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Show Hilltog TIMES Weekly Since 1948 ABOVE ALL. AIR | SPACE | CYBERSPACE Hill AFB, Utah 84056-5824 www.hilltoptimes.com hilltoptimes@standard.net Vol. 68 No. 1£, March 27, 200§ IN THE KNOW Blood donors needed Friday Two base blood drives will be held on March 28. The first will be from 8 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. in Building 568. The second will be from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. in the Mobile Unit, in the parking lot of Building 568. To make an appointment, call Mountainstar Donor Services at 479-2389. Walkins are welcome, too. For more information, call Master Sgt. Margaret E. Santamaria at 777-1147. Alcohol demos to show effects The ADAPT Program staff will have information booths set up from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., three Saturdays in April. An interactive DU! simulator and drunken goggles will be available to display the adverse effects of alchol on specific tasks. The sites and dates are as follows: Warrior Fitness Center, April 9 Medical Group Lobby, April 16 BX Food Court, April 23 For more information, . contact Tech. Sgt. Tonya V. Holloway, at 777-7909. Special agent gets Bronze Star Hilltop Times staff H ILL AIR FORCE BASE — For his efforts while in Iraq, Special Agent Reed A. Keller received the Bronze Star from Maj. Gen. Kathleen Close at a special ceremony at Hill Air Force Base on March 14. He received the medal before departing for his next assignment at Fort Dix as an instructor. During his deployment from Sept. 26, 2006, until March 2007, Keller led or participated in more than 80 counterinsurgency combat missions which resulted in the finding and passing along of more , than 400 threat reports. His actions were taken while exposed to extreme danger from small arms fire, mortar and improvised explosive devices. He led a one-month operation to find, fix, track and neutralize the enemy following a complex rocket attack on Balad Air Base and a bomb attack on the responding force that resulted in the deaths of two soldiers and the injuries of two others. Agent Keller identified all the attackers and accompanied the raid on the cell leader who had vowed he would die fighting. The cell leader was captured along with a brigade high-level value target. Keller directed 10 informants during cell penetration operations resulting in See KELLER I page 6 U.S. Air Force Special Agent Reed A. Keller receives the citation to go along with his Bronze Star from Maj. Gen. Kathleen Close at a ceremony at Hill Air Force Base on March 14. He received the honor for his efforts in Iraq from Sept. 26, 2006, through May 2007. JET FOR A JAZZ SINGER BY STAFF SGT. MOMQUE RANDOLPH Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs W Strategic systems award banquet The Brent Scowcroft Awards Banquet will be held April 2 to honor teams and individuals responsible for the support of the SpaceC31 and ICBM weapons systems. Maj. Gen. Roger Burg, 20th Air Force Commander, will speak at the event focused on the sustainment, logistics and maintenance fields of the Air Force strategic systems. The awards cover seven categories: ICBM acquisition/sustainment individual, ICBM acquisition/ sustainment team, SpaceC31 acquisition/sustainment individual, Space-C31 acquisition/sustainment team, ICBM maintenance/ logistics, Space-C31 maintenance/logistics and ICBM depot maintenance. The ceremony will be held at the Davis Conference Center, 762 Heritage Park Blvd., Layton. Reservations are required by March 28. Cost is $25 and must be received by reservation deadline. Service dress or business attire is required. "The caliber of the past competition suggests that being nominated represents a significant accomplishment in itself; winning is ice cream on the cake," said Jim Aadland, president of AFA Northern Utah Chapter 235. For further information, contact Jim Aadland at 775-2011, Capt. Jack Felici, 777-2230,1st Lt. Amy Sweazy, 586-1255 or Shanna Campbell, 586-9318. New air tanker essential SAM SHORE/U.S. Air Force Don Cazel, executive director, Ogden Air Logistics Center, presents Thurl Bailey with a memento from Hill Air Force Base for coming out to the base to help kick off the 2008 Air Force Assistance Fund campaign. Bailey played for 12 years with the Utah Jazz and is now an inspirational singer, songwriter, speaker and a game analyst for the Jazz. He sang the national anthem and was a key part of the two-hour celebration to draw attention to the start of the AFAF campaign at Hill AFB. For more, see story and photo on page 9. ASHINGTON — While many are focused on the formal protest of the recent KC-45A contract award, the needs of the warflghter — and the nation — remain unchanged. The Air Force's nearly 50-year-old KC135 Stratotanker must be replaced with a newer, more capable aircraft as soon as possible. 'This is a matter of national security and we can't lose sight of that as a nation. It's critically urgent that we get on with bringLig a new tanker into our fleet; our global range and global reach rely on the tanker," said Gen. Arthur J. Lichte, the commander of Air Mobility Command See TANKER I page 5 Armament maintenance important to keeping mission on target BY STAFF SGT. MARESHAH HAYNES 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq — The call goes out and people begin to scatter. There's a sense of urgency in the air that can almost be felt, like static electricity that makes the hair on your arms stand up. The pilots and crew . chiefs are preparing for the mission — to rumble like thunder overhead and strike their targets from the sky like lightning. Thanks in part to armament systems specialists like those assigned to the 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron^ the lightning strikes its target with precision. "A lot of people think we just attach the bombs to the racks," said Master Sgt. Cliff Hamon, 332nd EAMXS Viper aircraft maintenance unit noncommissioned officer in charge. "There are a lot of things we do to ensure they actually hit their targets," said the sergeant deployed from Hill Air Force Base. Armament systems specialists, commonly known as weapons loaders, are responsible for maintaining, loading and troubleshooting weapons systems as well as loading them onto aircraft. They also load and service aircraft gun systems on F-16 Fighting Falcons, said Staff Sgt. Peter Yuenger, 332nd EAMXS Viper AMU armament systems specialist, who is also deployed from Hill AFB. One particular weapons system that component armament systems specialists maintain is alternate mission equipment, which attaches to the wings of an aircraft and, in turn, creates a means to attach munitions. "When they (planes) have scheduled maintenance, we'll turn them in and we'll completely strip the jet; there won't be any AME on it," said Tech. Sgt. Delbert Schoonover, 332nd EAMXS Viper AMU armament systems specialist. "When we get it back, we have to re-install the AME, and then do a reliability check before we can accept any bombs to hang on the aircraft." See LOADERS I page 6 Look inside this week's Hilltop Times for... Base Theater Free Movies Friday, 7 p.m. - "I Am Legend"(PG-13) Saturday, noon - "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (PG) Saturday, 7 p.m. - "Meet the Spartans" (PG-13) For review see page 9 Culture 'doc' ill son dies Around Hill WSU professor deploys to Afghanistan Base namesake's descendant also Air Force pilot See page 4 See page 4 Seewhafs happening on base in April See pages 8,10 |