-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! 992156. Peters lays out goals by Senior Airman Karen Giacalone 39th Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (AFPN) -- Men and women join the Air Force to serve the American public, but current issues like long deployments and pay concerns are driving some away, says Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters. Peters, who was here for Thanksgiving, said airmen join because they want to do public service. "They're out there performing the mission and seeing all the good right in front of their eyes," he said. "But when they're gone too much and have no time for their private lives or families or no time to take advantage of the educational benefits we offer -- that's what drives people out." Peters and other Air Force leaders are hoping the expeditionary aerospace force, with its stable and predictable deployment cycles, will help solve some of the retention problems. Including people from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve in the deploying force should also help. "The Guard has 52,000 people who will rotate through the EAF cycle in the first two years," he said. Military readiness is also an issue for the secretary, who believes in having the right people in the right place to get the mission done. But maintaining readiness means keeping Air Force members safe from the threat that chemical and biological weapons pose to troops stationed overseas today, he said. "If you get exposed to anthrax, you're basically dead," said Peters. "I understand people have concerns about the vaccine and we looked at (the issue) very hard before we asked people to get the vaccination. "The vaccine has been around for 40 years. It's been used by people in the wool and cattle industry for decades," he said. "There are no known adverse side effects that differentiate this vaccine from the flu vaccine or other vaccinations people get all the time." Air Force leadership has taken the lead by taking the vaccine, which includes a series of six shots and an annual booster, said Peters, who has already taken the first of five shots. Military leaders are also trying to keep service members happy and in the service with projected pay hikes. "(The pay increases) are the first of several. Each budget cycle, from now through the next several years, will probably contain an increase of about a half a percent above that of civilian employers," he explained. "We think with this half percent, we'll be making up the difference between civilian and military pay. "We're never going to be able to compete with the civilian sector in regards to certain career fields," he said, "but what we do offer is teamwork, camaraderie and a sense of purpose -- a real sense of doing something good in the world." Peters realizes a healthier paycheck is not always enough to make someone want to stay, so the Air Force is taking other steps to make compensation more fair for its members. "My goal is to make the Air Force the kind of place that people want to (join) and stay in," he said. "That means going back and working on a lot of fundamentals -- like getting modernization going, getting spare parts out to the flightlines and vehicles, getting fair pay, and taking some of the work that doesn't really need to be done out of the Air Force. "I think ultimately we live in an unstable world and the only real hope for stability for our folks is to put them on a rotational cycle so that we can give them 12 months off between contingencies," he added. "The Air Force has got to be as good to its people as it is to the United States. The Air Force does a tremendous job for the American public. Now we need to make sure it does a good job for its people." (Courtesy of U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service) 992156a.jpg and 992156a.gif Gen. John P. Jumper, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, (left) and Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters, receive a briefing on 39th Wing command post entry procedures from Amn. Marc Kjellin, a 39th Security Forces Squadron member, during a Nov. 24 tour of Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. (Photo by Senior Airman Matt Hannen) 992154. White House sets rules for use of investigational drugs by Douglas J. Gillert American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The Defense Department gave pyridostigmine bromide tablets to troops during Desert Storm to protect them during suspected chemical attacks. The Food and Drug Administration has approved and licensed "PB" for treating the muscular disease myasthenia gravis, but not for countering chemical warfare agents. Instead, the FDA authorized DOD to use PB as an "investigational new drug" to protect troops against certain nerve agents thought to be in the Iraqi arsenal. Although a new literature review has indicated that PB should not be ruled out as a possible cause of Gulf War illnesses, defense leaders stand by their predecessors' decision to issue the medication. They say they'd do the same if the threat is imminent and PB is the best protection available to U.S. service members. The White House, DOD and the FDA concur that investigational new drugs can and should continue to be viable options for force protection. President Bill Clinton made it official Sept. 30 by issuing Executive Order 13139, which spells out ground rules for giving such drugs to service members -- with or without their consent. "Military personnel deployed in particular military operations could potentially be exposed to a range of chemical, biological and radiological weapons as well as diseases endemic to an area of operations," the Clinton directive reads. "It is the policy of the United States government to provide our military personnel with safe and effective vaccines, antidotes and treatments that will negate or minimize the effects of these health threats." The directive lays down stern guidelines for the use of unlicensed drugs. In most cases, such use would be voluntary and administered only after a service member understands how the drug works and possible side effects, then signs a letter of consent. However, the president can waive the consent rule if a theater or area commander can show why delay would harm the force and hinder operations. Dr. Sue Bailey, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, explained to Congress Nov. 9 how DOD will apply the executive order. In