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1753. First-term airmen can extend for 'personal convenience' RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Airmen serving their first term of enlistment now have the choice to extend one year for their "personal convenience," said officials at the Air Force Personnel Center here. Prior to this change, first-term airmen could only apply to extend for mission-related reasons. "The initiative originated with the major command senior enlisted leadership," said Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Jim Finch, "and it makes sense to implement the change, given our current focus on retention." The change falls under Rule 28, Best Interest of the Air Force, in Air Force Instruction 36-2606, Reenlistment In the United States Air Force. Airmen wishing to extend under this expanded rule must be re-enlistment eligible, must not fall under any of the other 27 rules, and must extend for the entire 12-month period, said Master Sgt. Anthony McKenzie, assistant chief of the skills management branch here. First-term airmen can only extend under this rule once, and the total of this and any other extensions cannot exceed 23 months. For more information on enlistment extensions, individuals can contact their local military personnel flights. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service) 1755. Researchers study weight management program by Tech. Sgt. Steve Elliott Wilford Hall Medical Center Public Affairs LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- America is fast becoming a nation of overweight people, and the U.S. Air Force is not immune to this trend. About 54 percent of military people are overweight, and 6.2 percent are obese, according to a study done by Dr. Richard Atkinson, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin; and reported by Reuters News Service. In the civilian world, the majority of overweight people are women, while in the military, the reverse holds true. Atkinson said a study that shows 58.6 percent of the men and 26.1 percent of the women in the military are overweight. "About 600 people are separated from the Air Force every year for weight reasons. That's 600 potentially productive people lost," said Capt. (Dr.) Christine Hunter, director of clinical programs and research in the Wilford Hall Medical Center clinical health psychology service here, and the Air Force's principal investigator for the $1 million study. Hunter's study is a joint project with Dr. John Foreyt at the Baylor College of Medicine. The study was recommended for funding by the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. "We need to find nonpunitive and practical ways to help our personnel lose weight," Hunter said. "The weight management program can be very stressful for those people in it," she said. "We want to find ways to help people manage their weight successfully before being placed on the weight management program. "Although we want to help people before they get on the weight management program," Hunter said, "we also want to create a flexible, but comprehensive, program that can supplement the efforts of personnel who are already in the program." The heightened stress of administrative placement on the weight management program may also make it more difficult for some people to lose weight, she said. People on the program might be more likely to go to some extreme, such as going on fad diets, using diuretics, exhibiting bulimic behavior, fasting, saunas, or laxative use. "One study found that Air Force personnel on the program are two to five times more likely to engage in bulimic behavior than comparison groups of civilians or active duty not on the weight management program," Hunter said. Currently, when Air Force members are identified as being overweight or over their body fat, they are assessed by medical staff and then entered into the Weight and Body Fat Management Program for an initial 90-day exercise and dietary period. After that, they are entered into a specific phase depending on their progress. In the Air Force, about 22 percent of people weighed during the annual cycle ergometry test are tipping the scales as overweight with nearly 10 percent just five or fewer pounds below their the maximum allowable weight. These percentages are getting higher every year, Hunter said. In the proposed study, prospective participants will be identified through weigh-ins during cycle ergometry testing, since these weights are not officially entered into a person's record. If they are within five pounds of their maximum weight, or above, they will be contacted to see if they want to participate. Those who are interested will come to an orientation session to get some measurements taken, such as height and weight, and will be asked about their perceived energy, dieting history, exercise schedule, etc. "Half the participants will be randomly assigned to usual care; which is whatever they might naturally do or be told by the Air Force to do," Hunter said. "The other half will be put in the minimal contact behavioral therapy program in addition to whatever usual care services they take part in." In the second group, the participants will have access to all usual resources, such as the Health and Wellness Center. However, they will also get a weight-loss manual and two follow-up phone calls from a weight management counselor to plan their own program