18dec97 - afns

[AFNS]

Celebrating the Air Force's 50th Anniversary:
The Golden Legacy, Boundless Future...
Your Nation's Air Force
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Air Force News Service
This file contains 6 stories and two image cutlines
AFNS electronic filename: 18dec97
971614. Christmas greetings to Air Force men and women
971610. Overseas Enlisted Tour Extension Incentive increases to $2,000
971612. LEAD Program offers airmen commissioning opportunity
971611. U.S. Pacific Command closes Indonesian fire-fighting operation
971613. NCOs help save Air Force about $1.5 million
971615. AFRL, Rome program to enhance airport ground safety
971611a,b. U.S. Pacific Command closes Indonesian fire-fighting
operation - cutlines
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971614. Christmas greetings to Air Force men and women

by F. Whitten Peters
Undersecretary of the Air Force

Christmas is a glorious season -- a time to give thanks for all the
blessings we enjoy. It is a great honor for me to express my thanks to
the men and women of our Air Force as we approach this holiday season.

Like all of you, I look forward to sharing the joy and magic of this
Christmas season with family and friends. No one has done more to make
this Christmas season special than the men and women of our United
States Air Force. Those who are deployed during this holiday season
deserve a special measure of our gratitude and respect for a job well
done.

The volunteer spirit and "can-do" professionalism of the men and women
of our Air Force continually overwhelm me. Since my nomination as
undersecretary, I have seen first-hand how you unselfishly give your
time and your talents to underwrite our nation's values and vital
interests, and the freedoms we cherish here at home. From Osan (Air
Base, South Korea) to Incirlik (Air Base, Turkey), from CONUS
(continental United States) to Bosnia, to a host of unlikely places
across the globe, many of you work long hours, often under extreme
conditions, while routinely placing yourselves in harm's way. Your
daily routine is a far cry from the comforts of home and joy of
Christmas. As one who closely monitors where you are and what you do, I
am humbled to serve on your behalf.

I appreciate -- beyond the power of words -- your service and the
sacrifices you routinely endure on behalf of your fellow Americans.
Thank you for bringing the hope and peace of Christmas to a world that
sometimes seems without hope, to a world that is anything but peaceful.
Just as those who faithfully watched their flocks by night were rewarded
with a sign of good news, you continue to be America's silent sentinels
for freedom.

My wife, Monnie, and I wish all of you the best possible Christmas and
holiday season. As we bring 1997 to a close, we are proud of your
service to our nation and keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

Please take time during this holiday season to thank your loved ones who
support you throughout the year. I am as grateful to them as I am proud
of you. Have a happy and safe holiday.
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971610. Overseas Enlisted Tour Extension Incentive increases to $2,000

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- A provision in the fiscal 1998
Defense Authorization Act increased the incentive bonus by more than
$1,000 for
certain enlisted members extending their overseas tours by 12 months,
personnel officials here said.

The amount is now a $2,000 lump sum payment received upon entering the
Date Eligible for Return from Overseas extension versus the $80 a month
payment totaling $960 a year.

Enlisted members qualifying for the program include any member stationed
at a short tour location. They can be serving unaccompanied 12- and
15-month tours or split tours of either 24 months accompanied or 12 or
15 months unaccompanied.

Along with them, members at long tour locations serving in critical or
imbalanced Air Force Specialty Codes identified by the Air Force are
also eligible. Some of the specialties currently included are Airborne
Communications Systems (1A331), Combat Control (1C271) and Safety
(1S051).

"This incentive bonus in long tour locations is for those critical
career fields that are hard to fill in overseas areas," said Lt. Col.
Stan Perrin, chief of the Assignment Procedures Division here.

Members may check with their local Military Personnel Flights to see if
their AFSC is eligible for an incentive under the Overseas Tour
Extension Incentive Program.

