WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! 001352. Be sure to know political dos, don'ts by Walter Pupko Air Force Material Command Law Office WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) -- This is a presidential election year, and when interest in politics is at its highest. In addition to electing a new president and vice president, there will be elections for members of Congress, state and local officials, and various other matters. Department of Defense civilian employees and service members are encouraged to exercise their right to vote for the candidates of their choice. However, in order to ensure there is not even the appearance of official endorsement of any candidate or other partisan political issue, there are restrictions on military members and DOD civilian employees' other political activities. Some people may not know what they are and are not permitted to do. Unless otherwise noted, the rules listed below are the same for both DOD civilian employees and military members. -- Political activities that appear to be official are strictly prohibited. -- You may not engage in political activity while on duty or in a government office. -- You may not use your official authority or influence to interfere with an election. -- You may not solicit or discourage political activity of anyone having business with your agency. As noted above, you are permitted to vote in elections. You are also permitted to express opinions about candidates and issues, as long as you do not do so as a representative of the Air Force. There are some limits, however, on how you may express your opinions. Civilian employees may send letters to the editor to support a candidate, but military people may only send letters to the editor expressing their views on public issues that do not involve a partisan political cause. Some additional rules to follow: -- Military members may not allow, or cause to be published, partisan political articles signed or authorized by the member for soliciting votes for or against a partisan political party or candidate. -- You may have a sign supporting a candidate outside your house (but military people living in base housing should consult their legal office) -- You may have a bumper sticker on your car, and you may wear a button when you are off-duty, away from the work place, and not in uniform. -- Political campaigns need money. Civilian employees and military service members who wish to contribute to a political campaign may do so, as long as they make their monetary contributions to a political organization or political committee favoring a particular candidate. They may not, however, make contributions directly to a political candidate. -- Civilian employees cannot solicit or receive political contributions (there is a limited exception for labor or other employee organizations). -- Military members may not solicit or otherwise engage in fund-raising activities in federal facilities, may not otherwise solicit contributions from other military or civilian employees, and may not sell tickets for or otherwise promote political fund-raising events. The restrictions on political activities are less severe for civilian employees than for military people: -- Civilian employees may join and be an active member of a political party or club, may campaign for or against a candidate in a partisan political campaign, make campaign speeches for candidates, distribute campaign literature, sign nominating petitions, attend and be active at political rallies and meetings, and participate in voter registration drives. -- Military members may join a political club and attend meetings when not in uniform and may sign nominating petitions. Military members may not participate in partisan political campaigns, march or ride in a partisan political parade, participate in partisan political campaigns or make public speeches in the course of such activity and may not speak before a partisan political gathering to promote a partisan political candidate. Civilian employees may be candidates for public office in nonpartisan elections; however, military people generally may not be candidates for public office, even in nonpartisan elections. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is responsible for implementing the restrictions that apply to civilian employees' political activities. More information on these restrictions can be found in a flyer available at its web site. Permitted and prohibited political activities for Air Force members can be found in Air Force Instruction 51-902. 001351. Military investigators learn about sex crimes and family violence by Capt. Mike Richmond Air Force Office of Special Investigations ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (AFPN) -- The images appearing on the auditorium screen were grim and disturbing. Murder victims, stabbed and shot, bathed in their own blood ... the faces of children, lifted from pornographic pictures traded on the Internet, forlorn and dispirited ... and dreadful photographs of lifeless infants, some abused, some murdered, some found dead of sudden infant death syndrome. These and other images illustrated a week's worth of presentations to 60-plus people gathered here to attend the first-ever Sex Crimes and Family Violence Conference for military investigators from all branches of the Armed Forces. While the images invariably served the conference's goal of education in the latest criminal trends and investigative methods, they also served as dour