-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! 1154. Guard, Reserve continue to help suppress Western wildfires by Master Sgt. Bob Haskell National Guard Bureau ARLINGTON, Va. (AFPN) -- Air and Army National Guard and Air Force Reserve people and aircraft continue to battle Western wildfires. More than 1,300 Air and Army National Guard men and women, including nearly 600 in Oregon, were assisting weary civilian firefighters across seven Western states. The number increased significantly Aug. 18 and 19 because Washington State officials called up 300 more citizen-soldiers, including Air Guard civil engineers, to support the fight against the West's fires. All told, the Guard troops joined a force of 26,000 firefighters who were battling more than 30 major fires that had scorched more than 500,000 acres, according to reports from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. Oregon firefighters were battling 12 major wildfires, including two new ones, which had burned 232,000 acres by Aug. 18. Four Air Guard C-130 Hercules equipped with Mobile Airborne Fire Fighting Systems -- two from California and two more from Wyoming -- were sent to an Air Guard base at Klamath Falls in southern Oregon to dump tons of fire-retardant chemicals on fires in the Northwest region. Four more similarly equipped planes, two each from the North Carolina Air Guard's 145th Airlift Wing and the Air Force Reserve's 302nd Airlift Wing in Colorado, were dispatched to Boise. Aircraft from California's 146th Airlift Wing, and Wyoming's 153rd Airlift Wing, dropped 63 loads of chemical retardant on fires between 50 and 150 miles away during the first five days of flying. Each plane can dump up to 2,600 gallons in just a few seconds to prevent flames from spreading and help firefighters on the ground. The flight crews achieved a 100-percent mission success rate of 63 drops for all 63 flights, officials said. Meanwhile, Army Guard troops worked with civilians on the fire lines, flying helicopters, driving trucks and maintaining equipment. One team of soldiers was busy flying four helicopters with water buckets and shuttling civilian firefighters from base camps to fire lines and back in 15 trucks, said a Washington Guard spokesman. More people were being mustered and trained to support fire-fighting efforts, and 75 Air Guard people were called to duty including civil engineers from the 141st Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., who were tasked to set up two base camps. 1153. Chief of staff shares 'people first' philosophy by Richard Zowie 12th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Ryan shared his "people first" philosophy recently during a cross-talk session with junior Air Force people here. Addressing a group of about 25 lieutenants and airmen, Ryan told the group he was excited about what the future held for each of them in the Air Force. "What we're about in the Air Force, quite honestly, is expeditionary operations," he said. "Our trade is being able to pick up, set down and operate anywhere in the world." Teamwork is important and it is a vital part of accomplishing an expeditionary mission, he said. "It's all about people," Ryan said. "We have undoubtedly the most skilled, capable force we've ever had, but you have to take care of each other. The Air Force requires it, your buddies expect it and it's an Air Force way of life." Service in the Air Force is not about individuals, he said. "People want to be around other people they can perform operations with, or, if necessary, go to war with," Ryan said. "Those relationships are permanent and keep us going." The Air Force remains committed to improving the quality of life and service throughout the force, he said. "No matter what, what we're going to do in leadership is make sure you have the tools to do the job the way it needs to be done," he said. Knowing the Air Force has aircraft older than some of the servicemembers in the room, Ryan said that making sure old equipment is updated with the right equipment is part of the Air Force's recapitalization process. Talking about family issues, Ryan said although the Air Force recruits individuals, it also recognizes the importance of the family. "The Air Force's job is to take care of its servicemembers and their families," he said. There are two housing initiatives that will benefit military families, Ryan said. "Over the next four years, the Air Force hopes to reduce the out-of-pocket expenses for housing and improve the basic allowance for housing pay rates," he said. The Air Force also hopes, in the next 10 years, to upgrade more than 50,000 housing units, he said. Ryan also talked about financial issues and told the group the members of the Air Force will receive a pay increase of 5 percent to 10 percent in 2002. The increase is expected to be 7 percent across the board, but the Air Force would like to give everyone at least 5 percent and provide larger, targeted pay increases to noncommissioned officers and captains. The Air Force is planning to invest $175 million in bonus pay for second- and third-term airmen in critical skills specialties. "We're looking to grant the pay, focus the pay and give bonuses all around for critical skills," Ryan said. While modernization and upgrades to equipment get a lot of attention, Ryan said people come first. "People often think that most of our problems have to deal with aircraft," Ryan said. "We take pretty good care of our aircraft. What we need to take excellent care of is our people and their families." (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service) 1151. AFMC uses interviews as workforce-shaping tool by Crystal Reed Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) -- Finding out what people think about Air Force Materiel Command's civilian hiring process and identifying improvement areas are what command officials are shooting for by implementing civilian employee entrance and exit interviews Oct. 1 or earlier. With more than 60 percent of the command's civilian workers eligible to retire in the next few years, AFMC officials are working to reshape the current workforce so future demands will continue to be met. One step in this process is finding out what new and separating employees think. "We're trying to get data we can use to structure new programs and policies," said Polly Sweet, AFMC human resources division director. The information will be analyzed quarterly. Officials at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas will give entrance interviews after a new employee's first 120 days on the job. Employees will be asked for feedback on the recruitment and hiring process, training they