"Members who entered their DEROS forecast window Oct. 1 are eligible for
the $2,000 lump sum incentive," Perrin said. "Unfortunately, since this
incentive begins with FY 98, any members who forecast or entered their
12-month extension before this time aren't eligible for the $2,000 lump
sum, but will continue to be eligible for the $80 per month incentive."

As part of the entire OTEIP, those who forecast an extension as of Oct.
1 may have opted for other incentives offered by the Air Force. These
options include: 30 days of nonchargeable leave or 15 days of
nonchargeable leave and round trip transportation, at government
expense, to the nearest stateside port.

"If people elected one these incentives they may request to switch to
the $2,000 lump sum incentive," Perrin said. "Also, those members who
previously didn't extend their tour after Oct. 1, but now want to due to
the $2,000 incentive can do so."

Members who take the incentive and later have their tour curtailed will
have to pay back a prorated share of the incentive. For each month
members are curtailed from their 12-month extension, they must repay
$166.66. For example, a person who has his or her tour curtailed by
three months must repay the Air Force $499.98. Members curtailed due to
base closure actions or for humanitarian reasons will not have to repay
the prorated share they owe.

"This is a really good deal for members overseas in critical jobs who
want to extend just one more year," Perrin said. "I hope people who are
eligible weigh their options and take advantage of this program."

More details concerning the program can be obtained at local MPFs.
(Courtesy of Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs)
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971612. LEAD Program offers airmen commissioning opportunity

RANDOLPH AFB, TX (AFNS) -- The Air Force is looking for a few good
airmen to "LEAD" the Air Force into the next millennium.

Phase I of the Leaders Encouraging Airmen Development program is
underway, giving wing commanders the authority to nominate highly
qualified airmen to attend the Air Force Academy Preparatory School.
These nominations are made with the intention of the member attending
the academy and eventually being commissioned a second lieutenant.

The academy reserves seats at the prep school for deserving airmen who
meet their criteria. In 1997, 258 airmen applied with 50 attending the
prep school. Eight airmen received direct appointments to the academy
class of 2001. The deadline to apply for the LEAD program is Jan. 31.

LEAD applicants must meet stringent requirements for a direct
appointment to the academy, according to officials. To be eligible to
apply for either school, an airman must be at least 17, but not older
than 22, by July 1 of the entering year. He or she must be a U.S.
citizen or eligible for citizenship, be of high moral character,
unmarried with no legal dependents and meet specific requirements for
pull-ups, sit-ups and the 300-yard shuttle run.

Academically, applicants must be in the top 40 percent of their high
school class or have a 2.71 adjusted grade point average if the high
school didn't rank students. They must have a Scholastic Aptitude Test
score of 480 verbal and 520 math, or an American College Test score of
21 English, 21 reading, 23 math and 23 science reasoning.

For more information about the LEAD program or an application, contact
your local education services center.
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971611. U.S. Pacific Command closes Indonesian fire-fighting operation

by Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Haug
Pacific Air Forces News Service

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFNS) -- For the more than 13 million
people of Indonesia, the risk of losing their homes to one of the worst
fires in their history has subsided thanks to efforts of Air Force and
Air National Guard units this fall.

Some of the fires, brought under control by the 153rd Airlift Wing,
Wyoming Air National Guard, were still burning in the outer jungles of
Indonesia when the Guard unit departed. But Mother Nature has taken
over with the onslaught of her rainy season and officials expect the
fires to burn out soon.

"We expect the remaining fires to burn themselves out with in the next
few weeks," said Col. Harold Reed, commander of the operation. Reed
came to Hawaii to brief Pacific Command officials on his way back to
Wyoming Dec. 6.

The use of fire retardant, brought in for the second phase of the
operation, is what made the operation a success, according to Reed.

"In the first part of the operation we used water on open forest areas,
but without fire retardant we would have never penetrated the jungle
canopies to reach the fires source."

The retardant allowed the unit to build fire lines which prevented the
fire from spreading to other areas, Reed explained.

