-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! 000519. Air Force selects line, non-line officers for promotion to major RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- The CY00A Major Central Selection Board for Line, Judge Advocate General, Chaplain, the Medical Service, Biomedical Sciences and Nurse Corps selected 2,349 captains for promotion to major. The selection board convened at the Air Force Personnel Center here Jan. 24 through Feb. 4. The list of promoted officers is posted on the Air Force Personnel Center's World Wide Web home page at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil. Selection statistics in-the-promotion zone for major: -- 1,943 Line captains selected from 2,195 considered for an 88.5 percent rate -- 43 JAG captains selected from 52 considered for an 82.7 percent rate -- 14 Chaplain captains selected from 16 considered for an 87.5 percent rate -- 39 MSC captains selected from 46 considered for an 84.8 percent rate -- 108 BSC captains selected from 122 considered for an 88.5 percent rate -- 149 NC captains selected from 199 considered for a 74.9 percent rate Selection statistics above-the-promotion zone for major: -- 33 Line captains selected from 362 considered for a 9.1 percent rate -- 4 JAG captains selected from 7 considered for a 57.1 percent rate -- 0 Chaplain captains selected from 6 considered for a 0.0 percent rate -- 3 MSC captains were selected from 9 considered for a 33.3 percent rate -- 2 BSC captains were selected from 13 considered for a 15.4 percent rate -- 11 NC captains were selected from 33 considered for a 33.3 percent rate Local military personnel flights have more information. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service) 000518. USAFE Public Affairs tapped as best in the Air Force RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- U.S. Air Forces in Europe was selected March 30 as having the best major command public affairs program in the Air Force. The Brig. Gen. Harry J. Dalton Award for Public Affairs Excellence was presented to USAFE during the annual worldwide Public Affairs Professional Development Seminar in Leesburg, Va. "This command is the busiest command in the Air Force," said Col. Doug McCoy, USAFE director of public affairs. "We have small teams of PA professionals at the headquarters and the wings who make a huge impact every day telling the USAFE and the Air Force story. I'm pleased that the Air Force recognized the fantastic work they've accomplished and I'm very proud of them all." That work included supporting Operation Allied Force and telling the Air Force side of 1999's biggest international story. During the war in Kosovo, PA people played host to more than 3,000 media representatives from more than 30 countries. Twenty-five public affairs specialists deployed to 17 sites during the war to set up bare-base operations or augment offices at main operating bases. They wrote 200 stories and released more than 2,500 photos on the role of the Air Force and its people during the war. Many of those photos subsequently appeared in Air Force Print News, USA Today, Reuters and Associated Press. Individual accomplishments contributed to USAFE winning the Dalton award and several USAFE people and programs were recognized at the Air Force level. (Courtesy of USAFE News Service) 000521. Service members can directly request INS updates RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Service members requesting a status update on their applications to the Immigration and Naturalization Service can now directly call the INS National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283. The hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST in the United States, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. local in Alaska, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local in Hawaii, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. local in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Status requests will not be accepted if the applicant filed within the past year and there is no urgency to expedite, or if there has been some action taken by INS within the past six months, such as finger-print notice, or request for additional evidence, said Air Force Personnel Center officials. If a status request is made through the military personnel flight to HQ AFPC/DPSFM, the following information must be provided on each request: *Applicant's name *Alien number *Date Form N-400 was filed *Applicant's current address *Date and type of last INS activity *Special urgency reason The INS has also instituted a national phone-in change of address service at the same 1-800 number for all naturalization applicants who have moved. By giving the new address over the phone, the Naturalization tracking system will be electronically updated with the applicant's new address information and he or she will receive a confirmation letter from the INS. For more information, contact your local military personnel flight. