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Show Hilltop Tilines Hill AFB, Utah 84056-5824 www.hilltoptimes.com hilltop.pa@hill.af.mil Vol. 63 No. 44, November 18 , 2004 INSIDE: 'V3*j Long Days, Purple Haze myPay now mandatory for all Amn. Civilian work schedule change if...' by 2nd Lt. Flore Numa-Durand Page 2 75th Comptroller Squadron AADD program vital £ for base Page 3 Hill's Heroes Page 6 News briefs Page 7 Photo by Todd Cromar, 75th Communications Squadron ALS graduates Page 7 Selected Team Hill members from the 75th Air Base wing acted as Insurgents, laying down cover, ambushing the convoy and taking hostages during last week's exercise at the Utah Test and Training Range. 75 th ABW 'deploys' to training range them prepared can make for base at 3 a.m. and convoyed It was also a good reminder a rude awakening. This exer- out to the west desert in all for the Airmen who had preHilltop Times staff cise was designed to make types of vehicles including viously deployed. The 75th Air Base Wing's them aware of those experi- buses. They arrived at the One of the important issues deployment to the Utah Test ences." UTTR before 7 a.m. that the exercise addressed and Training Range was The exercise familiarized Tired and weary from an was the functional role of the deemed a success by those the Airmen with building, early start to their day, the Airmen. While they are experts who participated last week. hardening, providing secudeployed Airman had to build in their career fields, they The three day exercise put rity and living in a tent city their new home. needed to be involved in the the 202 "deployed" Airmen at a deployed location. "We knew they were going process of setting up the camp. into an environment that many "We can never hope to "We tend to spend a lot of to be tired, we purposely got may not have experienced time in our own functional them up at 2 a.m. and left approach the realism of an before. They had to set their actual deployment," Colonel early," Colonel Rocco said. comfort zones," Colonel Rocco specific AFSC training aside, Rocco said. "We can prepare "We wanted them to be weary; said. "In the Medical Group and work together to build a our people with the little things we wanted them to realize we deal with the security temporary Air force base. forces folks when we have an like putting them in the sit- they still had work to do." uation of living in a tent with The Airmen had to put up incident involving security. "We were able to prepare our people for the differences 10 to 12 other people that they their tents and provide secu- Other than that, we may not deal with security forces at may not know all that well. rity-while at the same time that they would experience all. The same thing occurs Learning how to live with when they deploy to a forpreparing to harden their with other organizations. We those people better prepares ward location," 75th Medical homes with sandbags that call civil engineering when Support Squadron and deploy- them for when they do have needed to be filled. we have an issue with power to live in those conditions in ment commander, Lt. Col. The transition from their Robert Rocco said. "The sights,a place like Balad, Iraq." home station to their forward and lights. When you go out sounds and smells are very Before they could build a location, and the first day on into a deployed setting some unique in a tent city. Deploy- tent city, the Airmen had to the range, was a good way to of those functional stereoing someone into a bare-base first deploy to the location. show the troops who had never M See Training, page 4 environment without having The exercise players met on deployed before what to expect. by Shad West History buff buys cannon Page 9 Sports Pages 10-11 At the movies Page 13 Combined Federal Secretary Roche resigns by Tech Sgt. David A. Jablonski Air Force Print News WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Air Farce Dr. James G, Roche announced his resignation Tuesday. "I'm honored to have served the president, the secretary of defense Hill's goal: SI million and the terrific Airmen I've come to $923,550 collected know and love in the past few years as the secretary of the Air Force," he as of Nov. 15 said. "I've served with talented active, Dr. James G. Roche Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen who are successfully countering new the quality of life for Airmen and the capabilities of the Air Force, such Congratulations to all Hill's threats to our nation through their and creativity. I'm proud innovation as increasing opportunities for masnewly selected chiefs. to call myself an Airman." ter's degree programs for enlisted Senior Master Sgt. Lemuel Secretary Roche submitted his letAirmen. Recapitalization and modCasillas, 367th Training Supter of resignation voluntarily. He left ernization program improvements port Squadron private industry to serve his country under his watch included the F/A-22 Senior Master Sgt. Yvonne the Air Force. He leaves the Air and Raptor, weaponizing the RQ/MQ-1 Watts, at a Hill satellite, 651st Force now so that his resignation may Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, Munitions Squadron, Lackland free-up nominations of Air Force genequipping the B-52 Stratofortress with AFB, Texas eral officers that have been on hold the LITENING pod, delivering the All new chiefs from the 388th remotely piloted Global Hawk and the Fighter Wing will be in the next in Congress. During his tenure, Secretary Roche Joint Direct Attack Munition. edition of the Fighter Country, M See Roche, page 4 spearheaded many initiatives to improve Nov. 24. us Active duty Airmen must now have a myPay Personal Identification Number to access their personal financial information and conduct pay transactions electronically. Effective.immediately, the hard copy Leave and Earnings Statement and W-2 options will be disabled for active duty Airmen. Members received their final midmonth net pay advice in October, and will not receive another end-of-month hardcopy LES in the mail. Instead, they can access their LES through myPay. The change was mandated by Air Force leadership. Some of the benefits of myPay include: • The ability to view, print and save payroll documents • Retrieval of up to 12 months of LESs • Starting and stopping allotments to financial institutions • Purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds - the member can also change the bond address, and adjust the amount invested in bonds • Establish a Restricted Access Personal Identification Number to allow spouses or other designees "readonly" access. Members can set a RAPIN by logging into myPay and clicking on the "Personal Settings" page from the main menu. Click on "Restricted Access PIN," input the RAPIN and provide it to the spouse or designee. To log into myPay, that individual must type the member's social security number under "LoginlD" and enter the RAPIN. This access will limit them to view and print an LES or W-2. It will not allow them to make any changes. If Airmen don't have a myPay PIN, they must visit https://mypay.dfas.mil. Click on "Need a New PIN" and a temporary PIN will be sent to their e-mail account. Hill vets' holiday care Volunteers provide help during downtown 'stand-down' by Beth Young Hilltop Times staff Recently, more than 200 volunteers from Hill AFB participated in a "Stand-Down," at the Veterans' Affairs medical campus. This event, which helps homeless veterans get the help they need, has become a Veteran's Day tradition for Hill over the past several years. "These are veterans who assist veterans," said J.D. Jennings, 75th Security Forces physical security specialist and organizer of the event. "A lot of the guys from Hill have just come back from Iraq, and other deployments. It makes them feel good to help those they know have been in similar situations." There were a wide-range of services and opportunities offered to the homeless veterans who attended. Immediate needs were taken care of with a hearty meal, showers and haircuts. Clothes, sleeping bags and other gear were also available. Mr. Jennings said that hundreds of hygiene packages were handed out. For more long-term help, legal, psychological and employment advice was also offered, as well as flu shots and dental work. "We want to help them get their lives back together," Mr. Jennings said. "Many of the veteran's just wanted someone to talk to and we had no problem lending an ear." Col. Sharon Dunbar, 75th Air Base Wing commander, and Col. Steven Robinette, acting vice commander met with several of the veterans. "It was heartening to see so many Team Hill volunteers serving as wingmen for our local veterans," Colonel Dunbar said. "Our Team Hill volunteers partnered with local community support agencies to ensure local veterans received the care they deserve. Colonel Robinette and I enjoyed meeting and thanking both veterans and volunteers for their selfless service." |