Armed Forces News Issue: Friday, November 19, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers. To Subscribe, Go to http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm
Valued Added Service to Our Readers: Federal Job Search http://www.fedweek.com/content/cc/index.php Job Bulletin Board http://www.fedweek.com/content/cc/index.php Unlimited Internet Access for as low as $10.90 http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294981887/821891/222/0/ Our Readers Will Get Special Discounted Travel Rates Including, Airfare, Hotels, RV's, Car Rentals, and Special Weekend Getaways--Anywhere in the world http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294969084/3/339/0/ In This Week's Issue *********************************************************** 1. VFW, Wal-Mart Sending MACK Packs 2. Air Force Begins Third DOS Rollback 3. Spouses to Teachers Opens Web Site 4. AF Reserve Volunteers Facing Longer Overseas Tours 5. Single Tickets Cut Rotation Processing Delays 6. Deadline Looms for Soldier-Show Applicants 7. Army Tests Flu Vaccine Half-Doses 8. �Weekend Warriors� Becomes Historical Term 9. Air Force Approves New Lasik Surgery 10. Clarification to Nov. 5 issue 11. 2005 In-Print Retired Military Personnel Handbook Available For Immediate Shipment http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294981887/821891/344/0/ *********************************************************** 1. VFW, Wal-Mart Sending MACK Packs The Veterans of Foreign Wars and Wal-Mart are helping deployed service members connect with loved ones back home during the holiday season. Thanks to Wal-Mart and SAM'S CLUB Foundation's "Christmas" gift, 900,000 deployed military members will be receiving a Military Assistance Communications Kit, otherwise known as a "MACK Pack," according to the VFW. Each kit includes a phone card, writing paper, note cards, envelopes, a 2005 calendar and a VFW support letter. FedEx was expected to begin shipping the products overseas Veteran's Day. This is not the first time Wal-Mart has partnered with the VFW Foundation to help service members and veterans. Over the past 24 months, the retail store and its foundation have contributed more than 2.3 million phone cards to Operation Uplink, the VFW's free phone card program for active-duty members and hospitalized veterans. 2. Air Force Begins Third DOS Rollback Air Force personnel officials have implemented a third enlisted date of separation rollback. The program "rolls back" the date of separation of enlisted Airmen with specific re-enlistment eligibility codes or assignment availability codes. Those involved will have less than 14 years or more than 20 years of service at the time of separation. The established DOS, which is no later than May 15, affects all Air Force specialties in the following eligibility or assignment availability codes. Eligibility codes: 2X, denied re-enlistment; 3D, declined permanent change of station; 3E, declined training; 4H, serving suspended punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice; and 4I, serving on the control roster. Assignment availability codes: AAC09, declined to extend or re-enlist for retainability for PCS, or temporary duty; and AAC10, denied re-enlistment. Retirement-eligible Airmen may retire effective May 1. For more information, visit www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/retsep/shape2.htm. 3. Spouses to Teachers Opens Web Site Spouses to Teachers is a pilot project designed to assist spouses of active duty military in their pursuit of K-12 teaching positions in public and private schools in the U.S. The pilot states will provide information, counseling and guidance to eligible spouses regarding teacher certification requirements, routes to certification, employment potential, financial aid, and assistance with employment searches. Eligibility includes spouses of active duty personnel and spouses of members of the Selected Reserve or IRR on extended active duty who posses a valid spouse ID card showing "Active" status. The web site at http://www.spousestoteachers.com/pages/16/index.htm provides information and links to points of contact in the pilot states. The pilot states are: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. For more information write DANTES Troops to Teachers, 6490 Saufley Field Road, Pensacola, FL 32509-5243; or call 850-452-1166; or toll free 1-800-231-6282; or DSN: 922-1166 4. AF Reserve Volunteers Facing Longer Overseas Tours Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley, chief of the Air Force Reserve and AFRC commander, says the days of reservists serving 15-day tours as part of an air and space expeditionary force may be over. He said Air Force officials are asking that the minimum time for reservists to serve in an AEF be increased to 30 days. Reservists fill 12 to 16 percent of nonflying support jobs within the air and space expeditionary force, and reserve fliers occupy as much as 24 percent of the flying billets. "The policy is that we don't mobilize people for those efforts. We find volunteers," he said. The general said he sees challenges ahead if the Reserve keeps going at the current pace. "We'll eventually run out of some of that capability if things don't change," he said. 5. Single Tickets Cut Rotation Processing Delays The time service members spend waiting at intermediate locations during deployments and redeployments has lessened due to changes made by the Central Command�s Deployment and Distribution Operations Center. The waiting time was reduced from 72 hours to less than 24 hours for Operation Iraqi Freedom-2 and Operation Enduring Freedom-5 rotations, officials said. The new process was used for the simultaneous deployment and redeployment of the 25th Infantry Division, 10th Mountain Division, and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, transporting more than 15,000 troops. The process also was used with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force troop swap-out completed last month. About 45,000 Marines were moved into/out of Iraq under the "Single Ticket" process with significant reductions in time spent waiting at the intermediate transit point in Kuwait. 