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Show i n J V.,,.,1, . J Hill AFB, - Utah j 84056-582- 4 V- S Vol. 54 No. 27, July 15, 1999 m J.!vv.;riT.T.'T- INSIDE: Photos by Mary Galbraith Riverdale residents were flooded, top left, Sunday when a canal broke causing mud and water to rush down. Some of the most Invader Suite gets painting severe damage occurred 15 feet beyond the Hill AFB and Riverdale border. The 729th Air Control Squadron, bottom left, helped dig out basements and driveways. About two dozen squadron members volunteered to assist in clean up efforts through the remainder of the week. See related story and photos, pages 16 and 17. Page 2 Employees rescue ducklings Page 4 i i AAFES using check verification if Page 7 Hill Field sets registration Page 10 Family Support calendar Page 12 Bass Iran OS 00 haoges LACKLAND AFB, Texas (AFPN) .A uniforms down a trail. With camouflage paint on theirfaces andM-1- 6 rifles at ready, they approach a tree line, spread out and begin to stealthily climb a hill. The sun has not yet burned off the ground fog. Every few feet, they stop, crouch behind obstacles, and search to their front. Their mission: take out a fortified hilltop compound. They emerge from one fog and suddenly plunge into another as they assault a guard tower and bunker. Their battle-dres- t I squad of men and women in s road-march- es "plan" evaporates. Confusion. " Harvey wins state title Page 21 Hilltop Times Crossed signals. The "fog of war. A whistle signals the end of the exercise. The Air Force trainees assemble. Their military training instructors critique their tactical assault skills. Thaf s correct Air Force. Ground combat. Welcome to the Scorpion's Nest. Air Force officials figure up to 85 percent of all airmen will deploy to a world hot spot at least once during their careers. "These are combat skills they are going to have to know," said MSgt Steven R Batson, an instrucwith the 737th Training Sup- tor www.hilltoptimes.com online port Squadron here. Batson is also the combat training instructor and guru of the Scorpion's Nest, the place on base where recruits learn the rudiments of life in the field. With the end of the Cold War, the Air Force increasingly found itself deploying to areas where the threat was not the intercontinental missiles of a distant Soviet Union, but a satchel of explosives in the vehicle of a terrorist parked just outside the main gate of the base. The base itself was no longer a permanent installation full of creature comforts and direct access to a six-lan-e German autobahn, but a temporary site with Spar- tan facilities located at the end of a mine-filleunpaved road. These changes have forced the Air Force to rethink how new recruits should be trained, Batson said. "A couple of years ago, a group d, of senior (military training instruc: tors) got together and proposed changing the emphasis in basic training," he said. The instruc- tors proposed toughening the physical challenges in the course and giving airmen six-wee- k a taste of what they can expect on deployment. &6 "At some point in their careers, airmen are going to live in a field environment They need to know what to expect Their first exposure should not be when they deploy' Lt. Col. Buck Jones Batson told a "war story" illustrating why the MTIs believed the Air Force needed this training. The story is that on one of the first deployments after the end of the Cold War, an Air Force " base unit arrived at a with a runway, water and some rudimentary facilities. 'There were pallets full of tents," he said. "No one knew how to set them up. Legend has it, they had to ask a nearby Army unit for help." Air Force off"bare-bones- GP-Mediu- m icials took the instructors' recommendations seriously and began changing the emphasis in basic training. The MTIs felt airmen should understand what life was like in War Air Force. the post-Col-d "At some point in their careers, airmen are going to live in a field environment. They need to know what to expect. Their first expo- sure should not be when they deploy," said Lt. Col. Buck Jones, deputy commander of 737th Training Group here. He formerly commanded a bare-bone- s depot at Holloman AFB, N.M. B See Training, page 5 |