reminders of the urgency of each investigators' work. "This conference helped put things into perspective," said Special Agent Doug Bonaro, operations officer for Detachment 116 of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. "Like everybody else, I suppose we sometimes get wrapped up in our jobs and tend to forget why we come to work -- to find justice for that murdered baby or for that raped woman." "But when you capture a suspect who's done those things, and that person goes to jail, you've definitely changed the life of the victim or the victim's family in a positive way forever," he said. "And not only that, but you've probably prevented these crimes from being inflicted on someone else in the future." Bonaro's sentiment was reflected in the serious faces of conference attendees, who listened intently to a parade of speakers who shared the latest investigative methods for catching criminals who commit the acts depicted in the images. And that's exactly what conference organizers had in mind when they planned the conference. "We wanted to get everyone to understand the importance of staying on the cutting edge of forensics and the technology that's available to solve crimes," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Nancy Slicner, chief of the violent crimes branch of the AFOSI's Criminal Investigations Division. "And not only what's available within their own service, but what's available from the other services." Another purpose was to enlighten attendees on the latest methods being used by criminals, especially those using the Internet to share child pornography. "You have to stay on top of the technology," Slicner said. "The bad guys are smart, so the investigators have to be smarter. They have to know what the bad guys are doing and how to find the evidence." Those who attended found it valuable. "We are in an ever-changing discipline, where it's important to keep up with the latest advances in forensic science and investigative techniques," said Jeff Rodriguez, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent assigned to Okinawa, Japan. "There are always new methods, both for the criminals to use and for us to use to catch them. It requires staying on top of those things and a truly team approach between the services." An NCIS colleague shared Rodriguez's praise for the conference. "This was outstanding," said Jeff Baker, an NCIS special agent assigned to Camp Lejeune, N.C. "Everything we were taught here I'll be able to take back and use in the field." Back in the field, Baker and the other agents will be confronted once again with the images of unspeakable acts. But Baker said that he, like his fellow investigators, develop a certain degree of callousness that makes the work bearable. "We don't have the luxury of being distracted by the horrible acts some people commit, or to think, 'How could someone do that?'" Baker said. "You eventually get to the point where you just automatically understand that bad people do bad things, and they need to be held accountable for them." 001349. Cancer surgeons repair nature's damage by Maj. Beth Settle Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (AFPN) -- If you don't think you can get skin cancer, you are probably wrong. Just ask the dozen or so patients who come to the Brooke Army Medical Center dermatology clinic here every day to have their cancer growths cut off. They probably thought they would never get cancer either. They were wrong. Maj. (Dr.) John Albertini is a dermatologist and surgeon in the BAMC dermatology clinic and is one of two Air Force dermatologists that specialize in Mohs micrographic surgery (the other is stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.). A Mohs-trained surgeon is a physician, pathologist and reconstructive surgeon, and starts out his or her medical track as a physician, spending an additional four years specializing in dermatology and then an additional year learning how to perform Mohs micrographic surgery. Though Mohs surgery is probably the best treatment available for curing skin cancer, (it has a 99 percent cure rate), there are others. Common treatments include scraping and burning, freezing, radiation and routine excision. Mohs surgery is performed when growths are located in cosmetically sensitive or functionally critical areas such as around the eyes, ears, nose, lips, fingers and genitals. The two types of cancer surgery most commonly performed in the dermatologic surgery unit at BAMC are Mohs surgery and routine excisions. BAMC unit removes approximately 1,000 growths a year using the Mohs surgery technique, and another 1,000 a year using the standard excision method. Not as exact as Mohs, excisional surgery requires the surgeon to remove a larger area of the skin than is necessary with Mohs surgery. It's performed on areas that don't require intricate reconstruction, and has a 90 to 95 percent cure rate. "The way most surgery works is you take a margin about 4 millimeters around either side of the cancer and then you excise it out in an eclipse, kind of like the shape of a football," Albertini said. "You cut that out, send it to the lab, and they 'breadloaf' it. "What that means is they cut the sample into slices; one from the front, one from the middle and one from the end, and look at them under a microscope to see if they got it all," he said. "Breadloafing is the standard method and it works very well, but it only looks at one one-thousandth of the true margin." Mohs surgery technique is different