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Show Nov. 18. 1993 Page 3 a Fighter Country AF aims to 'break bank1 within three years ByCapt Ginger Jabour ASD Public Affairs numbers hold true, no more young Air Force current If "banked" and the bank should be empty of pilots will be pilots within the next three years, according to an Air Force Military Personnel Center official. Maj. Don Cohick of the Operations Officers Assignn ment Division spoke to banked pilots at 15. He new said Oct Force Air initiatives will AFB, Ohio, mean all undergraduate pilot training students will begin flying upon graduation. "We have in fact put the last person into the bank, as of September,' Cohick said. "All students from the most recent class had flying assignments. Hopefully, we can Wright-Patterso- continue that" Cohick said there's been "a huge resolve" all the way down the chain of command to get out of the banking business. But not all newly trained pilots will go to operational aircraft or major weapon systems, as was the case before the banking system took effect. However, every pilot will be able to fly under one of the new programs. "In July, we were successful in increasing the number of aircraft assignments available for UPT students, and we've got several other initiatives getting started,"he said. These include an increased number of fighter pilot slots, Air National Guard flight opportunities, some heliinstructor pilot slots. copter training, and "The National Guard said, ' Hey, we're hurting for people to fly our operational airlift support mission,' and we said we have some folks wc can loan you for three years. And we set up the 6 program," Cohick said. The C-is a first-assignme- nt C-2- 26 Fairchild Metroliner. "When UPT students start getting this assignment, they go to three weeks of training in San Antonio (Texas) for academics, then to their National Guard unit to check out in the aircraft." Students spend three years flying the 6 and are guaranteed follow-o- n assignments in an Air Mobility Command aircraft, Cohick said. Each UPT class is also getting about three slots to fly helicopters, while others go on to become 7 instructor pilots. C-2- T-3- The Air Force started the Pilot Banking program in 199 It also reduced the number of people going to UPT, officer flying slots, while limiting the number of field-grain an effort to increase the number of flying slots available to junior officers. "When this business started, the Air Force was going through its most massive drawdown ever," said Cohick. "We had a situation where we were graduating more UPT students than we had cockpits for. The Air Force decided to put UPT graduates in jobs instead of letting them go as the Navy did, Cohick 1. de non-flyi- ng said. because you never "We didn't want to get into that know when major events might occur and you'd need a so we went into the banking alternasurplus of pilots tive." Most of the pilots attending the Oct. 15 session agreed that, although they would prefer to be flying, they were gaining valuable experience in their current jobs. Many said they are also working to earn graduate degrees before returning to the cockpit. McPeak: Air Force searches for more ways to cut costs It's By TSgt. Sarah Hood Air Force News Service The Air Force is on the prowl for cheaper ways to get the done and still keep the force ready to fight said the Air job Force Chief of Staff. "We need to look under every rock for cost savings," said Gen. Merrill A. McPeak. "Reducing total costs not cost costs and but is more, steady reducing holding doing essential to fulfilling our vision ofbuilding the world's most respected and space force." The Air Force has already trimmed much of its fat but still faces a spiraling budget and set force structure. Consequently, one of the "biggest puzzles" facing senior leaders is where to go to save money, McPeak said. At the Air Force Association Symposium in Los Angeles Oct 28, McPeak said the Air Force is doing a fairly good job of getting more for its money by improving such areas as productivity, readiness, quality and morale. But it hasn't done as well with cost reduction getting the same thing for less money. Flightline security: Everyone's business M8FW Public Affairs Report When an unfamiliar person walks into someone's office, "can I help you," is expected, right? The same should be true of the flightline, I according to MSgt Jessie Gibbs, Security Police Liaison for the 388th Fighter Wing. - "The people working on the flightline need to treat their work areas as the valuable place that it is, and if an unfamiliar face is in their ; area, they need to be questioned about their ; business there," he said. ; Aircraft security, according to Gibbs, is everyone's job. Knowing the people around you ; is an important part of that According to Gibbs, the majority of police reports involving 388th personnel deal with theft of private and personal property, drunk and disorderly conduct assault, suicidal ges- - ; tures and consumption of alcohol by a minor. He uses the example of a Seymour-Johnso- n ' AFB airman who killed his wife on a Saturday and himself on Monday to emphasize the need for knowing the people around you and the lands of problems and situations they maybe dealing with. "Remember that people may not be handling stress from home or the job as well as you think, said Gibbs. "If you see a problem, bring it to the attention of a supervisor or commander before the problem escalates into something that can endanger the lives of others or the safety of aircraft operations." "By protecting our resources and people, ; we can cxmlinoc the tradition ofXecping America safe and strong." All in the Numbers In 1946, after four years of war, the budget shortfall was approximately $ 16 billion. In 1993, after four decadesof cold war, the deficit exceeds $300 billion. That deficit coupled with