and help solve problems. They will also have six months special access to a Web site where they can get individualized feedback on their exercise and diet plans, ask questions and use different education programs to complement the program. Both groups will come back at the end of six and 12 months to assess their progress. The goal is to provide them with a flexible means of getting expert help and sustained guidance in their weight loss efforts. About 1,200 people would take part in the study, with the participants coming from Lackland, Randolph and Brooks Air Force bases in San Antonio. "Weight management in the military is a real hot area," Hunter said. "It's a complex problem that will take a complex answer. We hope this can be a piece of the solution by offering a more flexible program. If this program is successful, it can be easily disseminated and distributed throughout the Air Force. "Weight is a complex thing, since food is part of everything we do," she said. "We need to find something anyone can do, no matter what their schedule is. With today's high ops tempo and unusual schedules, hopefully we can get people before they get on the WMP." 1749. Blue Flag evolves through 25 years by Master Sgt. Dawn L. Collazo Air Combat Command Public Affairs LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- Time equals change. For Blue Flag exercise participants, a quarter of a century has produced what was at one time simply a vision. The war games of yesteryear have evolved from grease pencils and laminated boards to personalized computer modeling and simulation exercises. The benefactors: more than 75,000 people from all military branches and 17 nations who have participated since the first Blue Flag exercise held at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., and Eglin AFB, Fla., in December 1976. Valuable lessons learned from the Vietnam War prompted the birth of Blue Flag exercises 25 years ago. The Vietnam War showed that surviving the first 10 combat missions dramatically improved an aviator's chances of surviving the rest of the combat tour. This led to the establishment of the Red Flag program at Nellis AFB, Nev. The operational-level warfighters, the battle staffs, needed a similar combat experience, so Blue Flag was born. The exercise program is designed to train numbered Air Force commanders and battle-staff personnel in the operational art of war, said Dave Kirkpatrick, an operations analyst here. Blue Flag covers the entire theater of operations and teaches strategy, planning procedures, targeting and processes that put strategic airpower into battle. "It's a train-as-you-will-fight program," Kirkpatrick said. The 505th Exercise Control Squadron, part of the Air Force Command and Control Training and Innovation Group, conducts up to four Blue Flag exercises a year. The 505th ECS and the AFC2TIG are based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., and are part of the Aerospace Command and Control and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center at Langley AFB, Va. The commander of the numbered Air Force playing in a particular Blue Flag provides the AFC2TIG with a list of objectives he would like to accomplish in the exercise. The AFC2TIG and the 505th ECS officials develop scenarios that simulate the forces, plans, procedures, intelligence capabilities and threats for the planned theater of operations. Scenarios can range from humanitarian-relief operations to evacuation operations to small-scale conflicts and even major theater wars, Kirkpatrick said. Each Blue Flag begins the same way -- three days of academic training, followed by a four-day scenario using realistic friendly and enemy military forces and contingency plans. The 505th ECS professional control force and the AFC2TIG distribute the scenarios to the NAF air operations center. The people receiving the exercise inputs react to them as if they were getting orders from higher headquarters and executing warfare through wings and squadrons. The exercise ties organizations together through sophisticated communications links. Individual aircrews in simulators across the country "fly" their missions alongside computer-generated aircraft in a virtual battle space and interact with the air operations center. "Blue Flag provides a building-block approach to prepare the air operations center leadership and staff to plan and execute combat air and space operations worldwide," said Lt. Col. Dana Kuecker, the 505th ECS commander. "Now, from their own bases, Blue Flag participants link together to practice and hone their war-fighting skills via computers." In honor of its birth and growth, a Blue Flag 25th-anniversary celebration is scheduled for Dec. 18 at Hurlburt Field. (Courtesy of ACC news Service) 1750. Paint shop puts showroom shine on Eagles by Staff Sgt. Robert Zoellner 33rd Fighter Wing Public Affairs EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- Their job is not to keep F-15 Eagles flying or to repair broken parts. Their job is to keep the 33rd Fighter Wing's F-15s looking sharp and help prevent the breakdown of their metal by painting them. That is the job of the airmen in the corrosion control shop. "We prevent and control corrosion problems on the F-15s," said Tech. Sgt. Mike Rockhold, 33rd Maintenance Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of corrosion control. "We refurbish the coating system on the aircraft, support