6. Deadline Looms for Soldier-Show Applicants The Dec. 31 deadline is approaching for Soldiers to apply for auditions in the 2005 U.S. Army Soldier Show � a high-energy production of music, song and dance scheduled to tour for six months. Nominations are being accepted for vocalists, dancers, musicians and specialty acts. Also needed are lighting, audio, video, costume and stage technicians. Active-duty, National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers are eligible to apply. Nominations for performers as well as technicians must include name, rank, Social Security number, unit address, duty phone number, e-mail address, and areas of specialty. Nominations should be mailed to U.S. Army Soldier Show, Attention: 2005 Selection Committee, P.O. Box 439, Fort Belvoir, VA, 22060. Artistic inquiries may be sent to Army Soldier Show artistic director Victor Hurtado at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Military questions should be directed to 1st Sgt. Stanley Randolph at (703) 806-4937 or DSN 656-4937. 7. Army Tests Flu Vaccine Half-Doses Army researchers are studying whether half doses of vaccine can prevent flu in healthy Pentagon volunteers. The study compares the immune responses of participants who receive half doses of vaccine with those who receive full doses. "Basically, [the half dose] has the same effect on the immune system as the full dose of the vaccine in healthy people," said Maj. Molly Klote, research fellow at the Allergy-Immunology Department at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "We think a healthy immune system only needs half as much of the vaccine to create the same immune response of a full dose of someone who�s older or has a less effective immune system," she noted. If immune responses are similar in the two groups, U.S. health-care providers may be able to respond to future vaccine shortages by giving healthy people half doses. This could protect more people during shortages or major flu epidemics. 8. �Weekend Warriors� Becomes Historical Term The term "weekend warriors" no longer applies to today�s National Guardsmen and reservists, according to Thomas Hall, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. The change took place, he said, because the United States is at war and every citizen is at war. In addition, many of today�s reservists and guardsmen are nearly full-time participants in the war. Furthermore, deployment rates require a change in recruiting methods for the reserve components. In order to achieve recruiting and retention goals, the Reserve components must offer benefits at an attractive level. Accordingly, the fiscal 2005 defense authorization act provides for up to 90 days of Tricare coverage for Reservists and their families who are mobilized. It also authorizes transitional Tricare health benefits for Reservists and their families after separation from active duty, Tricare eligibility for certain members of the selected reserve, and a reserve-component educational assistance program. 9. Air Force Approves New Lasik Surgery The Air Force has approved wavefront-guided LASIK surgery for aviators who fly in aircraft at altitudes of less than 14,000 feet. WFG-LASIK is a new generation of laser eye surgery that maps subtle irregularities in the cornea before the procedure, providing crisper vision and fewer side effects following surgery. While standard LASIK is based on the person's glasses prescription, WFG-LASIK adds a measurement of more subtle total eye distortions, called higher-order aberrations. Based on technology that helps astronomers see twinkling stars more clearly, waves of light are sent into the eye and measured as they bounce back, forming a 3-D map of each person's unique wave patterns. At this time, WFG-LASIK is not approved for aviators in high-performance aircraft (such as fighters and trainers) or those whose aircraft have cabin altitudes potentially above 14,000 feet. Conventional LASIK is not approved for any aviator. 10. Clarification to Nov. 5 issue The final sentence of the third item in the Nov. 5 issue should have read, " Also awaiting relief are thousands of other military retirees, including those rated at less than 50 percent non-combat-related disability and those who were medically retired with less than 20 years service." 11. 2005 In-Print Retired Military Personnel Handbook Available For Immediate Shipment http://www.fedweek.com/rmph.htm Plus, You'll get a FREE Publication, Your Strategic Guide to Investment & Financial Planning when you order your 2005 RMPH. BRAND NEW FREE OFFER EXCLUSIVELY FOR OUR READERS: SPECIAL FREE PUBLICATION: YOUR STRATEGIC GUIDE TO INVESTMENT AND FINANCIAL PLANNING FEDweek will give you absolutely FREE this sought after financial planning pub. 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The Retired Military Personnel Handbook is now in its sixth year and has been distributed to military installations and federal government agencies all over the world! It is specifically written for all military personnel and retirees and their families and is designed to guide you through every aspect of your retirement, explaining what benefits you may qualify for and how to get them, as well as providing a context for making many of the important decisions that lie ahead. 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"The 2005 Retired Military Personnel Handbook gives you the absolute latest information available on your military retirement and is a perfect tool to be used as a reference guide whether you are just nearing retirement or are already retired." Don Mace Publisher, Armed Forces News http://www.fedweek.com/rmph.htm Special FREE Publication to Our Readers: Everyone who orders the 2005 Retired Military Personnel Handbook will receive a FREE Publication: Your Strategic Guide to Investment & Financial Planning. ********************************************************** HOW TO GET The 2005 Retired Military Personnel Handbook It's Available only at FEDweek! Go to http://www.fedweek.com/rmph.htm or see Below. ********************************************************** The 2005 Retired Military Personnel Handbook is only $9.95 (plus $4 s&h) and you can place your order online at http://www.fedweek.com/rmph.htm under our Military Interest section. 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