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Show 419th Fighter Wing Supplement to the Hilltop Times Hill AFB, Utah 84056-5410 Volume 20 Number 10, October 20, 2005 Newsline COMMENTARY Replacement weapon FTF serves as 'long overdue correction' Mandatory requirements AM personnel who are permanently leaving the unit must coordinate their assignment and out-process through the wing relocations office. Personnel who are going to technical school or TDY for more than 30 days must also out-process through the relocations office. For more, contact the relocations office at 7772696. Second AEF departure A second group of 419th Fighter Wing Reservists is scheduled to" depart Hill AFB today enroute to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additional wing personnel will also depart in early December. Pilots and F-16 aircraft assigned to the 419th FW will fly close-air-support and combat air patrol missions in the region. Other 419th FW support personnel from a variety of specialties, including aircraft maintainers, services, communications, and transportation experts will serve in a support role. Personnel will be deployed about 45 days. The unit's last trip to the region was in 2003 also in support of OIF. PEP cycle I s The Air Force Promotion Enhancement Program cycle is nearing. Packages for the April promotion date are due to the career enhancements office no later than Jan. 15. For more, contact career enhancement at 775-2613 or 775-2614. APS move 67th Aerial Port Squadron members will soon be located in Bldg. 295, near the 419th FW ramp. The move will provide the 67th APS with muchneeded equipment and facilities, and allow for better integration of the squadron with the rest of the wing. In the past, the squadron has had to split its personnel between two separate buildings, which created logistical difficulties. (Submitted by Staff Sgt. Samuel Tobler, 67th APS Unit Public Affairs Rep) NCOA class dates I The following 2006, inresident, Non-Commissioned Officer Academy classes are available to 419th Fighter Wing personnel: KeeslerAFB, Miss., Feb. 27 to April 6-fill date suspense is Dec. 27. Keesler AFB, Miss., April 17 to May 25 - fill date suspense is Feb. 18 McGhee Tyson, ANG, Tenn., July 3 to August 9 -two classes - fill date suspense is May 3 Tyndall AFB, Fla., Sept. 11 to Oct. 19 - two classes - fill date suspense is July 11. Continued on Page B... a moment, but first let's get an update on what has happened since my last article which was printed in the July edition of the HeadsUp. Chronologically Flavor of the we are now one month? month into Phase We have all 2 of the associabeen around long tion. This phase is enough to have planned to last until seen it before. our jets are reasSome great new signed which wil! idea comes up that likely occur two is going to revoyears from now. lutionize the way The reality is we Lt Col. we operate. There have far exceeded ensues a huge Michael Brill thrash as we all " everyone s expecjump through hoops at a frantic tations and continue to make pace only to see the program significant progress on a daily eventually fade into obscurity. basis. Can anyone say "Quality"? The 419th FW's 466th Fighter Squadron now has ten pilots The skeptics out there are checked-out on Block 40 F-16s probably wondering the same and are flying with the 388th thing about the Future Total FW on a regular basis. Most of Force initiatives right about the sorties we fly are instructor now. Here is why I think the pilot missions where we leverskeptics are wrong. age our high experience to help In the last ten years we have the 388th FW maintain their seen a major evolution in the ongoing upgrade programs. way we fight wars and conseWe have produced a joint quently, how we train for that "standards" publication that is possibility. Over the same timeframe the reserve and guard a guidebook for both training and how we would employ in forces have become intimately combat. involved in operations both at We also have draft versions of home and abroad. We are cona combined wing in-flight guide tributing regularly in support and training syllabus. The sylof these operations. Yet we labus is essential due to the next remain mired in an organizastep in our program. tional structure that was creThe 388th FW will begin ated during the Cold War when sending their jets to depot for our primary purpose was to be the Common Configuration ready for activation in case the Implementation Program - an "Big One" ever occurred. avionics upgrade — just after I believe the Future Total their Operational Readiness Force initiative is a long overdue correction to our structure. Inspection in November. For the next two years they It is designed to maintain our will be required to maintain Air Force warfighting capabilcombat readiness with up to 20 ity as we experience an inevipercent of their jets unavailable table reduction in airframes for training. and operating budget. That all While our personnel are sounds great at the headquarters level, but what about you folks deployed for our AEF you can in the