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Show LIGHTER (TOUNTRY Twice Monthly Wrench-turner- April 6.1995 388th FighterWing s tighten down place in wing history Maintenance squadron wins Air Force award By A I C Aimee Groben V munitions support is outstanding. They're always right there, providing us with what we need," said CMSgt. Bill Steele, maintenance or supervisor for the 4th Fighter Editor, Fighter Country The 388th Fighter Wing boasts of flying over 13,000 sorties, maintaining the best mission capable rate in the command and deploying over 314 tons of equipment last year. But it wouldn't have been possible without the super work of the folks from the 388th Maintenance Squadron, winners of the 1994 Air Force Maintenance Effectiveness Award. The squadron, which first won recognition as Air Combat Command s best maintenance unit in its category, was pitted against competition from each major command in the Air Force. "The great part of winning this award is that is wasn't because of any single person or flight," said Lt. Col. Steve Schumacher, squadron commander. "It was really a team effort. And it's not just one flight that did excellent. All of them were out there in front," he said. Being where they are needed seems to be the squadron's forte. "The Squadron. And the 4th's maintenance officer agrees, "The Main'L Ik tenance Squadron has provided us 1 with the foundation we need to FU Photo The build our combat capabilities. One of the troops works on an 1 6 "behi nd the scenes" at the Gunsmoke secret of our success is excellence 93 worldwide gunnery competition. on the part of all team members, The squadron's mission is to supand the Maintenance Squadron is a maIt's that same "Forever Vigilant" and sustain said Rich the attitude that played a major role in the Quick. wing's fighter opMaj. port jor player," erations at locations around the world, 3 88th winning the coveted Gunsmoke '93 The squadron excels in more than to business. According delivering munitions firepower and main- worldwide gunnery competition. "During just Van the Don squadron's taining aircraft systems. To maintain Gunsmoke you may not have seen many Slyke, CMSgt the wing's Low Altitude and Navigation of our people actually at die competition," first sergeant, "The attitude of success he said. the and Targeting Infrared for Night, said the squadron commander. "But there sections," duty goes beyond The chief understands why his (LANTIRN) capability, the wing flies were a lot of hours spent preparing beabout 370 sorties per week; for each sor- hind the scenes, making sure practice people won the award. At the heart of tie the pilot uses one or more of the the squadron are people going above bombs were in top condition and and beyond what's required of them. weapons to keep their warfighting every last detail." abilities sharp. "You can't walk into one of our duty Despite parts shortages, the squad"We did better than any other wing ron managed to keep the right parts on sections without some young person in keeping our LANTIRN pods ready to the shelf, according to Schumacher. "We grabbing you and wanting you to see the work they're doing or the process go," said Schumacher. "It takes a lot of do things smart. Rather than just throwmakes It extra work and effort to always be ready, ing their hands up in the air w hen a part just they're trying to improve. but that's the way die people in this squadyour buttons want to pop off from puffsaid. ron work," he said. he with See Award Page 2 ing pride," F-- day-to-d- ay F-1- 6's Express yourself, but don't over do it Wing officials explain proper use and benefits of American Express card fine-tuni- ng 388th keeping fit By 1st Lt.John J.Thomas Chief; Pubfc Affairs By SrA. J.C.Wood ring Staff wrhtr Most Air Force people have to be ready to deploy anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. In peacetime and war, temporary duty is a fact of life for thousands of airmen. Unfortunately, most people don't have enough cash to pay for temporary duty costs out of their own pockets and rely on get ting a cash advance before they leave. By the end of September, cash advances from finance will only be given in emergency situations. After that, people going on temporary duty will have to use the American Express Government Card. The transition may take getting used to, according to officials but the benefits of the American Express card will quickly become in time saved and unproved facilities. clear Changes in the accounting and finance system mean near elimination of cash advances by September. "If you want an advance, with very few exceptions, you'll have to find an ATM," said Monika Pctnwski, chief of travel pay here. American Express became the credit card for official government travel in 1993. It can be used as a standard charge card as well as for cash advances. In 1 994 Air Force cardholders on temporary duty charged over $200 million on their American Express on-ba- se cards including $110 million in automated teller machine cash advances. And all that charging directly helps Air Force people. Through the American Express Rebate Proof one percent gram, the Air Force gets back of all regular charges in cash payments from the company. Last year, these rebates earned the Air Force $12 million, most of that going back to each wing depending on how much they charged. If one-ten- th more travelers had charged expenses, instead of opting for cash advances, the payback could have been four times more $48 mil- lion. This money would have been mainly used to improve dormitories through self-hel-p projects and common area improvements like TVs and pool tables. The rebate program applies only to charges, not cash advances. "We want people to use it for lodging, rental cars and meals because the wing will get back a percentage of all those charges to spend on ourselves," said Maj. Jamie Mankcr, 388th Fighter Wing comptroller. "Cash advances should only be for those things that can't be put on the card." The Air Force has authorized all active-dut- y See Credit Page 2 The 388th Fighter Wing's first exercise of the year March 23 turned out to be a good learning experience for the wing, according to officials. Rainbow 95-- 1, a "Phase 1" deployment exercise, was the first exercise since the Operational Readiness Inspection five months ago when the wing performed extremely well in front of Air Combat Command's Inspector General's team. But the lack of practice showed. "We were a bit rusty," said Col. Dan Dick, wing corirnander. "We need to identify our weaknesses and layout a plan to bring us up to speed," he said. "We will continue to exercise and train so we remain ready to deploy anytime, anywhere," he said. The colonel emphasized, however, that there were plenty of success stories during the Phase I. "Many people worked extremely hard to make this a good learning exercise," he said. "Despite some problems, we did a lot well and can .learn a lot from what we didn't do so well," he said. The telephone recall began just after 4 a.m., no doubt surprising some people. But the response was strong. "We had 92 percent of the wing's people accounted for within the standard two hours," said CMSgt Tom Nielsen, superintendent of the wing Plans and Exercise office, "llad the weather not turned bad, it would have been a very good exercise," he said. |