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Show AIR FORCE RESERVE Supplement to the Hilltop Tlm$ yy B ir Picture yourself sitting on an aircraft headed for a foreign combat zone. This is not just another exercise or another deployment this is for real, for v keeps. This is it! If you were sitting on that aircraft today, imagine what you'd be thinking. For sure, you'd be wondering what lay ahead not just for you in the war zone, but for family and friends back home. You'd also be looking back on what you'd learned as a Reservist, mentally inventorying the store of information, training and experience which you'd gained over the months and years to prepare you for this moment. It's at this critical point that you'd draw one of two conclusions: either "I'm not really ready for this," or "I'm sure glad I took my Reserve duty seriously and got the most out of it, because I know I can deal with this m ens " situation." . by SrA. Anne Yelderman headsUp staff writer headsUp after her selection as Hill AFB's Outstanding Reserve Airman of the. Year recently.' This is an account of her experience flying with Capt. Ron Zimmerman. Apart from my name and the cartoon eyeballs doodled in mission objective three, there was no sign of familiarity in the pilot's briefing room. Our missions were incongruent. The four pilots were being briefed for a training mission of maneuvers and bombing practice. I was anticipating the ride of my life... in the backseat of an writer, was given a flight in an F-1- a. 6 air-to-a- ir F-1- 6. It was difficult concentrating on the briefing be- of success or survival. So as you go through another Operational Readiness Exercise this month and as we look ahead to the inspection in September is it such a great price to pay, considering what others have given in defense of our country and what price you'd pay if you went into battle unprepared? As the Tactical Air Command motto states, "Readiness is our profession." Ask yourself right now, "Am i ready for the next war?!' Only you can answer that question. Can you live with the answer? L7GCB UUV3 a Aerial movies will never be the same Editor's note: SrA. Anne Yelderman, .. When you consider this scenario, it helps to put into perspective the meaning, the purpose and the value of all the exercises we've had in recent months. They're not fun. Nobody said they would be. They weren't designed to be. But neither is combat. As the old saying goes, "War is hell." If you don't believe it, you're in the wrong business. Just ask the veterans of Europe, the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam. Read what they've said and written about it. The bottom line is when that time comes to go UUUCJUU u .. into combat, you'll either be glad you're ready or sorry because, at that point, it's too late to start getting ready. It seems to me the only greater hell than war would be the hell of being in a war and not ready to fight it with any reasonable chance uuu explained the mission in layman's terms. "We are the Barons. We'll take off first and go hide. Then the fun begins." Soon we were on the flightline. The crew chief was busy preparing the plane, pilot and extra passenger for takeoff. After being strapped in, the words from Carly Simon's song Anticipation danced m my head. The whir of the canopy settling down and Captain Zimmerman's radio voice explaining the quality checks gave an aura of deja vu. Immediately after takeoff we banked to the right. An instant surge of exhilaration awakened every nerve in my body. I had to take a deep breath to prevent a cry of delight from piercing the captain's eardrums. It was real. I was flying in an "Are you ready to fly it?" he asked. "You've got to be kidding," I thought. "Do it," my mind commanded. "You'll never get another chance." "Sure," I blurted confidently to cover my hesitancy. With a grip I grabbed the stick. Unfooled, Captain Zimmerman instructed me to "pull up on the nose a bit. Steady. Now, let's move to the right. A little more to the right. Steady." The muscles in my forearm cramped. I thought he'd ; ; never take the controls back. "They've spotted us," he said as we took a nose dive and quickly headed in the opposite direction. The excitement of the game was contagious. A roller coaster ride was boring compared to this, and watching the movie Top Gun will never hold the excite- iL : 1 'i I , " T - , - , .gf v F-1- 6. ' I cause there was so much to absorb Earlier, the life support experts fitted me for a flight suit, but not before they had a good laugh. When they realized a small flight suit was still oversized, it was I who chuckled. The information briefing on egress and survival heightened my sense of mortality and added to my repertoire of knowledge. "And the third mission objective," the flight commander read from the whiteboard, "is to keep Anne from getting too sick." That was Capt. Ron Zimmerman's task, in addi- ment it once held. I asked myself as we landed, "Where but in Ameri tion to providing air attacks, accurately completing could such an opportunity turn into reality?" I ca his bombing pattern and conserving fuel for our ' a stranger no more handed in my helmet and return. the intrigue of an hour ago. As we left the briefing room, Captain Zimmerman ' - if f i fcfi ' white-knuckle- d f - -- V A I 1, A A i $ h V I i U.S. Air Force Photo by TSgt. Bruce Hills Before the fun begins SrA. Anne Yelderman and pilot, Capt. Ron G-su- it, man, before an F-1- 6 Zimmer-t- o flight. Checkered Flag: getting the job done overseas terms of people involved and impact on readiness. When the inspector general shows up every 18 months, Checkered Flag is high on his list of things to look at both on unit effectiveness inspections and operational readiness inspections. Our mission is to be able to mobilize, deploy and fight Checkered Flag will help us do that better. familiarizing members with its facilities, local fly419th TFW Assistant Deputy of Operations ing areas, living conditions, local customs and language. We build into our local exercises what we Imagine a fighter unit that trains at home all the could expect to see at Skrydstrup, and we deploy time and uses the same ranges, with members go- to our Checkered Flag training base as often n as give people actual hands-oing home every night to their families, ill prepared financially possible towe train to be able to operate for the task at hand fighting a war. training. In this way, in than our own backyard. other Tactical Air Command, the 419th Tactical Fight- someplace A unit can improve its readiness in several ways. er Wing's gaining major command, looked at this their unit's Checkproblem about 15 years ago and developed a series Individuals can listen closely to their memories at refresh to of "Flag" programs and exercises to improve ered Flag briefing how to do their job readiness. Skrydstrup. They already know Red Flag was designed to enhance aircrew readi- well it's just a matter of knowing how to do it at ness and combat survivability, Green Flag to im- Skrydstrup. When we have exercises, we should folin combat conditions. prove aircrew threat awareness and countermeasure low procedures as if we are would jeopardize accomresponse, Blue Flag to train command and control Don't take shortcutsorthat risking life in combat. On personnel, Silver Flag for security police, and Check- plishing the tasks deployments to Skrydstrup, we should learn everyered Flag for the entire unit mobility package. Under the Checkered Flag training program, each thing we can about the base and how to operate unit is assigned a training base, which in our case there. Supervisors should pay particular attention is Skrydstrup Air Station, Denmark. As the 419th to who has already been to Skrydstrup and send TFW's training base, the wing builds its training different people on these valuable deployments. in is programs, exercises and some deployments around , Checkered Flag our main training program by Maj. Kent Clark Wing Family Photostatic F16, movies, chow, tournament volleyball fun and games, door prizes 9 oum.3 pm Aug, 12 $1 c headsUptho 41 9th Tactical Fighter Wing Public and Afprovided by scheduled each before Is 10 of articles wing for submission days working fairs Office. line. on a unit training assembly. Articles should be typed, double-space- d For more Information, call the 419th Public Affairs Office, Editorial conUnt it diud, prepared DEADLINE ter 777-271- 3. Brig. Gen. Forrest S. Winebarger Barbara Ann Vessels Maj. Len Barry TSgt. Bruce Hills SrA. Anne Yelderman .............. SSgt. Held! Koford ay 12 end under P?Z2 end Pi$ Ccr.'.c- -t (Soo ftnt sergeants for tickets.), C3 Chili each 419th TFW , , STAFF TFW Commander Chief, Public Affairs Public Affairs Officer .Editor, KCOIC, Public Affair Staff Writer Administrative Specialist 419th |