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Show AIR FORCE NEWS Airmen donate soccer balls, supplies to African children BY SENIOR AIRMAN^/IJKE_MEARES__ 86th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs KIGALI, Rwanda (AFPN) — Up and down a dusty grass and dirt soccer field, children chased a wellworn semblance of a ball. The ball more closely resembled a plastic bag wrapped in twine. The players stopped only to wave hello to the U.S. Airmen entering the airfield of Kigali International Airport. The students are from Nonko Primary School of KigaliKanombe, Rwanda, and thanks to the Airmen, they now own 20 new soccer balls, nets for their goal posts, toys and school supplies. The Airmen, from the 86th Air Expeditionary Group, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, first got the idea to buy a soccer ball after days of watching school children playing soccer outside the entrance to their compound. "Every day we entered the airfield, we saw them across the street playing soccer with what might be a ball, and in some cases, no shoes," said Airman 1st Class Tradell Black, an air transportation specialist. "I saw an opportunity to help, so I started asking around, seeing if there was anything we could do for them." While deployed as part of a humanitarian airlift mission in Rwanda, the Ramstein Airmen are supporting the Darfur region of the Sudan by airlifting Rwandan Defense Forces troops and supplies for peacekeeping operations. But the Airmen took it a step further and started their own humanitarian mission on the playing fields of the small African country. "As a whole, the military community is very giving," ; said Capt. Steve Stayberg, the groups mission control team commander. "Military person- Hilltop Times August 4, 2005 Shaw F-16s intercept shuttle airspace violator SHAW AFB, S.C. (AFPN) —Two F-16 Fighting Falcons, enforcing a temporary no-fly zone around the Space Shuttle Discovery launch site at Cape Canaveral, Fla., intercepted and escorted a small civilian aircraft from the area July 26. It was during the nine-minute hold in the countdown when the pilots received the call from their controlling agency that they had a civil aircraft violation, said Capt. Craig Simmons, one of the pilots who intercepted the airplane. His aircraft was among six from the 55th Fighter Squadron here protecting a 40-mile radius at the request of North American Aerospace Defense, which is responsible for defending North American airspace. Captain Simmons and his wingman, Capt. Joseph Palen, said the plane was about 20 miles from the launch site. After they intercepted the civilian aircraft, the two Air Force pilots escorted it from the area without incident. Flying the mission was an experience one of the pilots said he will never forget. "It's very different to be at altitude and being able to watch a shuttle launch from the ground and see it track across the sky into space," Captain Simmons said. "It's amazing how fast that thing gets off the ground." President designates Pete Geren as new acting AF secretary U.S. Air Force photo by SSgt Bradley C. Church Senior Airman Mike Meares, of the 86th Air Expeditionary Group public affairs office, shows a local child his photo SAN ANTONIO (AFPN)—The president on the back of his digital camera July 28. The group donated soccer balls, soccer nets, candy and toys to the chil-designated Pete Geren to be the acting Secretary dren attending the Nonko Primary School of Kigall-Kanombe, Rwanda. The United States provided transportation of forthe Air Force on July 29, replacing Michael L. 1,200 Rwandan forces to and back from Sudan in support of AMIS 2, the African Union Mission in Sudan. Dominguez. nel are doing things like this mostly orphaned children ages all over the world - building 7 to 13 - the 16 teachers are limited to what they can do for schools, donating pieces of their pupils. their paychecks and helping "We are way more fortunate out where they can." than any of these children have Staff Sgts. Shawn Doll, Rich ever known during their lives," Crim and Terrick Turner, deployed from the 786th Security Sergeant Doll said. "I would rather them have half the Forces Squadron at Sembach opportunity I had growing up Annex, Germany, kicked things off when they presented by providing them with a few supplies than to not have any a new soccer ball July 21 to opportunity at all." Maurice Mulis Wimanzi, the Rwanda is a landlocked school's headmaster. He said developing country in central the new soccer ball doubled - Africa, recovering from a 1994 their inventory. civil war and genocide in which With more than 850 students more than 800,000 people were at the school - comprised of killed. "Many of the children are orphans and survivors of genocide," Mr. Wimanzi said. "Some of them are shy socially because they have no parents." Airmen later revisited the school and delivered more than $1,000 worth of supplies and treats to a throng of children that clung to them. The school now has 20 soccer balls for the children to use. "Maybe the balls (will) develop social relations," the headmaster