-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! 001637. Clinton signs authorization act; pay, TRICARE affected by Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- A 3.7 percent military pay raise, TRICARE changes, military modernization and lifetime medical benefits are just some of the aspects of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 that President Clinton signed into law Oct. 30. The act gives DOD permission to spend an authorized overall budget of $309.9 billion. The fiscal 2001 appropriations act signed in August actually provided the money. The authorization act set total military fiscal 2001 end strength at 1,382,242. The Air Force's end strength is 357,000; the Army's, 480,000; the Navy's, 372,642; and the Marines', 172,600. The Selected Reserve end strength is 874,664 with the Air National Guard's set at 108,022 and the Air Force Reserve at 74,358. The Army National Guard's end strength is set at 350,526, the Army Reserve's 205,300 and the Naval Reserve's at 88,900. The Marine Corps Reserve will have 39,558 members and the Coast Guard Reserve, 8,000. End strength is down 3,190 from fiscal 2000 for the active force and up by 4,366 for the Selected Reserve. In addition to the 3.7 percent across-the-board pay raise that goes into effect Jan. 1, service members in pay grades E-5 to E-7 will receive a targeted, one-time monthly raise of $32 to $59 starting July 1. Congress has added funds to the basic allowance for housing to reduce out-of-pocket expenses service members must pay if they live off base. Currently, service members living off base pay an average of 19 percent of their housing costs out-of-pocket. The money will bring that average to 15 percent in fiscal 2001. The legislation authorizes the defense secretary to raise BAH rates to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses by fiscal 2005. The act extends the military housing privatization program. The program allows commercial firms to build and run military family housing areas. Another pay action calls for active and reserve military personnel to be able to use the Thrift Savings Plan. The plan, long a part of the Federal Employees Retirement System, would allow military personnel to invest a percentage of their pre-tax pay toward retirement. Taxes on participants' investments and earnings are deferred while in the plan. Details remain to be worked out, but the act calls for the system to be up and running 360 days after the president signs the legislation. The budget changes the TRICARE military medical system in several ways. For active-duty personnel, TRICARE Prime Remote now covers family members as well as active-duty personnel. The act also eliminates co-payments for active-duty family members enrolled in TRICARE Prime. It also allows travel reimbursements to those who must go more than 100 miles to see a TRICARE health-care provider. The biggest TRICARE change, however, covers Medicare-eligible retirees. The act restructures TRICARE to allow Medicare-eligible military retirees and their family members to continue their coverage beginning in fiscal 2002. Under the plan, Medicare-eligible beneficiaries would pay no co-pays, deductibles or TRICARE enrollment fees or premiums. Retirees can receive care under Medicare; also, any medical expense not covered by Medicare will be paid by TRICARE. The act also expands the mail-order pharmacy service to cover all beneficiaries, including Medicare-eligible retirees. The act authorizes $63.2 billion in procurement. The account, also called modernization, hits the $60 billion number Defense Secretary William S. Cohen called for in 1997. Big ticket items in procurement include 16 MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, 12 C-17 strategic airlifters and 10 F-22 Raptor stealth aircraft. The act also funds $4 billion for a Nimitz-class carrier, $2.7 billion for three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, $1.2 billion for a Virginia-class attack submarine and $1.5 billion for two San Antonio-class amphibious ships. The act funds Army transformation efforts to the tune of $1.3 billion in fiscal 2001. These efforts will result in a more mobile and more lethal force able to cover the range of operations the Army may face in the future. The act calls on the Army secretary to report to the Senate and House armed services committees with a "road map" charting the progress of the Army through 2012. The act authorizes the Army to procure medium-weight armored vehicles to test them against the transformation concept. The act provides $2.1 billion for the National Missile Defense program and $2.7 billion for Theater Missile Defense. TMD breaks down to $550 million for the Theater High-Altitude Missile Defense program, $462.7 million for the Navy Theater-Wide program, $274.2 million for the Navy Area Defense program, and $365.5 million to procure additional Patriot-3 missiles. The Joint Strike Fighter is the next generation ground attack aircraft. The mammoth program will provide single-engine attack aircraft to the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Congress is concerned the services are rushing the program. The total authorization for JSF in fiscal 2001 is $688.6 million. In the act, Congress called on the defense secretary to report on the criteria before the JSF enters the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the procurement. DOD cannot enter this phase until the defense secretary certifies the key technologies in the craft are"sufficiently mature." Other procurement actions include: o $244.2 million for Joint Direct Attack Munitions. These precision-guided weapons proved their worth over Yugoslavia and are the focus of NATO's Defense Capabilities Initiative. o $109.2 million for Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles, the "UAV of the future." The act also provides $32.1 million to upgrade the current Predator UAV. o $149.8 million for two F-15E Eagle all-weather air-to-surface aircraft. o $46 million for a 16th E-8C Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System aircraft. o $614 million for the Army Comanche helicopter engineering, manufacturing and development program phases. There are two prototypes. Initial operating capability is set for fiscal 2006. o $206 million for 18 Black Hawk helicopters for the Army National Guard -- 16 regular and two air ambulances. o $39.9 billion for fiscal 2001 research and development, including $85 million for the Air Force Airborne Laser program, $24.4 million for chemical and biological protection R&D, $30 million for high-energy laser research, $274 million for R&D for the Navy's 21st century aircraft carrier, and $539.8 million for R&D of the Navy's future Zumwalt-class destroyers. o $109.7 billion in operations and maintenance funds. 