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Show HILLTOP TIMES TIMES November 8, 2007 Key Spouses program eases stress of deployment party for at a prethe younger deployment 419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs children. barbecue Brewer held for the ILL AER FORCE BASE — suggests families of Katherine Brewer has a routine. surrounding deploying Monday mornings, she writes oneself with 419th Fighter and answers e-mails. Wednesdays at good people Wing airmen. 1 p.m., she treats her 1-year-old son, and said the She has Aidan, to the children's museum. Key Spouses remained Friday nights, she phones her husband, program in touch Master Sgt. Thomas Brewer, 419th Civil helps. through Key Engineer Squadron, who is on a 120-day The social Spouses. deployment to Kirkuk, Iraq. events are "We've Keeping busy is one way Brewer just as good grown a lot in is coping with her husband's first for her as one month," deployment. Courtesy pholo they are for said Brewer Katherine Brewer and her 1-year-old son, Aiden, pose for a "If I keep my routine and I schedule her son,she of their HaJloween picture at a recent Key Spouses party. Brewer's things, it makes my time go by faster," said. They husband, Master Sgt. Thomas Brewer, a reservist with the 419th friendship. said Brewer, a former staff sergeant in Fighter Wing Civil Engineer Squadron, is serving in Kirkuk, Iraq. may also be "I'm a social the 419th Medical Squadron who is now a Katherine Brewer oversees the 419th CES volunteer-run Key good for person.I stay-at-home mom. Spouses program, which aims to support spouses of the deployed. need the her husband Brewer oversees the volunteer-run in Iraq. Key Spouses program for the 419 CES. connection." Keeping busy and having a positive The program aims to support spouses Bills' 16-year-old stepdaughter also outlook help the deployed spouses stay of deployed airmen by organizing social often helps Brewer care for Aidan. focused because they are not worrying functions and identifying and meeting Brewer notes that Key Spouses is an about problems at home, Brewer said. physical and emotional needs — anything important program for family members. "It's not all about you anymore," she from leaky roofs to loneliness. In the Reserve, airmen rarely meet up said. "They have to stay focused on their more than once a month, making it more "It's a way to stay connected to other job. I believe in what he's doing, and I difficult to identify spouses' needs. people who are going through the same honestly support what he does." It also provides opportunities thing," said Teresa Bills, whose husband, By supporting her husband, Bills said for children to get together. In the Senior Master Sgt. Emmett Bills, 419 she is also supporting her country. past month, Key Spouses has hosted CES, is also in Kirkuk. "We have to remember what good numerous events, including a Halloween Katherine Brewer met Teresa Bills BY BRYAN MAGANA H they're doing over there," she said. "It makes you feel good to know that they are helping, giving them (Iraqis) a better lifestyle." Brewer stays in touch with spouses of airmen from CES, as well as from the 419th Security Forces Squadron, which is also deployed to Kirkuk. "We combined with security forces," she said. Senior Master Sgt. Sheila Brown oversees the Key Spouses program for SFS and collaborates with Brewer to organize events for the spouses. Brewer also meets with spouses whose loved ones are active-duty or deployed to locations outside of Iraq, but she focuses on keeping it in the family. Brewer's husband sends her updated rosters of deployed personnel whose spouses may not be involved with the program. She follows up with phone calls. She said she wants to ensure Key Spouses is as inclusive as possible. Key Spouses can fill in the gaps until loved ones return home, Brewer said. The 419 CES and 419 SFS are due home in January, when many of the families will celebrate a belated Christmas, as well as a new year. "It's kind of a blessing in disguise, this whole deployment thing. I didn't want him to go, but it made me realize how much I love him." Bennett: Compromise reached on development near training range BY TOM BUSSELBERG Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau tbusselberg@standard.net W ASHINGTON, D.C. — A compromise has been reached with the Senate Armed Services Committee that could affect any placement of spent nuclear fuel rods, or other commercial development, near the Utah Test and Training Range. Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said in a Friday morning press conference here that the compromise would place a six-year sunset (or closure) to protection from encroachment on the range originally enacted via the Hansen moratorium. The moratorium prohibits the Bureau of Land Management from revising its area resource management plan before any new commercial project can be authorized. This year's Defense Authorization bill originally included an immediate repeal of that moratorium. The moratorium repeal wasn't part of the House version of the Defense Bennett Authorization bill, meaning it has gone to conference committee, Bennett said. The bill is currently in conference committee because the House version doesn't agree with that compromise. • Several years ago, there were attempts by business and other interests to place spent nuclear rods close'to the range. Speaking of a resurgence nationally in nuclear power, Bennett said, "a nuclear power plant in Utah might very well make sense. But the problem of transporting nuclear waste (from elsewhere) to the Goshute Indian Reservation (near the UT&TR) ... I don't see it as necessary. "The capsules stored on-site at nuclear plants are certified to be safe. If they're safe where they (currently) are, then why move them? If you put them in open canisters in the Goshute Reservation, that's under the See BENNETT I page 5 CAR INSURANCE SO GOOD YOU'D TAKE AN OATH TO GET IT. Share the gift of life. Donate plasma You don't lead an ordinary life. The last thing you need is ordinary car insurance. . r i ..,,..,.. - , , That's why GEICO offers our military customers simple payment plans, 24-hour service,vehicle storage options and storage protection plans, whether you store it yourself or on base. . ... •: SPECIAL for.NEW DONORS! For seventy years, GEICO has been serving the special needs of the special people who serve our country. 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