trenches? How will you See FTF, Page B be affected? I'll get to that in BY LT. COL. MICHAEL BRILL 419th FW Future Total Force coordinator Photo by Senior Airman Lara Gale Senior Airman Mike Sparr, of the 419th Security Forces Squadron, inspects a new M-4 rifle. Security forces and special operations' personnel, Air Force wide, are replacing M-16s with M-4s. The compact M-4 rifle is more versatile and offers precision targeting, making it more compatible with today's combat environment, said Tech. Sgt. John Millaway, of the 419th SFS. "(When deployed) we're operating out of vehicles, towers, bunkers - combat is closer, and accuracy at close range is extremely important," he said. 419th FW SFS personnel will begin training on the new weapons in December. Maintainers welcome Iraq duty 'life changing' for one 419th FW Airman CLSS Airmen CITIZEN WARRIOR BY SENIOR AIRMAN LARA GALE 419th FW Public Affairs She had been considering volunteering for a long time, so when she learned she needed an overseas experience to bolster her candidacy for an Air Reserve Technician job, Senior Airman Alanc Radzinski, gladly volunteered for any position overseas that needed filling. At the end of February, Airman Radzinski, a supply specialist with the 419th Fighter Wing Maintenance Operations Flight, landed in Balad, Iraq, where she would spend the next 70 days guarding civilians working on base for local contractors. "It was a life-changing experience, to be honest," she said. The most striking experience was getting to know the Iraqi people, she said.They couldn't speak each other's language, and they couldn't shake hands or make any physical contact, but being around each other day in and day out, Senior Airman Radzinski and the men she "Women would jog by in their PT shorts, and the (Iraqi) men were just shocked...," Courtesy photo Senior Airman Alane Radzinski, 419th FW Maintenance Operations Flight, poses for a picture with an Iraqi citizen who worked with her while she was deployed to Balad, Iraq. supervised gradually came to understand one another. Day-to-day communication was sometimes difficult — especially giving directions or figuring out what the workers needed. Some of the Iraqis knew a little English while some of the Airmen knew a little Arabic. "But we used a lot of charades," she said. Mostly, Airman Radzinski learned by observation, she said. At the end of the day, for instance, the men would take Senior Airman Alane Radzinski 419th FW Maintenance Operations Flight home a few of the water bottles they'd been given to drink as they worked. Later, she learned the workers saved them for their families as fresh water was difficult to come by. "It puts things into perspective," she said. "We're worried about all these material comforts and they're worried about getting a capful of water home for their kids." It was also an insight for Airman Radzinski to find all Iraqi workers were men — and just as much for the Iraqis, that some American guards were women. "Women would jog by in their PT shorts, and the men were just shocked — literally, you could see in their faces they didn't know how they should respond," she said. The women in uniform were just as bizarre to them, though, she said. While the men worked for the contractors, their wives worked at the home in the fields and with the children — a woman in uniform was doing what they perceived to be the work of a man. Some revelations weren't so benign - one of her most important duties as a guard was to watch for workers who seemed more interested in looking around than working. People backing the opposition pay workers to bring them information about the base, she said. Saluting wasn't even allowed, so the workers couldn't distinguish officers from enlisted. "You really couldn't trust anyone," she said. "Sometimes they got so curious they lost their jobs." But in many ways, the experience was positive and one she'll always treasure, she said. BY SENIOR AIRMAN LARA GALE 419th FW Public Affairs Aircraft maintenance specialists from the 419th Fighter Wing Combat Logistics Support Squadron arc finding new places to use their skills following the unit's deactivation in September. Though such a transition is never easy, the CLSS and their 419th FW Maintenance Squadron counterparts have been planning for about six months in order to smooth it out as much as possible, said Lt. Colonel Mark Pantone, CLSS commander. "The (maintenance squadron) senior leadership has been tremendous. They have just bent over backwards to help make this happen," he said. Air Force Reserve Command has authorized the wing to open "code eight" overages in the maintenance squadron to make room for the additional manpower. Code eight overages can be held for two years, allowing a window of time for the CLSS folks to find permanent spots, See CLSS, Page BC' Unless otherwise indicated, all photos are U.S. Air Force photos. Advertisements contained herein do not constitute an endorsement by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force or Hill AFB, Utah. 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