433rd AW Inspector General Inspection and Readiness office.

The training proved to be a vital refresher and helped validate processes used by the FBI, San Antonio Police and Fire departments, and JBSA medical, fire and security forces.

"We had to coordinate with many agencies and get schedules to coincide," said Kusterer. "We actually had to reschedule twice because of schedule conflicts.  There is a lot of energy that go into something like this. "

The inclusion of the outside partners was greatly appreciated by wing leadership.

"The level of realism provided by the civilian and other federal agencies participating ensured our aircrew members received the highest level of proficiency and readiness," said Col. William Whittenberger, Jr., 433rd AW commander.

Hagel Expresses Gratitude to U.S. Troops in Kuwait

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel thanked U.S. troops and their families yesterday on behalf of all Americans for their sacrifice during the holiday season, and for carrying out an essential mission at Camp Buehring, Kuwait.

The defense secretary held a troop talk with U.S. service members during his stop in Kuwait as part of an unannounced trip to the Middle East.

Thanks to Troops and Families

“I wanted to come out here for a few minutes today to thank you and to tell you how much we appreciate everything you do for this country,” he said. “This is a tough business -- [a] tough job. You’ve got about as tough a job as anybody does in our business. We know that. The country knows it -- and we thank you for that.”

The defense secretary said he also wanted to note the sacrifice of troops’ families as they move into the holiday season away from their loved ones.

“Please give your families my thanks on behalf of all Americans,” he said. “Tell your families we appreciate what they do; the sacrifices they make along with you.”

Essential Mission in Kuwait

Hagel said he particularly wanted to visit Kuwait to thank the troops for their mission as a combined joint task force which serves as the centerpiece for everything that happens in the region.

“It is the pivot point,” he said. “It is absolutely critical to everything that happens as it moves out, and you know that.”

Though their efforts may sometimes seem undervalued or under-recognized, Hagel noted, what service members do in Kuwait is “absolutely essential to make it all work.”

Some 60 coalition partners have assembled to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and the barbaric threats they, and other extremist groups, represent, Hagel said.

“That is really pretty impressive to be able to marshal that many countries, all participating, all contributing in their own way,” he added. “But it can’t happen without the United States’ leadership; it won’t happen without our leadership.

“It won’t happen without you,” he continued, “and it won’t happen without these kinds of efforts that are being made right here. So I wanted to make sure you knew that we know, in Washington, what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”

Making History in Dangerous Times

A second point, Hagel said, is that the nation faces a dangerous and uncertain time unlike any other.

“It’s a time in history we’ve really never seen before,” he said. “That’s the result of many dynamics -- technology, a decentralization of power and capacity that we’ve never seen before -- ungoverned spaces in ways that we’ve really never seen before. And I think, sometimes, any of us, because we’re human beings, can tend to think that it’s a hopeless effort. Well, nothing’s ever hopeless.”

Hagel told the service members that they’re making history. “You are defining much of the history that’s being made now,” he added, “but more importantly, it’s for a purpose. You are defining a future. You are defining a new world order in everything you do every day. And every job’s important -- every component of every job is important, or we’ll fail.”

Reaffirming Leadership Support

It takes leadership, capability and capacity for success, Hagel said, reaffirming that Defense Department leaders are committed to understanding troops’ problems and concerns, and assuring they have everything needed to do their jobs.

“You can’t do your jobs that we expect you to do -- that you want to do -- if you’re bothered and worried about other things,” he said. “We’re here to make sure that, that doesn’t happen.”

The defense secretary again thanked the troops and their families for their service and sacrifice, and expressed his admiration for their holiday spirit.

“I, once upon a time, was away from home over a holiday period in a different kind of war,” he said, referring to his service in Vietnam, “so I have some understanding of what you and your families deal with when you have these important holidays. It means so much to families, so thank you very much.”

Air drop - a look behind the scenes

by Staff Sergeant Jonathan Hehnly
911th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

12/9/2014 - PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AIR RESERVE STATION -- It was a rainy day with low visibility, not the most ideal for an air drop.

The two C-130 Hercules aircraft, loaded with more than 7,600 pounds of simulated cargo, were fighting through the weather as they made their approach to the Cadiz, Ohio, drop zone. The wind was too strong to make the first drop. The planes had to make another pass.

The second pass was a success; so was the third.

Ground personnel stood ready with their heavy equipment, waiting to recover the falling cargo.

Once all four simulated cargo packages landed safely on the ground, the air transportation specialists trudged through the mud to recover the cargo and load it on a trailer for the hour-long ride back to Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station.