001638. Defender Challenge competition brings out the best in security forces by Senior Airman Oshawn Jefferson Air Force Print News LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- More than 120 security forces competitors from 12 Air Force major commands worldwide and the British Royal Air Force will see if the past month of sweating and training will pay off during Defender Challenge 2000 Oct. 30 through Nov. 4 at various military sites around San Antonio. "This competition lets our absolute best get in the most difficult and intense war fighting scenarios and show how well trained they really are," said Brig. Gen. James Shamess, Air Force director of security forces and Air Force Security Forces Center commander. "The competitors have earned the right to be here and from what I've seen so far the competition is fantastic. It keeps getting better and better every year." The annual exercise, in its 19th year, reflects the security forces mission of force protection under the aerospace expeditionary force concept. "Defender Challenge also gives us a chance to see our people in action using the training they have received up until this point," Shamess said. "Since the security forces school is here we can also use the competition to see if we can improve training on any areas and pass along experiences that the competitors can take back, and use if called to duty anywhere in the world." The rules of the game have become more stringent over the past couple of years. Security forces officials have placed two-year limits on individual participants to open Defender Challenge competition to more security forces members. Airmen can compete two consecutive years, but can't rejoin a Defender Challenge team until they become noncommissioned officers, which has opened the door for a lot of new warriors. "I was supposed to compete last year but I got injured," said Senior Airman Marco Talamantez, an Air Education and Training Command Defender Challenge team member from Lackland AFB's 37th Security Forces Squadron. "I have a few things to prove to myself and this is the best stage to prove you are one of the best at what you do. I'm very exited about the opportunity to face my peers." This year's Defender Challenge consists of six team events and one individual event. Each team will compete in the fitness challenge, the handgun competition, the combat rifle competition and the combat weapons competition. Other event include: -- Sadler's Cup -- a nighttime tactical exercise. This event, considered the toughest of Defender Challenge, requires teams to plan and execute a challenging tactical operation on short notice. Detailed planning, tactical know-how and strong leadership are all necessary to successfully tackle this event. The event is named after Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Sadler, a pioneer director of security forces. -- Chief's Challenge -- the only Defender Challenge event for individual competitors. This event features one individual from each team in a grueling, head-to-head obstacle course run. -- Base response, a new event for this year's competition, recognizes the duel-mission of Air Force Security Forces, who are experts in both base defense and traditional policing skills. This new event adds to the already rigorous competition. "The Defender Challenge competition test stamina, speed, the use of weapons on a firing range and our ability to think our way through a combat situation," said Staff Sgt. Joseph Provo, an AETC team coach from the 342nd Training Squadron at Lackland AFB. "I think all the competitors have trained exceptionally hard and have shown, even in the first few events that they were all ready for the challenge." Defender Challenge 2000 wraps up Nov. 4 with an awards banquet at the Bob Hope Theater on Lackland. 001636. AF medical team shares closer look at USS Cole evacuation missions by Leigh Anne Redovian Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFPN) -- As news of the apparent terrorist attack on the USS Cole began to spread outside the Gulf of Aden, Air Force medical teams were on alert and ready to assist. The Air Force surgeon general called the ensuing medical evacuation and treatment of the wounded sailors a successful demonstration of "critical care in the air." Today those Air Force medics involved in the evacuation are looking at their response to see what they can do even better and faster the next time they are called. "We have to strike while the iron is hot," said Col. Byron Hepburn, the senior flight surgeon for the evacuation mission. "There is an immediacy to begin a retrospective analysis to make sure we don't miss anything that could have been done better. We will be looking at what could be done at the local level, the operational level and strategic level." Two C-9 Nightingales from the 75th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in Germany carried medical teams from Ramstein's 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and two Critical Care Air Transport Teams from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to Yemen and Djibouti. The teams provided the resources and medical care needed to evacuate the patients to Landstuhl. The CCATT provides in-flight critical care and is equipped with ventilators, monitors, infusion pumps and medications. According to Col. David Welling, a trauma surgeon and the senior CCATT member on the mission, the French doctors in Djibouti were appropriately concerned about letting their critically injured patients make the trip to Germany for care. However, Welling and Hepburn, who both speak fluent French and have contacts in the French medical