He said, even though his unit fights many fires on the West Coast of the
United States, this operation was unlike all the rest. "We usually have
U.S. Forestry ground support teams directing the operation," the colonel
said. "Our role is to make drops at places they've asked us to."

In this operation, the 153rd was the lead organization. They had to
plan the attacks and execute them. "We did have some limited ground
support from neighboring countries," Reed said.

In a fire fight, ground teams build fire lines out in front of the
fire's path, slowly surrounding the fire and forcing it to burn itself
out. The 153rd did this by laying miles of jelly-like fire retardant
across the Indonesian jungle floor.

Late in the operation, while flying to drop retardant outside a heavy
wooded area, a small village was spotted near a river. "We saw
villagers trying to keep the fire from their huts with the use of only
two buckets," Reed said. He said they altered their mission plan and
laid retardant just outside the village homes. The next day, while
flying out for another mission, Reed's crew members reported seeing the
villagers waving as if to thank them.

"As we looked down at the village, we could see that the homes were
saved but only by a few feet," Reed said. "We had gotten there in time.
It's makes you feel good when you know you've done something like that."

In all, the unit flew 194 sorties for more than 272 flying hours. They
dropped more than 410,000 gallons of water and 275,000 gallons of fire
retardant.

Medical units from Kadena Air Base, Japan, supported the crews. "Their
biggest challenge," Reed said, "was keeping the crews hydrated and
cool." Outside temperatures were measured in excess of 100 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Besides making sure the crews drank enough water, the medical crews came
up with ways to make staying cool and hydrated a little more
interesting, Reed said. They put watermelons in the crews' rest area
and poured buckets of cold water over anyone who looked like they needed
it, he said.

"At first the crews weren't too sure about the water being poured on
them," Reed said, "but by the end of the operation, they were more than
receptive to the idea."
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971613. NCOs help save Air Force about $1.5 million

by Staff Sgt. Amy Hickey
AMC News Service Editor

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Two noncommissioned officers
assigned to Air Mobility Command headquarters helped save the Air Force
about $1.5 million recently.

Master Sgt. Bill Ogden and Staff Sgt. Robert Tedford, assigned to the
Air Transportation Programs Division equipment management branch
researched and obtained replacement clips for defective MB-2 cargo
tie-down devices, thus avoiding the need to purchase all-new devices
when the clips wore out.

The MB-2 devices are used to secure large, heavy cargo aboard AMC
aircraft. "Broken devices can affect how much cargo the command can
move, which in turn can affect the overall airlift mission," said
Tedford.

Workers in the field first brought the problem to the command's
attention.

"We got a call from Travis (Air Force Base, Calif.) that they had some
bad devices. Part of the device had worn down and it could no longer be
fastened correctly on the aircraft," Ogden said.

"We started checking with other AMC units to see if they were having the
same problem," he added. "It turned out roughly 50 percent of the
devices in the field were bad."

Because of the defective clip, cargo could become loose and cause
extensive damage to the aircraft. "If you've got 25,000 pounds of loose
equipment, you've got a serious problem," said Tedford.

Currently, there are 9,868 devices in the command's inventory, and they
typically have a shelf life of five to seven years, according to the
equipment managers.

At $198 each, the command had considered the devices throw-away items,
meaning that when they broke, they would be tossed. But Ogden and
Tedford said that spending that kind of money when only part of the
device was broken "did not make sense."

It would cost the Air Force in excess of $1.6 million to replace all of
the defective devices. "When we realized how much it would cost to
replace the devices, we decided to research into getting replacement
parts made. We worked with the tie-down item manager at Kelly AFB,
Texas, to find a company that could manufacture replacement parts in a
timely manner to solve this problem as quickly as possible," Ogden said.

Thanks to the efforts of the two NCOs, the cost of repairing the
defective devices is around $130,000; a savings of nearly $1.5 million
to the Air Force.

"And that's just the initial savings. Over time, more devices would
have had to be replaced. Now they can be repaired for a fraction of the
cost," Tedford said. "Instead of wasting $198 to replace each defective
device, which is like buying a whole new set of tires for car when only
one tire is flat, we're replacing the defective part for $13."