the collapse of the Soviet empire, results in a defense War II lows, said budget reaching historic post-Wor- ld McPeak. The Air Force budget has dropped some 44 percent since the peak years of the mid-- 1 980s, and people and Air Force structure have "taken their hits," he said. Active-dut- y strength is already down a third and the combat fighter force is down to about half of what it was five years ago. McPeak read that as meaning the Air Force can't expect funding to improve; that its budget is definitely "headed further south." "We also can't in good faith, support more cuts in force structure oyer and above those called for in the (Pentagon's) Bottom-U- p Review," he said. "We have already gone down as far as we can and still do what an Air Force is asked to do what the president will rely on us to do if called on to fight and win two nearly simultaneous major regional conflicts." We've Come a Long Way Restructuring has already eliminated unnecessary layers, consolidated headquarters and reduced staffs. Major a 40 percent commands have been cut from 13 to eight been cut have colonel reduction. More than 1,000 positions Staff. of since McPeak has been chief By 1995, there will be about 3,500 colonels in the Air Force. He said it seems like only yesterday there were 6,000. Progress has also been made in shedding cold war programs, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles. Other programs, such as the 2 and 1 7, have been restructured. McPeak said these cancellations and restructures reflect the B-- C-- purge of cold war requirements. Reforming the acquisition process could also "go a long way" toward reducing the cost of doing business, he said, adding the Air Force will "fly formation in any broader effort to overhaul the way this country buys military hardware." Where to go from Here What that leaves the Air Force with is the cost of operating and maintaining the force. "Of course, we must proceed with care when tapping our O&M (Operations and Maintenance) account as a source for cost savings," he said. "We're talking about core tasks flying airplanes, monitoring satellites, maintaining missiles," said McPeak. They are the line items in the Operations and Maintenance account and the "bedrock" of readiness, which remains the Air Force's top priority, he said. "But we simply must look at O&M because there is no where else to look." For example, while the Air Force will fly more than a million fewer hours in 1995 than it did in 1985, O&M costs will increase from 30 percent to 36 percent over the same decade. McPeak envisions at least three steps to help reduce operating costs: One is a better accounting system, one that accounts for costs in a more timely and accurate manner. Two, he said, the Air Force needs to continue improving the reliability and maintainability of its systems. In 1995, 13 percent of the Air Force's top line budget will be spent on the part of O&M that includes such things as fuel, depot maintenance and depot repairable parts. "We can address this issue in two ways," said McPeak. "We can work the problem up front by better design of the equipment we acquire." For example, he said, due to better engineering, the flying hour cost of the 7 will be 40 percent less than the The other option is to work the "back end" finding ways to make the repair process itself more efficient. For example, surcharges for such things as transportation and storage costs incurred when repairing parts or providing supplies often doubles the overall repair cost. In other words, it costs as much or more to manage the repair as it costs to make it he said. "We simply must do better." Third, McPeak said the Air Force needs to "turn loose the talent and creative energies of people at the point of contact." Empowering people, letting them take the initiative to find better ways to do the mission." it But he said, it will take more than encouragement incentives. take will In Fiscal 1993, money for depot repair of exchangeable spare parts was put into the wing commander's budget for the first time and not in a global Air Force account. Now when the wing commander pays the bill, he has an incentive to come up with new ways to both reduce breakage and fix what's broken on base thus reducing costs, said McPeak. The same concept is being applied tofuels giving the dollars to the wing commander. "In '93, we selected three bases for a pilot program. In one year, Seymour Johnson and (AFB.N.C.) alone saved $1.4 million in fuel costs incentive." Now that's powerful they got to keep half that. But the Air Force can't win the battle alone and is looking to its partners in the defense industry to help cut cost scrub of th costs. An Air program will save the service about $5 million in support costs next C-1- C-5- B. Force-indust- ry B-1- B year. "We need more success stories like this," said McPeak. Wing needs memorabilia for historical display The 388th Fighter Wing, in conjunction with the 388th Bombardment Group Association, is creating a display at the Hill AFB Aerospace Museum to preserve its heritage. Since the 388th Fighter Wing has been at Hill AFB nearly 20 years and considers this its "stateside home," the museum was chosen as an ideal place for the display. To accurately depict the wing's past the display needs to show examples of the wing in each stage of its development Former and current wing members who would like to donate memorabilia such as uniforms, photographs or equipment are asked to compile a list with a brief explanation of the historical si gnificance of each item, an objective asscsmcnt of the item's condition, and, in the case of photographs, the wing will copy them and return the prints or negatives to the owner. Each display item will bear a placard giving full credit to the donor. For more information about the display, contact the wing's historian, TSgt. Morris Ourslcr at 777-292- 0. |