said. "This may help them forget (their) problems and they can come to school every day and just play." The appointment is in accordance with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Air Force officials said. Mr. Geren, who was special assistant to the secretary of defense, assumes his new office as directed in Title 10, United States Code and Air Force directives, Air Force officials said. He took the Department of Defense post in September 2001 with responsibilities in the areas of interagency initiatives, legislative affairs and special projects. A former Texas congressman from 1989 to 1997, Mr. Geren served on the Armed Services, Science and Technology and the Public Works andj Transportation committees during his tenure. Mr. Geren earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of Texas in 1974, and his jurist prudence degree from the university's law school in 1978. Airmen, soldiers care for Iraqi patients BY SENIOR AIRMAN CHAWNTAIN SLOAN Multi-National Corps-Iraq Public Affairs BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) — Only a few hours earlier, surgeons were working diligently to save his life and repair the damage a bullet caused when it entered his abdomen and ricocheted throughout his body. Now, the 11-year-old Iraqi boy sleeps peacefully with his favorite stuffed animal clutched in his hand. His father, next to his bed, stares with a fixed gaze anxious for his son to wake up. "There are no words," said Hussein, the boy's father. Some Iraq names are omitted or altered for security reasons. "Thank you. You saved my son." But a grateful father's thanks are. the only words that matter to the Airmen, Soldiers and Australian defense forces of the Air Force theater hospital here. The medics, technicians, nurses and doctors assigned to the combat support hospital here provide expert care to anyone who comes through their doors. Although the hospital was primarily established to treat coalition troops, Department of Defense employees and contract civilians, the bulk of the patients filling the wards are Iraqis. "The capabilities of the medical facility in Baghdad and the local hospital in Balad are no where near ours. The Iraqi medical system is just really behind," said Lt. Col. Laurie Hall, the theater hospital's chief nurse. Many of the patients treated at the hospital are civilians caught in cross fires or Iraqi military forces. Some patients are the ^ry he very I people -M* he was trying to kill are the ones who initiated the first aid and gave their own blood to save his life" — U Col. Laurie Hall very insurgents who initiate attacks against U.S. and coalition forces. Colonel Hall recalled a recent case of an insurgent brought to the hospital after an improvised explosive device detonated while he attempted to set it. "No one else was hurt but him, and the very people he was trying to kill - the Soldiers from the convoy - are the ones who initiated the first aid and gave their own blood to save his life," Colonel Hall said. She said the surgeons were "amazingly able to piece him back together, but he has a long, painful road of recovery ahead." Prisoners are not ordinary patients. All prisoners must be kept under guard and blindfolded to protect the hospital staff and other patients. "It doesn't matter that you just saved their life, they don't care," she said. "It is a really hard concept to grasp as a nurse because it's not the way we are trained. It's really hard not to let your guard down, but you have to remember, if you gave them half the chance, they would kill you." Unfortunately, the medics' best efforts are not always enough to save a patient's life. And for the medics, technicians, nurses and doctors who fought for that patient, the news can be devastating. "There was one 24-year-old Pakistani man who was brought to us from another location. He was terribly sick when we got him and though we tried our very best, he died. The nurse who had worked so hard on him just lost it. She burst into tears right there," Colonel Hall said. The medics do not let the tragic losses overshadow their successes. A shaved head and a sizeable scar are one Iraqi girl's only clue that surgeons worked tirelessly to save her life and remove a rock that a near-fatal car accident left lodged in her brain. 11 I'm amazed she even survived," Colonel Hall said. "The surgeons did an amazing job." According to the medics, it is the quality of work they provide every day that makes their patient care exceptional. To them, it is more than just doing their duty; they do it because they care. "You can't help but care about these people, and you want to do everything you can to make them better," Colonel Hall said. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chad Chlsholm Capt. Brian Ackerman checks a patient's dressing and equipment to ensure he is ready for flight. His Job is to coordinate the movement of critically wounded patients between the Air Force theater hospital here and the contingency aeromedical staging facility. Captain Ackerman is a nurse with the 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. |