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Show April 26, 2001 IViodernization should mirror active force by Ma. Gen. James E. Sherrard Chief of Air Force Reserve In the past few years, four areas of airpower doctrine have been affected by changing technologies, force structures and economic realities. We are well positioned to lead, support and effectively carry-oour mission in each of these areas: - First, we will be expected to do our jobs day and night to the same level of proficiency as the active-dut- y Air Force. - Second, we must have . precision-munition- s capability to effectively perform in today's contingency environment. - Third, fighters and bombers must reach their targets electronic-warfar- e and survive on their own; capabilities are essential to the mission. - Finally, to reduce fratricide and fully integrate air power with ground and sea forces, we must be part of the "digital battlefield" data-lin- k programs. All three components of the Air Force must have modern equipment that is compatible and interoperable. (AFRC News Service) ill v and commander of Air Force Reserve Command Editor's note: This message from Maj. Gen. series. Sherrard is the last segment of a three-pa- rt modern that equipment recognized Congressional impacts readiness. the past has provided us with aircraft and upgrades, which have enhanced our ability to fly anywhere in the world on a moment's notice. The Air Reserve Components must continue to receive modern equipment at the same rate as the active-dut- y Air Force. This will ensure that all three Air Force components maintain the same tier of readiness ready now! Modernization is an area that must be closely watched in this era of aging aircraft and constrained investment budgets. The Air Force Reserve Command directly aligns itself with the vision, goals and core competencies of ut .! Congress - self-protectio- n, Air Force. Similarly, the mission the active-dut- y AFRC and the equipment upgrades the capabilities of required to meet our mission taskings correlate with the primary mission areas of the active-dut- y gaining commands. one-for-o- ne Continue hard work from Unit Compliance Inspection by Col. F. C. Williams 0 419th Fighter Wing commander A s most ot you know, our iong-await- 7 Ccl unit ea Compliance Inspection was conducted by a JL JLteam from Air Force Reserve Command . headquarters from April docs the team not report an overall rating, Although I can tell that the results were outstanding! All eight items rated interest were and two special major areas e Twenty-onsuperior performers were satisfactory, for recognized outstanding achievement, and four teams were similarly identified. One potential best practice was noted. Most impressive of all, in my opinion, is the fact that only one answerable finding was identified, in addition to 5 observations. I cannot recall an inspection of any type in my career - and I've been through a few which noted only one finding. This magnificent result is, of course, directly attributed to the hard work and dedication of every member of the 4 1 0K Fighter Wing. ' Many" hours of thought and work went into improving our processes 2-- 7. 1 l;.-- j You have risen once again to the challenge and should be proud. However, the toughest cl;allengIies ahead. When we began our', prcparatfoff larf'tfic-tgj$- e made it our goal to develop prograjJujdpr0ess;s that were sustainable proccssesjivipjltbteis manage, on a daily basis.oitf resources arid pjbgrfitis that would continue to serve to1fftfE'i:iitstfeilOT"ad We made a coniclQis7;d&isidn rfc Jwid gone. "painting rocks" developing programs for the sake of the inspection alone, which would, fall iotcr?djsuse'as soon as the UCl team departed It is my smcerVfeope that we accomplished this' goal. Good:maQagemeht and proper stewardship ofthe taxpayers 'assets demand nothing less. Our challenge now is to continue - to work' our processes hard every .day, to continue "conductiog and assistance visits as necessary,, so'h'at our scarce resources are always projperly managed ahd "'. accounted for. ? I liken the task to battling weeds in the front yarft-th'- ey are never going away; But they are a lot easier to control if.yaa'piull them once a week instead of $pcj a yef'SndyoiiTeel a lot better when an unexpected visitor shows up. V - C. (Knlx) Si v . - f 411 - , jself-inspectio- and programs. Wing points of contact conducted numerous assistance visits and inspections. Our beddown team worked hard to ensure the inspectors' ns "" , arrival and departure were efficiently managed. As always, the linchpins of our entire efforts were the individuals, and their first-lin- e supervisors, who made their programs shine. I thank and congratulate each and every one of you. New TRICARE program to boost dental readinessof Reserves family members the same dental benefits package that" is available to families of active duty members.. The new program will also help ' the reserve components meet a 1998 DoD requirement that says they must document an annual dental screening for all their service members. "That has been a real challenge," Martin said. "Up to this point there hasn't been much movement." The services were given three years to meet the screening requirement, but recently were given a three-yeextension to February 2004, he said. Martin said the requirement for by Sgt. 1st Class Kathleen T. Rheni American Forces Press Service new dental Va.JRICARE's ARLINGTON, insurance program will help ensure reservists are ready to deploy when they're called, Department of Defense medical officials said. "We want to encourage a higher level of dental health and dental readiness than we saw during Desert StormDesert Shield," Navy dentist Dr. (Capt.) Lawrence McKinley said. "We want to McKinley is senior consultant for yearly; screenings poses , several for TRICARE the a "Most' .'..reserve dentistry encourage higher problems. have - J the don't Management Activity and the Office level of dental health components of the Assistant Secretary of Defense to infrastructure perform annual and dental readiness dental for Health Affairs here. exams," he said. He describes reservists' dental than we saw during Even for those units that have readiness as "unfortunately low" embedded dental assets, spending Desert StormDesert Gulf War period. weekends providing, drill during the 1990-9- 1 .valuable it Shield, Lt. William Col. Reserve routine Army screenings can degrade their Martin said roughly 35 percent to 40 skills. "If they're part of a field unit, Dr. (Capt.) Lawrence their mission is to provide percent of Army reservists activated during the Gulf War needed dental senior consultant emergency care, not screenings," McKinley, work before they could deploy. "V Martin said. for dentistry for the Martin is the program manager for W He also noted that the reserves are TRICABE Management reserve affairs for the Office of the a geographically diverse force. Only Activity Assistant Secretary of Defense for 20 percent to 25 percent of reserve Health Affairs. units are located within a reasonable distance to a DoD "In some cases, individuals needed a week's worth medical facility. of dental treatment before we could in good Increasing readiness isn't the only reason DoD conscience deploy that troop overseas to a place that officials wanted to make the TRICARE Dental Plan might not have dental care available," McKinley said. available to reservists and their families. "The total-forc- e The new TRICARE Dental Plan went into effect concept is important. We're all one family," Feb. 1. It replaces the TRICARE Selected Reserve McKinley said. .'We wanted tb 'make .this quality-of-lif- e Dental Program and provides reservists and their benefit accessible to the-: reserve community as - ; -- T S; ; well as the active; duty community." ' For more information ori the TRICARE Denial web .ihe 'visit Program, v'site http:www.tricare.osd.miltricarebeneficiarysupprog .html. (Defense-LinNews) , . : ar : . - go-to-w- ar - -- ItoadsUp ' -- -- - - Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by the 419th Fighter Wing public Affairs Office. DEADLINE for article submissions is 10 on a line. working days before each scheduled wing unit training assembly. Articles should be typed and double-space- d HeadsUp is a Reserve supplement to the Hilltop Times, published by MorMedia, Inc., a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, under exclusive written contract with the Ogden ALC Public Affairs Office. This commercial enterprise Air Force newspaper is an authorized publication for Air Force Reserve members of the U.S. military servioes. Contents of HeadsUp are not necessarily the official views of or endorsed by the U.S. government, the Department of Defense or the Air Force. 419th FW Public Affairs Staff Col. F.C. Williams Capt. James R. Wilson. Commander . . . . . . . . . . . . Chief of Public Affairs .............................. Stephanie Johns Senior Airman Lara Gale. Editor Staff Writer |