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Show jiJUUL Hill AFB, Utah 84056-582- 4 www.hilltoptimes.com n hiIltop.pahill.af.mil a Vol. 59 No. 4, February 8, 2001 INSIDE: Prayer breakfast features Eaton SVT l A, " a . " - ir- -! "i hi 4 Page 2 Decal deadline nears Page 2 EOIQ) Be mine Page 4 Commissary team best in command by Gary Boyle Hilltop Times staff The 75th Civil Engineer Group's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Division the largest in the Air Force has been honored as the best in Air Force Materiel Command. Page 5 Act corrects retirement wrongs Page 7 The unit recently captured the Senior Master Sgt. Gerald J. Stryzak Award for Excellence in 2000. "Our EOD personnel are some of the best motivated you will find anywhere," said Col. Per A Korslund, 75th CEG commander. 'Winning the Stryzak award confirms what we already know in the civil engineer group our EOD personnel are the best, and I am proud of each and every one of them." Far from limiting their activities to just Hill AFB, the EOD team provides emergency response coverage to support the local community. Responding to 25 e incidents and rendering safe five actual improvised explosive devices during the past year, saving local governments $3.75 million in potential damage caused by a device's detonation. In addition to training local authorities on improvised explosive devices and aircraft hazards, members volunteered in the Crestview Elementary School MENTOR program, repaired 12 computer systems for Country View Ele- mentary School and assisted Salt Lake City 24-ho- ur Class guides marriage communication , Page 9 388th Fighter Wing Fighter Country Pages A-- C Hess offers , - yoga Page 15 off-bas- Veteran's Home residents. Nationally, Hill's EOD protects the president as part of the White House security detail during two consecutive 30 day rotations. "We supported the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, -1 "' !r?- :..cA jf numerous campaign stops, and recently sent eight people to the 2001 Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C. We have spent extensive time on the road during the past year," said Senior Master Sgt. John Olive, EOD senior manager. "We provide explosive countermeasure searches for our president, vice president, their families and foreign dignitaries on U.S. soil. We're responsible to insure the area where the protectee goes is free of any hazard." When tasked to carry out a mission for the Secret Service or State Department, the EOD team falls under operational control of the tasking agency. Service personnel from all branches of the military may work together, but this joint service activity begins at training. "All branches of the military attend the joint service Naval EOD School and we all wear the same occupational badge," said Tech. Sgt Rich Holmes, EOD Operations o NCO. Joint service activities don't end at grad- See EOD, page 6 Arsenic level in base wafer system safe by Charles Freeman Environmental Public Affairs With the Environmental Protection Agency's tougher stand on allowable levels of arsenic in drinking water, Hill AFB personnel will be pleased to know the base's drinking water is in full compliance with the new standard. The EPA recently announced the allowable amount of arsenic in a water system had changed from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10. The new standard applies to all community water systems, and they must be in compliance by 2006.- - Hill gets the majority of its drinking water from several wells located throughout the base. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District also supplies a small amount of drinking water to the base. By law, various wells on b3se are sampled COPY Photos by Alliant Industries and Gary Boyle. spectacular blast causes the ground to tremble as Hill's EOD division destroys another intercontinental ballistic missile motor in accordance with the START treaty. Below, remote control robots allow EOD members to handle dangerous packages from safe distances. A r if' w III . - i jr mri . Photo by Charles Freeman the northeast side of the base, is one of several that provide drinking water for base personnel. Drinking water we!!s on base have depths ranging from 600 to 1,500 feet every three years in coordination with guidelines set forth by the EPA and the state of Utah. The last round of sampling occurred on June 16, 1999. At that time, the highest detection Well No. 3, located on of arsenic in one of the wells was 5.4 ppb. The water from that well is mixed with the water from other wells before it's put into the base supply, making it far less than the new EPA standard of 10. "I'll match our water with anybody's in the state," commented Monte Osiek, chief of operations for the base's Civil Engineer Squadron. Capt. Jerry Fenner, the drinking water program manager for Bioenvironmental Engineering Services at Hill, agrees the base's drinking water is fine. "Of all the bases I've ever been, Hill has the best drinking water," said Fenner. Although some employees may have noticed a discoloration in the water at times, Fenner said this is generally a result of harmless rust that's accumulated in pipes and gets stirred up from time to time. H See Arsenic, page 5 |