prepared testimony for the National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee, she said a DOD directive to be published next year will regulate the use of investigational new drugs and reinforce DOD's role in developing new drugs to meet future threats. "DOD will make every effort to utilize products approved by the FDA, when available, to provide the needed medical countermeasure," Bailey said. "When no FDA-approved product is available to meet a foreseeable threat, DOD will carry out appropriate research and development program activities directed toward obtaining ... approval by the FDA of safe and effective medical countermeasures." In limited circumstances, when no FDA-approved drug is available to meet the current threat, DOD components may ask the defense secretary to approve use of an investigational new drug, Bailey said. Such requests, she said, would rigidly follow a chain of command from the combat commander through the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the secretary. The request must document a confirmed high threat and consider the drug's risks and benefits. DOD then must develop a treatment protocol for FDA review. Bailey said investigational new drugs would be administered on a voluntary basis in most cases. "If we're giving you a force health protection medication not yet approved by the FDA and under an IND, the FDA requires you give your informed consent first," said Army Dr. (Maj. Gen.) Robert Claypool, deputy assistant secretary of defense for health operations policy. "For instance, if we were offering you a drug for a certain condition, I would tell you the risks and benefits of taking it, the risks and effects of not taking it, and the alternatives we could do to help protect you. You would have to give your written consent that you've been informed and agree to take the medication." Such consent was sought in Bosnia to protect troops from tick borne encephalitis. The vaccine that exists is manufactured in Europe and is not approved by the FDA. Its use for US troops was as an investigational new drug, Claypool said. The use of informed consent was acceptable to commanders because effective insect repellents and mosquito netting were available and the threat wasn't thought high enough to warrant requiring the vaccine. In Desert Storm, however, the potential threat posed by soman was considered high enough to waive troops' informed consent for taking PB, Claypool said. Lack of records from back then, however, hinders investigations now into how, when and to whom the drug was administered. Records also don't show whether service members were advised of the risks and side effects involved, he said. "Our record keeping wasn't what it should have been or what we will do in the future," Claypool said. He said the defense secretary can approve use of an investigational new drug with informed consent. Approval is only bumped up to the president when a waiver of consent is sought. Ideally, however, DOD would prefer to use FDA-licensed drugs as much as possible, he said. "Our first preferred method is to use drugs and vaccines that are approved by the FDA for their intended use," he said. "If we are going to resort to using an investigational new drug, we would prefer to use it with informed consent." Claypool said DOD won't use any drug that hasn't reached a certain level of developmental maturity. "The counteragents we would use against chem-bioterrorism under an investigational new drug protocol would be the more mature ones, the ones for which we have a great deal of information," he said. "It is with those agents that we might request a waiver of informed consent. We would never do that on the early side of a new drug." Claypool also dispelled concerns DOD might hide behind the waiver authority instead of rigorously pursuing the development and licensure of a new drug. "We do not intend to do that," he said. "We will do all we can to progress toward licensing." The Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program at Fort Detrick, Md., funds commercial research and development of new force health protection drugs, and much of the initial research is carried out in laboratories at the Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. Once a candidate vaccine reaches a development level where it's ready for testing on humans, the acquisition program hands it off to one of the funded contractors. It takes about 10 years for a new drug to pass research tests, receive FDA licensing and be stockpiled in sufficient quantities to protect troops. So, Claypool said, DOD must try to assess what threats lie ahead. Besides anthrax, other bioweapon threats of concern include Q fever, smallpox, tularemia, encephalitis, botulism, plague and hemorrhagic fevers. In the meantime, Executive Order 13139's guidance on the use of investigational new drugs greatly enhances DOD force health protection effort, Claypool said. "It think it's a boon, because it will enable us to do the right thing," he said. "It will provide the infrastructure for us to execute an investigational new drug protocol and do it right from the standpoint of protecting the interests of our service members, protecting our national security interests, obtaining the kind of information we need and obtaining the force health protection we must have." The text of Executive Order 13139 is available on the White House Web site at http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/urires/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/1999/10/1/ 8.text.2 992155. Air Force taps 92 officers for pilot, navigator training RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- More than 90 officers get the opportunity to add pilot or navigator wings to their uniforms after being selected for specialized undergraduate pilot or navigator training. The Fall 1999 Specialized Undergraduate Flying Training Selection Board met at the Air Force Personnel Center here Oct. 26 through 29 to consider active duty Air Force applicants for SUPT and SUNT. The board selected 92 officers in the ranks of second lieutenant through captain. Those selected will begin classes in April 2000, with the classes in session throughout the 2000 fiscal year. The list of selectees is on the AFPC Web page at http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service) **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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