have been offered and any suggestions for improvements in the hiring process that should be considered. Exit interviews will be conducted as part of out-processing procedures, she said. "We want to pinpoint things we could have done to retain these employees," Sweet said. "Are there things we should be doing to make the workplace more worker-friendly? Is there more training we should give? Are the supervisors providing the kind of feedback and guidance the employees need? Was salary a reason for their leaving?" The interviews should begin commandwide soon, once each center works out implementation and impact bargaining issues with their respective unions, officials said. Although AFMC needs this program most because it employs the lion's share of Air Force civilian employees, Sweet said it will eventually be used beyond command boundaries. "We're basically partnering with the Air Force," she said. "Once we get this implemented across the command, the Air Force intends to use the same tool." This Web-based interview process was used in a trial with engineering employees in June, Sweet said. This allowed program officials to fine tune their process and work out some software glitches. (Courtesy of AFMC News Service) 1150. Kadena team helps Russia study heavy metal by Master Sgt. Michael Farris 353rd Special Operations Group Public Affairs KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) -- A humanitarian assistance team here is helping people in Russia's port city of Vladivostok study heavy metal. Rather than head-banging, longhaired, extremists, this team of five bioenvironmental engineers and chemists substitute gauges for guitars and replace amps with ampules. The squad spent a week in Vladivostok studying the environmental health of the populace. In just a few days, the team prepared more than 120 samples of children's hair for toxic metal analysis at a lab that routinely performs only 80 samples each month. They also analyzed samples for five toxic metals yielding 300 data results. "This is the fourth year in a row we've sent a clinical ecology team there to assess exposure from an environmental health standpoint," said Lt. Col. Bryan Ramstack bioenvironmental engineer and commander of Detachment 3, Air Force Institute for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Risk Analysis here. In previous years, the team's emphasis was on assessing the environment. This year they focused on assessing people. Most of their efforts centered on analyzing lead in kindergartens and kindergarten children. The team brought 1,000 blood-testing kits that will allow the Russians to test children and view results only three minutes after taking the sample. Throughout the past four years the American team has taken 15,000 samples from food, air, water, soil, paint, pesticides and other mediums. "We prepared them to do more analysis on their own," Ramstack said. "We brought our chemists to observe and help them analyze clinical samples. Many of the situations they face are similar to environmental challenges Americans face. We just had the ability to assess the environmental dangers earlier. They have very competent doctors and chemists but they need assistance in funding and supplies." Maj. Peter Breed, another bioenvironmental engineer, said the Russian's strengths are their ingenuity, resourcefulness and enthusiasm. "They recognize their shortcomings and work very hard to capitalize on their strengths," he said. "Several years ago, they recognized their exposure and asked for assistance -- we were happy to offer a hand." The team's greatest achievement during this year's trip to Russia was the use of military aircraft, Ramstack said. A crew from the 1st Special Operations Squadron shuttled the team to Russia and another crew from the 17th SOS picked the team up a week later and brought them home. "At the outset of this mission, (U.S.) Pacific Command set a few goals for us to meet," Breed said. "Among them were goodwill, interoperability and access. Military transport allowed us to bring more supplies, saved us money on airfare and freed up resources for the humanitarian aspects of the visit." An MC-130H hauled 1,000 pounds of supplies and the five-member team, demonstrating the ability to get in and out of a country the U.S. military does not routinely visit. "Returns from this sort of interoperability must not be understated," Ramstack said. "These cooperative efforts will only serve to pave the way for joint training, medical capabilities exercises, disaster response drills and other future events." (Courtesy of Pacific Air Forces News Service) 1152. Reserve B-52 launches new cruise missile BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFPN) -- The 93rd Bomb Squadron here participated in the Air Force's first operational launch of an AGM-86C Block 1A, the newest version of the conventional air launch cruise missile. The Air Force Reserve Command B-52H Stratofortress bomber mission began early Aug. 16 en route to the Utah Test and Training Range, near Ogden, Utah. The CALCM is an air-to-ground strategic cruise missile that gives the Air Force an economical, rapid response, worldwide conventional strike capability, making it a cost-effective choice for additional system upgrades and new mission applications, officials said. "Training with live weapons, especially the magnitude of the cruise missile is a great chance for us to train with real weapons," said Maj. Rob Burgess, mission aircraft commander. "It provides us an opportunity to see how they operate." Previous Block 1-A enhancements include precision strike accuracy, global positioning system anti-jamming and an improved terminal flight profile. "Launching a live missile differs from what we do on a day-to-day basis because our simulator doesn't take it to this higher level of training," said Maj. David Lunger, 93rd BS instructor radar navigator. "This kind of training is invaluable." Officials said this cruise missile launch was the first time a 917th Wing aircraft here participated in the Weapons System Evaluation Program, a program designed to provide support for Air Force positions concerning operational needs, force structure recommendations, material modifications, and requirements for new equipment. The WSEP was also the first operational launch of an AGM-86C Block 1A; previous launches were tests. "Everything from weapons buildup through destruction of the target was assessed," Lunger said. >> WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! *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! *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? 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