equipment and aircraft parts. Basically we take the coatings off and re-apply them." Not only do they paint the aircraft, but they also refurbish its nose wheel, main wheels, struts, several brackets, panels and parts that come off the aircraft during phase maintenance. "Just about everything that comes off the aircraft that can be painted, we take care of here," Rockhold said. And it is not an easy job, he said, especially during the hot summer months. "With all the nice equipment we have to protect ourselves, it gets pretty rough over here in June, July and August when it's a hundred-plus degrees outside," Rockhold said. Even though the crews have air-conditioned masks, their heads may be cooled down but the rest of their body is very, very hot. "Sometimes you're soaking wet from the time you get to work until the time you go home," said Airman 1st Class Marcie Corah, 33rd MXS corrosion control structural maintenance journeyman. Corah has been painting F-15s since she joined the Air Force and she said she would not have any other job. "I really love to paint," she said. "I told them (the recruiters) I am not coming into the Air Force unless I get this job." Even though the working conditions can get rough in the shop, the job must get accomplished. "We are always busy," said Senior Airman Will Colello, 33rd MXS corrosion control structural maintenance journeyman. "And it varies from day to day on what we do." When an F-15 is brought in for its scheduled re-painting -- an eight-day task -- the crews know what they will be doing from the time they come in until the time they go home. The eight-day process involves removing the old paint on the entire aircraft, checking for structural problems, priming it, then applying about three coats of special-mix polyurethane paint after the primer has dried. It is a long and arduous process, but the long days and hard work bring gratifying results for the people involved. "The best part of this job is seeing your finished product," Colello said. "A jet you've worked on for eight days and they (F-15 crewmembers) walk in and say 'This looks good.' It feels good knowing they do respect your work." It may seem like an easy job, painting a plane, but not everyone can paint a jet, Rockhold said. "You know if you are good at this job or not when you're done," he said. "Some people have a knack for this (painting) and some people don't." And Rockhold demands a high degree of professionalism on all the work they do, he said. He has even told his crews to push a jet back into the paint bay for re-work. "We take mud in the face when we do that, but it's better than sending out a product that's not completely the way you want it done," Rockhold said. "I think in the long run they (the fighter squadrons) are a lot happier with the aircraft." When they are finished with a jet, nothing compares. "Our jets look brand new, like they just rolled off the showroom floor," Rockhold said. 1748. Working dogs support Elmendorf force protection battle by Senior Airman Connie L. Bias 3rd Wing Public Affairs ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFPN) -- Like most people, Ben has a morning routine. He yawns and stretches. He eats and gets ready for work. Then Ben heads out to pull his duties with the 3rd Security Forces Squadron here, that include securing base gates, searching for suspicious items and patrolling. When he is not beating the streets, he is training. Ben is a military working dog, one of six assigned here, and a tool of supreme value in force protection. "The dog offers a higher degree of protection than we could get from a single person," said Tech. Sgt. Samuel Peters, Elmendorf kennel master. "The force multiplier is almost immeasurable. The dog's senses are much greater than yours or mine. I've seen dogs find a person from across a wooded area or a field from up to 500 yards. From that distance, you can hardly see a person, but the dog can smell them. And it takes the dog maybe a minute to search that area using scent, whereas it might take a person two to three hours using sight and sound." To guide those keen senses, dogs go through daily obedience and proficiency training. "For the basic obedience training, there are certain efficiencies the dog always has to have," said Staff Sgt. William Ping, a military working dog patrolman, and Ben's handler. "For instance, the dog has to sit, stay or lay down, or be able to stay where he's at when you walk away." Just like Air Force enlisted people, dogs begin their careers at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. They are purchased from vendors around the world and shipped to Lackland where they begin training in handler protection, as well as learning to search for explosives or narcotics. Once the dogs have met standards at Lackland, they are sent to different bases and paired with handlers for continued training. "They start the basic training all over again, with a team concept," Ping said. "You have to build a 'one dog, one handler' concept once the dog gets to a base." When the dog trainer and kennel master feel the dog and handler team is ready to work, the team goes through an evaluation and certification process. "At that point, after certification, the dog is ready to perform his duties on the road as a K9 team member," Ping said. This entire process, starting with the initial training at Lackland, takes an average of six to eight