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Show .A 4T9th Fighter Wing supplement to the Hilltop Times InfoBase deletes need to maintain massive publication libraries AFRESNS Forget the bookcases, forget the binders, forget the mountains of paper. Air Force Reserve civilian employees and reservists can now call up their standard publications on a computer screen. The new electronic publishing systems, available on the Reserve's wide area network, is the result of a five-yeproject to make publication retrieval easier and paper disappear from the workplace. "We wanted to consolidate all standard, unclassified Air Force, AFRES and applicable gaining command publications into one Info-Bas- e and eliminate the need to continually post them," said Bill Jones, chief of publications in the Headquarters AFRES Directorate of Information Management. "By placing the publications on a network computer server, we can retrieve them with relative ease and view all applicable publications at the same time. This is a tremendous improvement over the procedures we were using previously," Jones said. In the past, Jones' directorate maintained binders in a master library containing most Air Force unclassified publications printed. Additionally, binders were kept with command pubar lications, applicable and .".., Dec 7) 1 995 by TSgt. Neil Werenskjold 419th FW Public Affairs Office "Oh shoot! I've gotta go qualify on the A lot of people around the 419th Fighter Wing are saying that these days due to a policy requiring all personnel to qualify on the weapon. According to MSgt. William R. Dawes, 419th Security Police Squadron, just before Maj. Gen. John J. Qosner, former commander of the Air Force Reserve, retired late last year, he signed an order requiring all troops including Category C people who under normal combat circumstances don't carto qualify at least every two years. ry a weapon "Previously, Category C people only had to qualify on the 6 just before they deployed. The combat arms training and maintenance folks have been working two and three weekends a month trying to get everyone qualified," Dawes said. "Thank goodness we've got the new firearms training system (FATS) to help people get used to range procedures and the TSgt. Dale D. Neal, a combat arms training instructor for the SPS, explained FATS. "It's a computerized system that uses specially modified s and 9mm handguns that fire laser beams instead of bullets at targets on a screen. It gives the sensation that you're firing real rounds by using a sound system and C02 gas to simulate recoil." SrA. Edward W. Warner, Jr., also of the SPS, said, "The system has a video playback feature that allows the instructor and the shooter to review ex- M-16- ." ' M-1- M-1- ' il practice 6 M-16- ." MSgt. Dennis Forsgren learns how to assemble an 6 rifle. M-1- M-16- actly how the shooter did. They can review it over and over again so the shooter can see what he or she is doing wrong or right." Neal added, "FATS is also safer because we don't use live rounds. Instructors and students are much more relaxed because there's less worry about someone getting hurt." Environment key priority by SSgt. Charles Freeman 419th FW Public Affairs Office Staying on top of environmental concerns is nothing new to the 419th Fighter Wing. Over the years, the wing has built the reputation of having one of the best environmental programs at Hill AFB. "We really shine in the area of managing hazardous waste," said SMSgt Steve Merrill, an accessory maintenance flight chief who has been involved with the wing's environmental issues for many years. "A lot of directorates on base come to us for guidance." The wing is required to comply with the base's federal environmental standards and also meet state requirements. "Our attitude is to be proactive and do things the way they're supposed to be done," said MerrilL Designated 419th site managers stay on top of the g environmental laws. "The dedication of our people and their environmental consciousness is what makes the difference," he said. The wing safety office oversees the program which ever-changin- f ' uJ I 7 1 ; aaiw Protecting the environment SMSgt. Steve Merrill checks to ensure the proper storage of used oil. involves compliance in areas including air emissions, noise abatement and hazardous waste management. According to Merrill, the 419th has not had any re- cent mishaps involving hazardous materials. "If this place were to close down today, we would be environmentally safe," said MerrilL 4 19th Feedback! Does your family have a holiday tradition? connections. The InfoBase is also available on published monthly for those on deployment. Bice The only drawback to using the said, is that the user won't be able to take adsysvantage of daily updates. The LAN-base- d CD-RO- 3a Computerized system supports weapon training non-applicab- le supplements, message changes and pamphlets along with selected Department of Defense directives. "When you wanted information from a publication that wasn't maintained in your desk set or functional library, you had to make a trip to a master library," said Capt. Dale J. Long, AFRES management information systems advisor. "Depending on where that was, it could take an hour or more to retrieve a few paragraphs of information after searching through dozens of binders. Now, you can get the same information from any publication in the electronic library within a few minutes without leaving your desk." Electronic publishing procedures eliminate the need for paper copies of publications and the job of the publications custodians in various offices to maintain them because new or revised publications are posted electronically as they are completed. "We will save the Reserve more than $8 million annually in costs associated with posting publications and maintaining binders in functional areas and master libraries," said Lee Bice, assistant chief of the directorate's publications management division. "Just look at the inconveniences we've eliminated for the common user of our publications. Not only are the publications immediately available at the computer console, people can manipulate that information to meet their needs, including printing only the portion of the material they need." The Reserve's electronic publishing system is called the Air Force Reserve Electronic Publications Library or just InfoBase. It is maintained on computer network servers at each major unit location. Reservists and civilian employees, wherever they are in the world, can access the system either by modem or hard-war- e headsUp : A CD-RO- q 'n -- -' - M -- tem, however, can be updated daily, if necessary. Accessing InfoBase To access InfoBase, all users must first install it on their personal computer from the 419th Fighter Wing's local area network using Windows. Follow these steps to install it: 1. Start Windows 2. Select "File" 3. Select "Run" 4. Type in 5. Depress the enter key and answer the various prompts. At the end of this process, the InfoBase icon should appear on the Windows menu. For mora information, call Jens KunkeL 777-104- 3. TSgt. Bob Gallegos SSgt. Tina Hater SSgt. Daniel Hoyl CMSgt. Mary a Harper "Our family gets togtther on Christmas Eve and we "We are out here without any family, so the holidays didn't mean that much with Just the two of us. Now that we have a new family member (their first child), Christmas has "On Christmas Eve our family gets together under the tree and each person exchanges one special gift with someone else. It's our way to relieve some of the anticipation of waiting until Christmas Day. The "We put our tree up early, no later than Halloween, All the trick or treaters come around looking for our Christmas tree. My husband usually sets up a graveyard in our yard for Halloween and I have up set up the pinata for the children in the yard if there is no snow. The kids hit it with a stick until everyone gets some candy. We then open our gifts right after ail the pinata excitement Christmas day we just lay back, watch the ball games, have a nice meal and drink our favorite beverages. meaning again, I'm looking forward to starting next morning well unour own traditions this wrap the other presents. year. It's going to be a It's a very intimate and special time for us. " special time. " my Christmas lights, which makes for conflict 'Are we going to light up the tree or the grave' yard tonight V " |