community, assured their French colleagues that the wounded would be safe in the hands of the Air Force medical team. "This skill turned out to be a real dooropener in interacting with our French counterparts in Djibouti," Welling said. "We had to have their approval to release and transport the 11 patients. After talking with us and seeing our C-9 capabilities, they were very happy to allow the transfer to take place." Welling, who is a member of the Air Force's new international health specialist, or IHS, program, said the experience showed him that is it critical for medical professionals to have knowledge of a foreign language. The IHS program, launched in early October, is developing regionally focused military medical professionals who can assist in global medical operations. Hepburn was also selected to participate in the IHS program. "The fact that the U.S. doctors could speak French created a common bond and gave us a common set of experiences to work from," Welling added. Those involved in the evacuations, including mission commander Lt. Col. Kirk Nailling, are quick to point out that in the business of aeromedical evacuation, time is the most critical element. Nailling, who is the director of operations and chief nurse at the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Ramstein, said that in time of war, the number of patients would increase greatly from the 39 wounded in Yemen. "That is why our process has to be very refined in peacetime." Nailling said. "Anything the Air Force Medical Service can do at any level of leadership to improve the quality of our response is appropriate and necessary." 001633. Combat weathermen move, shoot, communicate with Army SOF by Tech. Sgt. Ginger Schreitmueller Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFPN) -- They are a small band of Air Force men wearing gray berets, living and working with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command community. They are the only ones of their kind within the Department of Defense. These gray berets are AFSOC's combat weathermen. But, they aren't your "typical" weathermen boasts the 10th Combat Weather Squadron commander. "We do things a bit differently than our conventional Air Force counterparts," said Maj. Bob Russell. "Our guys have to move, shoot and communicate within the units they live and work with everyday without being actual members of those units. They do all the normal tasks a weatherman does, but then we tack on more qualifications, such as maintaining proficiency in parachuting, survival skills and special operations unit tactics." Though Air Force airmen, combat weathermen are not assigned to Air Force bases. They are tasked to support U. S. Special Operations Command missions, specifically Army Special Operations units. The 10th CWS, which falls under the 720th Special Tactics Group, has five detachments and one operating location in the continental United States. There are also two overseas combat weather operating locations, and two Air National Guard Combat Weather Flights. Along with being weather forecasters, the gray berets have to be soldiers, too, said the major. "They can't be a liability to the units they're assigned with," he said. "These guys are not just weathermen, they're ground forces -- they're Air Force soldiers. "They are living, sleeping, eating, jumping, shooting, fighting and working side by side with Army Special Forces wherever they go. If they make a bad call on winds for a jump, their parachute is going to feel the same gusts as the Army guys they're jumping with. They too are operators and have a vested interest in accurate forecasting." Conventional military weathermen often have a different perspective to forecasting, said Senior Master Sgt. Bruce Perkins, 10th CWS superintendent. "Conventional weathermen rely on data to analyze and predict," he said. "Often we are deployed in places where we can only rely on our technical skills and senses to forecast." "We're not just inside a building looking at a screen and pulling data down off a system," added Russell. "We're out in the middle of it." Being in the midst of a battlefield is another aspect that sets the combat weatherman apart from other Air Force weathermen. "You'll find weathermen at nearly all military operations and installations, most at existing or forward bases," said the major. "But, our focus is forward of that airfield. You'll find us walking around in the dirt, in 'nowhere land,' providing weather input for a ground commander and the operational structure above him." The information a combat weatherman provides is above and beyond what a home-based weatherman can interject, he said. "A satellite can only do so much; it's looking from the top down," Russell said. "We're on the battlefield looking up. Aircrews and decision-makers need details beyond what a satellite or remote sensor can provide. Our guys are on the ground making those tough calls. It's more than reading data and analyzing information; they're observing, measuring, forecasting, communicating and, when needed, fighting." A combat weatherman is often the sole weather link on the ground, said Perkins. "He's often the only source of weather information in a region. He has to provide the products to the Special Forces team he's sitting with and relay it back to the other decision-makers." The information the combat weatherman is relaying up and down the chain has to be passed along in user-friendly terms. "Combat weathermen have to be translators -- bilingual in a sense," said Russell. "They have to meld the meteorological world with the operations world in a special ops context. They have to 'de-geek' the technical meteorology and provide it to the operator in terms he'll understand. They're making the recommendations on how weather will affect deliberate and contingency plans, all the way to recovery and reconstitution, and everything in between." Though combat weathermen have a unique skill, they are not a separate career field. "Combat weather is not it's own career field, or even a shredout of the weather community," said Perkins "They learn how to be weathermen first, then volunteer to add the additional combat aspect into their job description. Right