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service) 000520. Holloman activates German flying training center by Capt. Gregg Bottemiller 49th Fighter Wing Public Affairs HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) -- The German Air Force Flying Training Center was officially activated here March 31. Presiding over the ceremonies was Gen. Michael E. Ryan, U.S. Air Force chief of staff and Lt. Gen. Rolf H. Portz, German air force chief of staff. The flying training center was established here in May 1996 as a tactical training center. At that time, there were about 325 German military people and 12 Tornado aircraft assigned. At present, there are about 600 German military people and 25 Tornadoes here. Those numbers will continue to grow until the end of 2001 when there will be approximately 750 German military personnel, 125 civilian employees and 42 Tornadoes. German aircrew training for the F-4F Phantom II and Tornado is now centralized here. German aircrew members come here from undergraduate pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and Joint Service Undergraduate Navigator Training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Fla. Fighter weapons instructor courses for both aircraft are also taught here, along with advanced tactics training for Tornado aircrews. "It's a pleasure to be here today for the grand opening of this flying training center," Ryan said. "It's a superb facility and has important meaning for the United States and Germany. It's not just a symbol of the strong bonds between our air forces. It means better operability, the key to any combined effort. It means a better understanding of how our air forces will fight and win together in future conflicts, as we did just last year," Ryan continued. "The center marks another significant milestone between the United States and German air forces. These kinds of ties are so important as we tackle 21st century challenges; challenges we airmen are so often called upon to answer. Most Americans would be surprised to learn how many German aircrews have been trained in the United States. The German air force has been training in the United States for (more than) 50 years." Portz said, "This day is another significant landmark in the outstanding bilateral military cooperation between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany since the founding of the Bundeswoehr. We are proud that once more, it is the U.S. Air Force and the German air force from whom this positive impetus flows." As part of the ceremony Portz presented Ryan the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ryan received the decoration in honor of his support to the German military as both Allied Air Forces Central Europe (and U.S. Air Forces in Europe) commander and as the chief of staff. (Courtesy of Air Combat Command News Service) 000520a.gif and 000520a.jpg A German Air Force Panavia Tornado. (Photo by Senior Airman Greg L. Davis) 000515. Smart Card debuts at Eskan Village by Senior Airman Jeffrey Bishop 320th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs ESKAN VILLAGE, Saudi Arabia (AFPN) -- More than 1,300 people deployed here were a little smarter recently when they received their Defense Department Smart Cards. What makes the card smart is an eight kilobyte embedded computer chip, which gives the card a range of capabilities, such as storing medical and personnel records and controlling access to restricted areas. Packed with potential, the card is making a modest, although important, debut here. Use of the card at the dining hall should improve head-count accuracy over the current paper sign-in process, said Lt. Col. George Hargrove, 320th Air Expeditionary Group deputy commander. Knowing the correct number of diners is key to fair and accurate billing. Use of the card will also make the sign-in process more efficient, as diners will simply insert their cards into a reader for a few seconds. Now, diners must sign their names, units and the last four digits of their social security numbers. >From April 2 to May 5, diners will be required to do both -- sign in and use their cards. The process is called dual validation, and ensures the system is running properly and giving an accurate count. "It will also give diners a chance to try the card reading system," said Marine Corps Capt. Russell Graham, U.S. Central Command Logistics and Security Assistance Directorate. Graham is overseeing the installation of the system here. To get the system going, the 320th Air Expeditionary Group Personnel Support for Contingency Operations, or PERSCO, unit and the Army Central Command-Saudi Arabia personnel office are working an aggressive timeline, creating and issuing more than 1,300 cards in about two weeks. PERSCO started issuing cards March 17, and had issued almost 400 cards in the first four days. "With both stations running, we can issue from 50 to 60 cards an hour," said Senior Airman Chad Newsome, PERSCO manning specialist, here from Minot Air Force Base, N.D. Other capabilities of the card -- controlling access to restricted areas, manifesting and tracking inventories, and deployment readiness and processing -- mean the card could be used for more than just food service accountability. "Since the card will be issued DOD-wide shortly, we intend to capitalize on as many of the card's capabilities in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility as we can," said Graham. Eskan Village is the first location is Southwest Asia to use the Smart Cards. Hargrove said lessons learned here will be used when the cards are issued at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, in the future. "We are not testing the program, we are implementing it. But what we learn will help our neighbors down the road get their program going," he said. The card, the same size as a credit card, has a picture of the member on it, as well as service, duty status and date of birth. DOD intends to replace the current active and reserve-component military identification cards with their smarter cousin. Graham said the chip in the card has a security application that encrypts and compresses all stored data. Access to that data requires a four-digit personal identification number, which the member selects when the card is issued. He said defense officials chose the Smart Card system because of the intense security built into it. Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre recently authorized the department to implement the Smart Card program, which military officials have been working on in one form or another for more than a decade, according to an American Forces Press Service story from October 1999. The decision follows a series of tests done by the services over the past two years, primarily in U.S. Pacific Command, according to Graham. Congress designated the Navy, under the direction of DOD's chief information officer, as the lead agency for the $145 million program, which is to be implemented from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2005. The cost of implementing the program in fiscal 2000 will be about $13 million, according to the 1999 article. 000515a.gif and 000515a.jpg A look at the new Defense Department Smart Card. With an 8 kilobyte embedded computer chip, the Smart Card will be used at the Mirage Dining Facility at Eskan Village, Saudi Arabia, to improve sign-in efficiency and accuracy. (Photo by Senior Airman Jeffrey Bishop) 000513. U.S., Nigeria discuss defense cooperation by Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service ABUJA, Nigeria (AFPN) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen will discuss a proposed security assistance program for a country many consider the "anchor" of West Africa. Cohen said during an in-flight news conference that the program will help Nigeria change its military to encourage the fledgling democratic government in the country. Cost for the first year of the program is pegged at $7 million, with the United States and Nigeria splitting the bill evenly. Nigeria is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa. "We regard Nigeria and South Africa as two key states in Africa," Cohen said. "Not only is Nigeria important for West Africa, but for the entire region." Cohen said an action plan developed in 1999 came up with 62 recommendations for U.S.-Nigerian cooperation. The proposal will update the military and modernize it to an extent, Cohen said. It will "also institute the kind of reforms that will be needed to place the military under civilian control," he said. Nigeria has had only 10 years of democratically elected leaders in its 40 years of independence from Great Britain. The U.S. military assistance plan comes in three main parts, a senior defense official said. The first component is to create something like a U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense. This would be a civilian oversight structure with teeth, he said. "(This includes) a transparent budget process, control over personnel and promotion systems, military pay, all the things we take for granted in our own system that are not taken for granted in Nigeria." The program also calls for at least 10 Americans and that number of Nigerian counterparts to work together for about a year, looking at the proper configuration of the Nigerian military. The Nigerians must come up with their own concept of roles and missions for the military and then design force structure necessary to accomplish those roles and missions, the senior official said. Nigeria has a very heavy force structure now, officials said. "They have a lot of tanks, they have a lot of fighters," one said. "Actually, they have a lot of stationary tanks and a lot of stationary fighters." Currently, the annual Nigerian military budget is about $300 million. The second component in the restructuring plan centers on Nigeria's fleet of eight C-130 cargo aircraft. The United States will provide new, updated tech manuals and maintenance specialist training. "We need to help organize that C-130 unit so they can be an effective important part of (Nigeria's) power projection role," the official said. "That's how they get their peacekeepers where they need to go. That's how they sustain them." The final component deals with training aids and equipment. The Nigerians need a basic computer simulation center with a large peacekeeping simulation component. "But it's not just that. The Nigerian military needs basic equipment to go down as far as white boards and blackboards in the classrooms," the official said. "President Obasanjo has been taking a leadership role in trying to eliminate corruption and in trying to bring a civilian control over the military itself," Cohen said. (Obasanjo is) one of the real visionary forces in Nigeria. He is out front on these issues, and we want to support him." Cohen said it is impossible to have an effective democracy unless the military is subordinate to civilian rule, and part of that subordination involves training the military to understand what its role is in a democratic society. "Reprofessionalization" will be key, he said -- can't have one without the other. More contact will occur between Nigerian and American service members as the program matures. There is a fairly large International Military Education and Training program with Nigeria costing $600,000 per year. U.S. training teams will visit Nigeria occasionally while Nigerians will attend C-130 maintenance courses at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. "What we want is a normal defense-to-defense relationship, but we can only do that if they are successful in what they are trying to do," the senior defense official said. In short, Nigeria is a society that needs structures, said a senior State Department official accompanying the secretary. "The military has been used to beat up society for a long time," he said. "Civilian leaders in Nigeria need to be thinking how to be responsive to the people." While the military needs work, it has been effective in peacekeeping operations. "In peacekeeping not only has there been the military ability to perform these operations, there has also been the political will to do them," the State Department official said. "Nigeria has certainly spent hundreds of millions on peacekeeping -- done the things to maintain stability in their backyard." Since independence in 1960, the Nigerians have participated in 26 U.N.