"Rain or shine, we are out there to recover the Air Force's assets," said Master Sgt. Will Mosser, an air transportation specialist with the 32nd Aerial Port Squadron. "Our job actually begins after the drop. It's a continuous cycle of being ready for the next mission."

Master Sgt. Mosser and 15 other air transportation specialists, trained as para-riggers, are tasked with the re-packing and rigging of every air drop delivery system used for training by the 758th Airlift Squadron. The trained para-riggers ensure a minimum of 17 air drop delivery systems of different sizes and weights are packed and rigged properly at all times to support the 758th AS's training requirements.

"We provide a training environment for aircrew members, who in turn supply the war-fighter," said Chief Master Sgt. Joseph McArthur, 32nd APS air training manager. "Without [the 32nd APS] the flying squadron can't get the training they need."

The 911th Airlift Wing employs the use of its para-riggers to accomplish an average of 800 airdrops per year. Out of the 43 aerial port squadrons in the Air Force Reserve Command, only nine have trained para-riggers to support a C-130 air drop mission.

This mission provides training for not only aircrew members and para-riggers, but also for those air transportation specialists not para-rigger-trained. It is the remaining men and women of the 32nd APS who upload the heavy equipment platforms and containerized delivery systems onto the plane before take-off and who also recover the cargo after the drop.

The air transportation specialists' responsibilities help the 911th AW maintain mission capability by supporting the beginning and end of the air drop process.

The 911th AW's mission to provide airlift of airborne forces, their equipment and supplies and delivery of these forces and materials by air drop, landing or cargo extraction systems leaves the 32nd APS members involved in the beginning and end of almost every mission, not just air drops.

The five sections of 32nd APS are responsible for handling everything that goes on to a C-130, to include people, equipment and supplies. The squadron's approximately 120 members are divided amongt the air terminal operations center, passenger service, special-handling, cargo, and ramp sections.

The air transportation specialist is the third largest career field in the Air Force with approximately 12,000 members. Despite such a large career field, the 32nd APS has been able to make a name for itself.

In 2006, the 32nd APS became the first air reserve component unit to take over all the leadership positions at an aerial port in the U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Since then, the 32nd APS has run five different aerial ports in theater.

In 2010, the unit was singled out and hand-picked by the Air Mobility director of logistics to go to Bahrain and take over the influx of mine resistant ambush protected vehicles.

"Everything we do is to support the warfighter," said McArthur. "Without APS the planes fly empty and the 'trigger-puller' cannot get what he or she needs."

This is part one of a three part series on Air Drops

Active Duty and reserve EOD Airmen learn lifesaving skills

by Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade
375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

12/9/2014 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Imagine: you're an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician deployed and on a convoy. While driving you come across something in the road. As one of two EOD techs in the convoy it's your job to get out of the vehicle and respond to the unidentified Improvised Explosive Device while wearing a suit that weighs about 60 pounds. As you get closer to the unidentified item, you start to receive heavy fire and are wounded in the neck before the IED can be disarmed. Because you did not disarm the IED only another EOD member can respond to and treat your wounds.

For a wound like this, it would be useful for EOD techs to know Tactical Combat Casualty Care or T-CCC otherwise known as the best way to treat possibly fatal wounds. However, this is not training the EOD career field normally receives.

However, the 375th Air Mobility Wing and 932nd Airlift Wing Explosive Ordnance flights were trained by Raidon Tactics Inc. on T-CCC here Dec. 1-4, 2014. Scott's EOD flights have a 5 state response area and respond to all military ordnance that they are made aware of regardless of its proximity to a military installation in parts of or all of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

Staff Sgt. Jesus Cortinas, EOD tech, said, "We [EOD career field] do a lot of training because we never know when and what we are going to encounter."

T-CCC is a set of lifesaving procedures developed in the late 1990s by special operations units to offer the best chance for injured troops to survive otherwise fatal wounds. T-CCC teaches those who first respond, in this case EOD techs, how to identify three major causes of potentially survivable battlefield injuries -- hemorrhage, pneumothorax and blocked airway -- and treat them aggressively.

"This whole system is based on tactical field care based on years of experience," said Frank McRae, lead instructor and former U.S. Army Special Forces. "We noticed, by using this system of care, the survivability rate of most military members field has increased."

There are three parts to T-CCC.