now, by the time they've completed their basic technical and upgrade training, they'll have almost three years as weathermen before they can volunteer for combat weather." When someone volunteers for combat weather, and the right to wear the gray beret, he's entering a high-impact job, Russell said. "Weather is a diverse mission area. It somehow effects everyone, everywhere. When it comes to a military mission, weather can impact everything from the tactical to the strategic level operations and decisions," he said. "Combat weathermen bring together that vital weather information at the right place, in the right format to meet operational needs at all levels. They provide a combination you won't find anywhere else." 001635. Operators gather for battle planning exercise by Tom Mahr Joint National Test Facility Public Affairs SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- More than 80 people participated in Battle Planning Exercise 00-4 held at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's Joint National Test Facility here Oct. 17-19. Organized and executed by the National Missile Defense Operational Test Agency, the exercise was the eighth in a series sponsored by the U.S. Space Command to fine-tune the battle management command, control and communications system being developed for the nation's national missile defense system. "This week's exercise had two complementary objectives," said Maj. Rob Landers, the Operational Test Agency's mission director for the exercise. "The first objective was a test objective, to benchmark battle management command and control software and crew behavior for the Department of Defense's upcoming ... Defense Acquisition Board milestone." The DAB will be looking at the progress the organization's Joint Program Office is making in terms of meeting the users' defined operational requirements for a national missile defense system. "The second objective was a U.S. Space Command objective, to exercise and evaluate battle management command, control and communications operational procedures and instructions in support of their upcoming Command and Control Simulation 2000," said Col. Charles Allan, director of U.S. Space Command Directorate of Operations' Readiness Division. That exercise is scheduled for later this year and will be the premier war game supporting national missile defense this year, Allan said. The purpose is to explore operational concepts for doctrine. The exercise brought together approximately two dozen "NMD operators" from U.S. Space Command, NORAD, Air Force Space Command, U.S. Army Space Command and the Army National Guard with a number of DOD and contractor members. The National Missile Defense BMC3 system consists of human operators in charge of a communications and computer system which pulls together all of the NMD system's geographically dispersed elements -- an effective system of ground-based radars, interceptors and kill vehicles. "The JNTF's proximity to a variety of different 'operators' and its ability to provide a controlled, yet operationally realistic environment made it an ideal location for us to gather data about how well the NMD BMC3 system will be able to support the ultimate user," Allan said. "The big question, from our perspective, is: 'Is the system ready for the next phase of development and, ultimately, deployment?'" At the outset, the Operational Test Agency team's mission director stressed that the exercise would be different from others in one very important way. "This exercise will provide a comprehensive assessment of 'as-built' BMC3 automated and human-in-control capabilities under nominal and stressing conditions," Landers briefed exercise participants and observers at the beginning of the exercise. At the end of the final day, the exercise validated the importance of human operators in a NMD system and helped the testers learn more about the strengths and limitations of an automated battle manager, said Army Col. Steve Bowman, the ranking "operator" during most of the exercise runs. "These exercises also give us an opportunity to make operational recommendations to the developer to help ensure the warfighting community will get an executable system," said Bowman. 001634. Missile facilities to become part of a national historic site by Chief Master Sgt. Dave Clark 90th Space Wing Logistics Group F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. (AFPN) -- In April 2001, maintenance technicians from the 90th Logistics Group here will travel to South Dakota to place a Minuteman II training missile, guidance set and re-entry vehicle into a launch facility. This time, however, the mission is not to make war but to save a piece of American history. Launch Facility D09 and Missile Alert Facility D01 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D, will be turned over to the National Park Service November 2001 and renamed the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. LF D09 is being converted to a static display in accordance with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. There will be a permanent viewing enclosure over a partially open launcher closure. Completion of this project will mark the official retirement of the Minuteman II weapon system. These two missile sites will be preserved by the National Park Service to interpret the history and significance of the Cold War and the role of the Minuteman missile in defense. The request for this project, from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth, was accepted by the 90th LG, which maintains caretaker responsibility for the two sites. The project will require approximately 25 technicians, nine special purpose vehicles and numerous unique equipment items to be transported to Ellsworth. Depot technicians are currently preparing the inert booster at Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, for shipment to Ellsworth. Once there, 90th technicians will transfer the booster to a special truck called a transporter erector, transport it to D09, and then lower the booster, guidance set and re-entry vehicle into the launcher one last time. *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! 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