-sponsored peacekeeping missions. Nigerian soldiers have supported operations in the Congo, Kashmir, Cambodia, Mozambique, Somalia, Bosnia, Angola and Croatia. 000517. Test pilot school students test liquid-filled anti-G suit EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School here is testing a new concept in aircrew protection -- a liquid-filled, full-body anti-gravity suit. Testing of the Swiss "Libelle" anti-G suit is a collaborative effort by TPS, Air Combat Command's Humans Systems Integration Division and the Air Expeditionary Force Battlelab at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Using hydrostatic (liquid) force to regulate suit pressure, the Libelle, which means "dragonfly," in Swiss, could prove better than current pneumatic (compressed air) anti-G suits. During high-G acceleration forces, much of a pilot's blood is pushed towards the body's lower half. In just seconds, a shift in blood volume away from the brain can cause a blackout. To fight such potentially deadly occurrences, Air Force fighter aircrews use pneumatic anti-G suits and the anti-G straining maneuver, said Capt. Aaron George, project pilot and team leader. "G-induced loss of consciousness, or GLOC, is rare due to such countermeasures, George said. "However, high-G continues to impact aircrew performance and GLOC has not been eliminated." That may change in the near future if the Test Pilot School's latest endeavor proves fruitful, said project engineer Capt. Shon Williams. Working with Libelle's developer -- Andreas Reinhard from Life Support Systems AG -- an Air Force team of three test pilots, three test engineers and a physiologist have begun testing the prototype suit here. Life Support Systems and Reinhard have been developing the Libelle concept for several years via centrifuge and flight testing with Swiss and German air forces. The suit is based on a liquid concept that does not require mechanical regulating systems or on-board compressed air. "Our goal is to provide total G protection for the pilot with a suit that can hardly be felt," Reinhard said. The AEF Battlelab learned of the suit through a suggestion by Col. Pete Demitry, director of the ACC Human Systems Integration Division. In February, a battlelab initiative entitled "Self-regulating Anti-G Ensemble," or SAGE, was begun to demonstrate Libelle technology. The Swiss suit's potential advantages: reduced need for positive-pressure breathing, reduced physical effort, improved ability to communicate under high-G conditions and no requirement for a G-valve. "One of Libelle's most valuable attributes may be its ability to function independently, eliminating the need for a G-valve or hose connection," said Lt. Col. Don Diesel, AEF Battlelab initiative team leader. Before beginning testing here, the Libelle team traveled to Holloman AFB, N.M. for a week of training and ground evaluations including egress training, hanging harness and cockpit interoperability checks in the T-38 Talon, as well as altitude chamber testing and multiple centrifuge runs. Because Libelle's function is dramatically different from the current Combat Edge ensemble used by F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircrews, Test Pilot School members underwent extensive training wearing the suit in a Holloman centrifuge. "The training we received at Holloman was superb," George said. "We headquartered our operations at the base's Physiological Training Flight, which became part of our team ... and essential to our success. We departed Holloman with a wealth of knowledge about how to operate effectively with the suit during flight test." During the next few weeks, TPS students will flight-test the suit in both the T-38 and F-16 here. The next stage here for the AEF Battlelab initiative: a more extensive look at the Libelle ensemble this summer under hot environmental conditions. The initiative also will assess the Libelle with regard to projected cost vs. benefit of supply, logistics, maintenance, training and safety. A final report by the AEF Battlelab on the SAGE concept demonstration is expected in August. "We plan to complete the concept demonstration by this summer, and based upon our findings, make recommendations on the technology to senior Air Force leaders and the acquisition community," Diesel said. 000514. Titan rocket tested at Edwards EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- A Titan IV solid rocket motor upgrade, or SMRU, booster using new nozzle material was successfully test fired here recently. The booster's static test firing took place on the Air Force Research Laboratory's Test Stand 1-C overlooking a massive dry lakebed at Edwards. This is the latest validation test for the Titan IV space launch program managed by Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Lasting 140 seconds, the test generated 1.7 million pounds of thrust. The 11-story high, three-segment solid rocket booster, weighing approximately 750,000 pounds, was filled with solid rocket propellant. The Titan IV SMRU was developed to enhance performance of the nation's largest heavy-lift space launch vehicle. It has increased the Titan IV system's lift capability by 25 percent, while improving its reliability. This recent test provides the program with full system data to validate new materials used in manufacturing the SRMU's enhanced carbon-carbon nozzle. These new materials are manufactured in an environmentally sound manner replacing materials that were no longer compliant with or available under current environmental regulations. SRMU's last test on Stand 1-C took place in late 1993, completing a successful series of five validation tests over a wide range of operating temperatures. Since then, SRMU's have been used for Titan IV-C launches. **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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