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Show August 1994 Fighter Country Page 3A Exchange pilots learn more than flying By AIC Aimee Groben Editor, Fighter Country Everyone recognizes a pilot's flight suit. However, there are a few pilots in the 388th Fighter Wing who don a different uniform when they're not fly- inguniforms from the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force, the Norwegian Air Force and the United States Navy. They are fighter pilots participating in the Air Force's pilot exchange program, where services swap pilots serving from one to four years. The program is all volunteer. With the military leaning toward joint taskings, the exchange program provides a good opportunity for different services to integrate. "I thought this would help foster . good relations between countries. It's an opportunity to see how the US Air Force goes about business," said Fit. Lt. Andrew Owers, an exchange pilot from England for the 4th Fighter Squadron. Owers said the biggest differences in the two air forces are the size and variety of aircraft. "On a busy day at Luke AFB you have more jets going than our entire Air Force," said Owers, who was previously stationed at Luke AFB, Ariz. Owers flew AV8BHarriers inEngland. But he said the best part of serving with the USAF was the "overall facility everything from flying the aircraft, the Utah Test and Training Range and the overall professionalism" that he has seen during his time with the exchange program. The most difficult transition? "The language barrier, believe it or not. Your English is not really English. It's funny to see some of the blank faces I get when I'm in a conversation," said Owers. The transition from the Norwegian Air Force went "fairly smooth" for Capt. Bjorn Granviken, a pilot in the 421st FS from Norway. He has been at Hill for a year and says he is treated just like "one of the guys" at the squadron. "The purpose of the exchange program is to see how a big Air Force operates. Being from a NATO country, it's good to see other nations in operation, especially with the American forces in Europe," said Granviken. "I thought it would be a good thing to see how things are done in the US Air Force; it gives me a broader scale to work from." He said he's getting the chance to work with different equipment here. In Norway he flies mainly air defense, and air to ground (small, general) missions but flying with the 421st involves mostly air to ground missions. anti-shippi- ng "The best part of flying for the USAF is related to its big resources. And it's always a big plus to fly with different forces," he said. The best part about being stationed at Hill? "The skiing is excellent here," said Granviken. The wing's Navy pilot heard about h. the exchange program by word-of-mout- "I wanted the chance to fly another jet and see how the Air Force does business. I had been asking about a special-dut- y assignment and the timing just happened to be right," said Navy Lt. Mike Meyers who flies with the 4th Fighter Squadron. He had served a total of three years on a ship and was ready to get into the "air." Transitioning to the Air Force took- "a little getting used to," he said. "Some things were a bit different. I had to get used to the acronyms, the structure and the jargon," said Meyers,who is here on a three-yetour. Although he is a "fish out of water," Meyers said he feels like he's part of the squadron and tends to agree with Granviken and Owers. "The best part of flying with the Air Force would have to be flying a different jet and just getting the experience of working with a different organization, " top-of-the-li- - ar he said. Winning number: Airman cashes in on typos Have you ever read about somebody's simple but ingenious idea and uttered the words, "Hey, why didn't I think of that?" A11388thFighterWingmembers have the chance to be the one to "think of that" through the wing suggestion program. SrA. Apryl Montgomery took advantage of the program and was awarded $250 for her two suggestions ($125 for each). Her ideas were fairly simple, but solved problems that could have cost a lot of wasted time. The first suggestion came about when she was working with people in the shop next to her own. They were having a problem pinpointing what was wrong with an aircraft for almost a week. "It wasn' t really my shop but I was over there and I knew they were having a problem," said Montgomery, who works in support for the 34th Fighter Squadron. "So I spent some time looking at the technical order trying to figure out what was wrong. We were looking over the schematic and I said, 'hey wait 4Vt j a minute, why doesn't this number match?' After looking through, I realized something was numbered wrong. " She submitted a Form 22 to change the technical order, but the people she works with encouraged her to submit it to the suggestion program. Her other suggestion was similar because it also dealt with an item being numbered wrong, this time on a wiring was reading off diagram. A aloud to her when she looked something at the wiring diagram and realized it wasn't correct. There are three forms that show the diagram, two were correct and the third one had a relay that was numbered backward. Both catches paid off for Montgomery. Other suggestion award winners for the quarter were: er Briefly Enlisted Feedback Raters now have 60 days instead of 30 to complete an enlisted feedbacksession on an individual who has just received an enlisted performance report if there has been no change of reporting official. Extending the time to 60 days allows raters more time to prepare an accurate evaluation, said officials at the Air Force Military Personnel Center. This is effective immediately and is being incorporated in the new Air Force Instruction 36-24- 03. Housing Policy Change Airmen in the grades of E-- 3 and below can now be assigned base housing on an equal basis with Air Force members in higher grades. Air Force housing officials said they recently sent a letter to all major commands making them aware of an existing Department of Defense policy to house "all accompanied military personnel permanently assigned to an installation for duty or support on an equal basis." At Hill AFB, junior enlisted have always been offered housing in Area C. The new policy will make them eligible for all housing areas on an equal basis with higher grades. Provide Clarification With so many operations being supported by Air Combat Command, the names can get confusing. Here's a list of current operations: Somalia Restore Hope Provide Promise Bosnia Northern Provide Comfort Iraq Southern Watch Southern Iraq Rwanda Support Hope Sea Signal Haiti Golden Bolt Continued from Page IA "The reason we've done so well keeping FOD incidents down is because 388th Maintenance Squadron everybody works hard at it. It's not a RichForan John $ 100, MSgt. MSgt. sexy program, but it's serious busiard Livingston $175, MSgt. Daniel ness," said Brake. Ralston $175 and $175, TSgt. Stephen According to statistics, it's a business Couture $ 125, SSgt. Wesley Baker $ 125, the wing conducts extremely well. The SSgt. Arlen Strandjord $ 125, SSgt. Kirby 388ths foreign object damage program Hills $25, Sgt. Thomas Hames $125, leads the six ACC F-units by achievand $125, SSgt. Lee Trask Certificate, ing: Fewest damaged tires due to FOD Sgt. Jeffrey Respondek Certificate, SrA. Brink Noah Todd Rosales Fewest lost tools $75, SrA. SrA. Brett SrA. $25, Moulding $25, Highest rate of finding lost tools Eric Schott $125. Zero FOD incidents for 1994 421 Fighter Squadron The other F-fighter squadrons are at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, Nellis SSgt. James Juntunen $25 4th Fighter Squadron AFB, Nev., Pope AFB, N.C., Moody AFB, Ga., and Shaw AFB, S.C. SSgt. Phillip Brown $50 533 FTD According to Brake, the program is made or broken by each individual's SSgt. Robert Ernst $25 388 LG effort and constant vigilance. "There's Mr. James Kelly $175 no magic to it. We're doing the same job 388 LSS as all the others, but we're doing it a West Dale little better," he said. MSgt. 16 16 Sign on the line Capt. Paul Mcintosh signs autographs for students from a local elementary school. The students came to Hill AFB Aug. 2 to watch Mcintosh and the rest Demonstration Team perform an aerial of the 2th Air Force demonstration. The team will be performing Friday and Saturday at the Aviatlo.i Aerospace Expo '94 at the Salt Lake International Airport. The expo will have more than 00 military and commercial aircraft on display, Including the F 1 7 Steaith Fighter For ticket Information, call J F-- 1 16 1 0-888-TIXX. 1 |