from the standard excision method in that the visible portion of the tumor is removed and a thin layer of tissue is excised from the surrounding skin and base. The removed tissue is then mapped and sectioned, similar to the way a pie is cut into slices. The deep and peripheral margins of each section are thinly sliced and mounted on a microscope and examined. If additional tumor is found, it is located on the map, marked and removed. The examination/removal process continues until the tumor is completely removed. "(Mohs surgery technique) is better for the patient because they get everything done in one stop shopping," Albertini said. "They come in and get their cancer removed with the highest cure rate, they know when they leave that we got it all, and they get fixed the same day." Albertini also said it's more cost effective than having to be admitted to the hospital because the technique is done on an outpatient basis and under a local anesthesia. According to Albertini, there are basically three forms of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and the most dangerous, malignant melanoma. He said the majority of the growths they treat are basal cell and squamous, but he added that he removes about one melanoma growth every two weeks. "The majority of my patients are retirees from 60 to 70 years old, but every week I work on people in their 20s," Albertini said. Makeup, hair care products, body lotion and bug sprays are just a few products now available with sun protection in them. Whether you use a gel or a lotion, cr�me or a spray, Albertini recommends you apply at least SPF 15 sun block to your skin every day. He said it doesn't matter who makes it or how much it costs as long as it contains zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. "The best sunscreen is the one you'll use," Albertini said. He emphasized that the best way to protect yourself from sun damage and to keep from having to visit the dermatology clinic is to wear sun block every day, wear protective clothing, and stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. He also added to not forget to cover your children in sunscreen every time they go out to play or are going to be exposed to the sun for an extended period of time. "If we protect our kids in the critical years, the first 20 years, we can really prevent a lot of damage later on," Albertini said. 001353. Marine life makes home of Air Force refuse by Staff Sgt. Cynthia Miller Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- Deep sea fishermen and marine life owe a ton of gratitude to the Air Force ... thousands of tons to be exact. Twelve thousand tons of concrete debris from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., runways was dropped into the Atlantic Ocean 2.5 miles from shore Aug. 24 for use as building materials for an artificial reef. The Charleston endeavor is the most recent in a series of reef-building projects the Air Force has participated in since the mid-1980s. "This is a strategy that's attractive from two points of view," said Dr. Douglas Ripley, Air Force natural resources program manager. "It serves as an excellent way to safely dispose of scrap materials and construction debris, while making an important contribution to the environment by creating habitats in near-shore areas for fish and other marine life." Building reefs is also cost effective. Charleston AFB officials estimate the Air Force saved more than $350,000 in solid waste disposal costs by building the reef off South Carolina's coast instead of burying the debris in a landfill. "Four years ago, when we were doing a C-17 Globemaster III (military construction) project on the parking apron, we had all this concrete, and we didn't want to send it to a landfill," said Al Urrutia, chief of environmental plans and programs at Charleston AFB. "(Our) options were to recycle or build an artificial reef." Some of the concrete from the construction project was recycled, but the rest was used to build the reef. "We built (the reef) because of the value to the environment and because we could save money by not having to use a solid waste landfill and pay the cost for disposal," Urrutia said. According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, fish and other marine life flourish in more complex environments, as opposed to open water. Each of the 38 South Carolina reefs are located on flat, featureless sandy bottoms which offered little interest to sport divers or fishermen before the artificial reefs were built. "Marine biologists have long recognized that building artificial reefs contributes to better habitats," Ripley said. "As we've evolved our natural resources programs in the Air Force, and Department of Defense in general, we've recognized (reef building) would be a worthwhile project to pursue." In addition to Charleston, Ripley said the Air Force has successfully participated in building reefs in the Atlantic Ocean, near Cape Canaveral, Fla., using debris from some of the space complexes, and in the Pacific Ocean at Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, and Pearl Harbor at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Tyndall and Eglin AFBs in Florida have also participated in building reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. Materials used to build the reefs range from concrete rubble to ex-military aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missile shells and tanks. According to Cindy Halsey, Okaloosa County artificial reef coordinator, in 