"This office is always looking for ways to do things smarter," Ogden
added.

Actions like the ones taken by Ogden and Tedford are one reason the
command is highlighting its enlisted force during fiscal 1998, according
to officials.

"These NCOs looked at the situation, thought it didn't make sense to
just trash the device, and found a way to save the Air Force a bunch of
money," said Col. Ron Drake, chief of the Air Transportation Programs
Division. "No one told them to do it. They went above and beyond."
(Courtesy of AMC News Service)
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971615. AFRL, Rome program to enhance airport ground safety

ROME, N.Y (AFNS) -- Enhanced ground safety at the nation's military and
civilian airports may be as close as the corner grocery store -- more
accurately, as close as the intersection in front of the corner grocery
store.

Engineers at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information
Directorate here are extending simple traffic-light sensors to perform
advanced ground vehicle safety protection.

The Information Directorate has entered into a $1.3 million contract
with ORINCON Corp. of San Diego, Calif., to demonstrate the use of
inductive loop sensors as an affordable and reliable ground surveillance
and tracking system for airfields. The system extends current sensor
technologies for controlling traffic signals with advanced information
processing techniques.

These augmented sensors can detect, characterize and track aircraft,
fuel trucks, and other ground vehicles on runways and taxiways in all
weather conditions. When the sensor data is fused together, the system
could identify the potential for collisions and alert the control tower
in time to prevent mishaps. The system can also enhance security by
recognizing unauthorized vehicles.

The initial technology was developed under a grant from the federal
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program.

"These loops will identify aircraft and vehicles going over them by
magnetic signature," said Richard R. Gassner, the program manager in the
Fusion Technology Branch of the directorate's Information and
Intelligence Exploitation Division.

"This program integrates current automobile sensor technology with
advanced fusion and classification techniques developed by the
military," explained Gassner. "The new technology is the system's
magnetic signature recognition of various aircraft and vehicles. We
will apply neural network technology to train the system to recognize
the aircraft and other vehicles commonly operating at an airfield. Data
fusion technology is used to integrate the individual sensors around the
entire airfield complex into a cohesive ground monitoring system."

"This system, using off-the-shelf technology, can be developed at less
than one-tenth the cost and provide better coverage and performance than
ground radar systems at commercial airports that suffer from degraded
performance under bad weather conditions and in the presence of
clutter," said Gassner.

"It can also provide the aircraft or vehicle classification on the air
traffic controller's display and identify the potential for collisions
-- a capability not currently available," Gassner added.

"Since the amount of metal and the magnetic signature differs for all
aircraft types and ground vehicles, this system should increase security
by recognizing unknown vehicles on the runway," he said. "It could be
especially valuable in situations where a controller cannot visibly
monitor the runway due to obstructions, poor weather conditions or
darkness. It may also assist controllers who are responsible for
monitoring activity at 'uncontrolled' airstrips that may be several
miles away from the control tower."

The initial contract to gather the magnetic signatures and develop a
demonstration system is scheduled for completion in September 1998. The
ORINCON contract is funded through the office of the secretary of Air
Force. ORINCON is also involved in a Federal Aviation Administration
effort to test the inductive loop sensor technology at a commercial
airport in Long Beach, Calif. (Courtesy of Rome Laboratory Public
Affairs)
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971611a,b. U.S. Pacific Command closes Indonesian fire-fighting
operation - cutlines
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971611a.gif and 971611a.jpg
A Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 drops slurry -- a form of fire
retardant --on a fire on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Modular
Airborne Fire Fighting System can dispense 3,000 gallons of slurry in as
little as 5 seconds. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Daryl W. McKamey, Wyoming Air
National Guard)
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971611b.jpg 971611b.gif
A Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 drops water on one of the thousands
of fires on the island of Sumatra. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Daryl W.
McKamey, Wyoming Air National Guard)