months. But the dog is not hidden from sight during this time. While dogs cannot perform legal searches before they are certified, they can still patrol. "A dog comes with a certain amount of psychological deterrence," Peters said. "A police officer, quite frankly, isn't going to bite a person if they don't listen, whereas that dog is going to do just that. The dog demands that respect, so just having the dog visible is a big deterrence factor." That visibility can quickly turn into action if the patrolman runs into a problem. When a patrolman comes across a suspicious person, he will initiate a challenge. "The patrolman basically tells the person to stop where they are, identify themselves, walk towards the patrolman and that sort of thing," Peters said. If the person is uncooperative or runs, the patrolman will release the dog. "We announce that we're going to release the dog before we do it, to give the person an opportunity to stop and listen to us," Ping said. "If they don't, the dog will chase and attack the person." If the suspicious person cooperates with the patrolman, the dog will not be released, but will serve as an over-watch during a search. Dogs also help with car searches, particularly at base gates. "Since the events of Sept. 11, we've been doing a lot more detection searching," Peters said. "The dogs are at the gates at random, and there's always a dog available and on call if anything suspicious comes up. And we're everywhere. We're on the flightline, we search aircraft, we patrol housing areas; we're all over the base." On-call duties, vehicle searches and daily training add up to a busy schedule for the dogs and handlers. Handlers also have to feed and bathe the dogs, take them to the vet and deal with anything else that comes up. The handlers are all volunteers; no one is forced into the duty. Peters even gave up an earlier assignment here just to be a dog handler, not knowing if he would have the chance to be stationed here later. "When I volunteered for this job at 18, coming right out of high school, I had just gone through the Security Police Academy, and I was going to be based here," he said. "To volunteer for K9 meant you lost your orders. I had always wanted to come to Alaska, but I wanted to be a dog handler." Ping's love for animals led him to volunteer, and he said the close relationship he and Ben share is almost indescribable. "It's like having a kid with me," he said. "You get attached to your dog just like you would any other person." A lot of times, a handler is not with another person, Peters said. "That dog is your partner; you depend on each other," he said. As valuable weapons in the battle of force protection, Elmendorf and the rest of the Air Force depend on them, too. 1752. 'Superman' saves neighbor's baby by Airman 1st Class Martha Gilstrap 49th Fighter Wing Public Affairs HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) -- Clark Kent could turn into Superman in an instant to save the world. Luckily for a family here, "Clark Kent" lives next door. Staff Sgt. Eric Reyes' cape and blue tights were not needed, but he did manage to save his neighbor's world. "It was a normal day," said Reyes, a member of the 49th Maintenance Squadron here. He was drifting off to sleep around 9:30 p.m., when his neighbor's 8-year-old-twin daughters, Chelsey and Amber, came to the house. '"The baby is dead! The baby is dead!"' the girls shouted, Reyes said. "It seemed like a terrible nightmare," Reyes said. "I rushed over to my neighbor's house to investigate the situation." "I was talking on the phone and holding my son, Cameron," said Michelle Gilreath, Reyes' neighbor. "When I looked down, his head was limp, his back was arched and his body was shaking. He was pale and gray." When Reyes arrived, the 7-month-old was not breathing. Reyes started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and kept it up until help arrived. Cameron had been seen at the medical clinic earlier that morning and was diagnosed with an ear infection combined with a common cold, Gilreath said. "His temperature had spiked to a level that his body couldn't handle and that triggered the seizure," Gilreath said. "I have taken the child-CPR class; however, when my own child was involved, I froze," she said. "If it hadn't have been for my neighbor, I don't want to think about what could have happened. He saved my son. (Reyes) will always have a special place in the hearts of my family." Medical technicians Tech. Sgt. Marc Dowler and Airman 1st Class Paulo DePaula responded to the call and also helped save Cameron's life. "I couldn't in a lifetime thank them enough," Gilreath said. Senior Airman Christopher Prince and Tech. Sgt. Flint Jernigan of the 49th Security Forces Squadron also arrived on the scene. "They went beyond the call of duty by calming a hysterical mother and embracing two scared 8-year-old girls," Gilreath said. They told Gilreath to go to the hospital with her son and they would stay with her daughters until a friend could arrive and watch them. "All of these people are heroes," she said. "I didn't do anything more than my job as a friend, neighbor and military family member," Reyes said. Gilreath's husband, Staff Sgt. Matt Gilreath, was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom at the time of the incident. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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