1995 Hurricane Opal leveled 90 percent of the natural reefs dotting the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico off Okaloosa County's shore in Florida. An area that touted itself as the "luckiest fishing village in the world" now faced an economic and environmental crisis from the loss of the reefs, she said. The county turned to Eglin AFB for help. "We donated 48 tank turrets that were on inventory as extra targets," said Eric Sterret, an environmental engineer at the 46th Test Wing at Eglin. "The turrets just needed to be cleaned to an acceptable standard and the county did much of the coordination to get the turrets sunk." Reports from fishermen and divers claim those turrets have turned into some of the most prolific fish havens many have ever seen, Halsey said. "Local divers tell me they've never seen a reef attract so many juvenile fish to one spot in all their years in the Gulf." The Eglin/Okaloosa reef partnership is currently working to build the Gulf's newest reef in October out of a 65-foot landing ship used as a platform for testing electronic instruments in the open airways of the Gulf. "This program has been successful thanks to the Air Force donating equipment, expertise and the personnel to help the marine environment thrive in this area," Halsey said. The partnerships forged between bases and their local communities when building these reefs underscores their value to the Air Force. "This is something that has had an absolute double-barreled positive impact," Ripley said. "It saves the Air Force money by accommodating the disposal of building debris, which is very difficult to dispose of properly. It has a positive impact on the environment by creating this habitat off shore of our coastal installations, and a third benefit goes to the community in the form of fishing as an industry, recreational fishing and sport diving." 001359. Pope C-130 transports firefighters - stand-alone photos 001359a.gif and 001359a.jpg POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFPN) -- Members of the National Interagency Firefighting Center and troops from Fort Bragg's XVIIIth Airborne Corps board one of the two Pope AFB C-130 Hurcules that transported them to Montana. The soldiers are scheduled to fight fires in the Kootenae National Forest for approximately 30 days. (Photo by Senior Airman April Blumer) 001359b.gif and 001359b.jpg POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFPN) -- Col. Steve Baker, 43rd Airlift Wing vice commander, extends his best wishes to the more than 500 XVIIIth Airborne Corps soldiers departing to support the firefighting efforts in the western United States. The Soldiers are scheduled to fight fires in the Kootenae National Forest for approximately 30 days. (Photo by Senior Airman April Blumer) 001358. Montana wildfires reunite family by Army Spc. J.D. Griffin Media Operations Center, Missoula, Mont. KALISPELL, Mont. (AFPN) -- This year's record fire season has brought many people from around the world to the "Big Sky" state to assist the fire fighting effort. It also has brought back a service member with local ties to do what he can to save local homes, businesses and forests. Capt. David Kern, a C-17A Globemaster III pilot from McChord Air Force Base, Wash., supported the efforts by flying more than 550 military firefighters from Fort Bragg, N.C., to the Glacier International Airport where he used to marvel at the wonder of flight as a child. "It was great to be at Glacier (Int. Airport)," Kern said. "I've been wanting to land here since I began flying eight years ago. I know everybody around the area has been involved in firefighting somehow, and it felt nice to be able to bring some relief to the people who've been working for weeks." Word came down from Kern's father to his uncle, Roy Kern, who lives near the town of Trego, that David was flying in the 1st Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Task Force. The great-uncle wasted no time in getting down to Kalispell in hopes of seeing his great-nephew. "I really wanted to see him in that plane," the elder Kern said. "It's an awesome aircraft with about 9 million buttons ... I don't know how those guys keep track of everything, but it was great to be able to go out and see him." When the military coordinators on the ground found out about the Kern connection, they worked it out for the two relatives to see each other again. While the plane unloaded its cargo of eager firefighters, the uncle was escorted up to the front of the plane. "It was cool to see my uncle again and show him what I do," Kern said. "Some of my nicest memories of the area are the hikes I used to take around Mount Marsten. Growing up in the military, Trego is the closest thing I have to a home town, and I look forward to building my own home in the area." (Courtesy of Air Mobility Command News Service) *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! ****************************************************************************** ******************* A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies! A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America! Therefore a vote for Gore or Bush is a wasted vote for America! Don't waste your vote! Vote for Patrick Buchanan! Today, candor compels us to admit that our vaunted two-party system is a snare and a delusion, a fraud upon the nation. Our two parties have become nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey... 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