Care under Fire: Care rendered at the scene of the injury while both the medic and the casualty are under hostile fire. Available medical equipment is limited to that carried by each operator and the medic;

Tactical Field Care: Rendered once the casualty is no longer under hostile fire. Medical equipment is still limited to that carried into the field by mission personnel. Time prior to evacuation may range from a few minutes to many hours.

Tactical Evacuation Care: Rendered while the casualty is evacuated to a higher echelon of care. Any additional personnel and medical equipment pre-staged in these assets will be available during this phase.
The members were also taught to treat wounds in a certain order using the acronym M-A-R-C-H. M - Massive Bleeding, A - Airway, R - Respirations, C - Circulation and H - Head.
On the last day of training, the three teams of four, a medic who provided primary care with the help of assistant medic, a team leader and one security member, were required to use all the skills they learned from the past four days of training in a real care under fire scenario. The EOD techs spent five hours caring for live simulated injured personnel why instructors fired simulated rounds.

The training scenario objectives required the EOD tech to display tourniquet application and hemorrhage control, needle decompression, patient movement and splinting, nasopharyngeal airway insertion and a MEDEVAC request. Each team also evacuated patients, provided return fire, and evaluated each other.

McRae said most students don't understand the how the body works enough to figure out the problem causing all the other issues in the patient.

"For instance one of the simulated patients had a chest wall compromise and it kept causing problem after problem," said McRae. "The EOD member exercising as one of the medics went back to what he learned, searched the whole chest, found the wound causing the problem, treated it and continued treating the other problems. He saved that patient's life. If he wouldn't have found that wound, [the patient] would have died. Ironically he was one of the students in class asking all the questions."

According to McRae, every Airmen, soldier, sailor and Marine in a combat support role need to have T-CCC. These EOD members are now enabler units to his old Special Forces unit. Two of these guys were actually attached to his unit in Afghanistan doing combat operations before he retired.

"I owe it to [my fellow EOD members] to train as much as I need to if it will help me save one of their lives," said Cortinas. "I hope most of the guys I work with have the same mentality because it might be one of them saving my life one day."

Louisville visits Singapore during Western Pacific deployment

By Ensign Hobart K. Kistler, USS Louisville Public Affairs

CHANGI NAVAL BASE, Singapore (NNS) -- Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Louisville (SSN 724) arrived at Changi Naval Base Dec. 5 for a port call as part of her deployment to the Western Pacific.

With an augmented complement of nearly 170 officers and men, Louisville showcased the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet in her latest mission.

"Louisville brings to the theater a very capable multimission platform with nearly unlimited endurance for independent operations," said Cmdr. Bob Figgs, Louisville's commanding officer. "My highly-trained crew is proficient in all core mission capabilities, from open ocean anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare; to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and precision land strike.

"They have worked tirelessly to prepare for and execute the first two months of our ... deployment, and I could not be prouder of their accomplishments. I know that my officers and crew are looking forward to some well-deserved liberty here in Singapore."

Measuring more than 360-feet long and weighing more than 6,000 tons when submerged, Louisville is one of the stealthiest, most modern attack submarines in the world. Louisville's stealth, mobility, endurance, and firepower allow this covert, multimission platform to operate independently or in conjunction with a carrier strike group or joint forces to support the interests of the United States wherever and whenever needed.

"Each and every member of our crew has devoted a lot of time, hard work, and energy towards preparing themselves and Louisville for this deployment," said Master Chief Fire Control Technician Larry Williams, chief of the boat. "It is only because of the crew members that we are successful as a team. I am excited for the crew to be able to do what a lot of them have joined the Navy to do: see overseas countries and represent the U.S. Navy well.

"This liberty port call is definitely well deserved by the crew, and each and every one of them has been looking forward to the visit," said Williams.

For many of Louisville's crew, this is their first time visiting Singapore.

"Growing up in rural California, I never dreamed I would one day find myself exploring Southeast Asia," said Machinist Mate 3rd Class Robert Hollister. "My shipmates and I cannot wait to try some hawker food, visit the famous Singapore Zoo, and hit the beaches!"

Previous deployments have earned Louisville numerous decorations and a place in submarine history. In 1991, Louisville supported Operation Desert Storm by traveling more than 14,000 miles to be the first submarine to launch Tomahawk missiles in a time of war. In 2003, she returned to the Red Sea to support Operation Iraqi Freedom with another successful Tomahawk strike.

Louisville is the fourth United States ship to be named for Louisville, Kentucky. Commissioned Nov. 8, 1986, at Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, she is the 35th nuclear powered fast-attack submarine of the Los Angeles class.

Louisville is homeported at Hawaii's Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.