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Show COMMENTARY TIMES March 26, 2009 One fighter pilot finds realization in deployment Hilltop TIMES 1948 Hilltop Times Editorial Staff: ,Lee Carter... Standard-Examiner publisher ;Mary Lou Gorny Hilltop Times Editor •Lee Anne Hensley Hilltop Times ', Writer Catherine Cornett Hilltop Times Correspondent 'Deadlines: Editorial and news items are Idue by noon on the Friday prior to the Thursday print date. To submit news items e-mail hillt^ptlmesestandard.net or call 625-4273. For Classified Advertising, call 625-4300. For Retail Advertising, call 625-4388. The Hilltop Times is published by Ogden Publishing Corporation, a private firm in no way connected with the • U.S. Air Force, under, and in compliance with, a Memo- ( randum of Understanding with Hid Air Force Base. 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Call 625-4273 with story ideas or comments, or contact the editor, Mary Lou Gorny, at mgorny@standard. net. Call 625-4300 for Classified Advertising or 625-4388 for Retail Advertising. We landed at Joint Base Balad, 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron after a sevenhour flight from JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — In early Moron Air Base, January, I sat on my comfortable couch Spain. The area in Layton, Utah. It was a cold Saturday looked brown and morning and the realization hit me — I desolate — much was leaving in less than two weeks for my like the deserts first deployment. For several months beof the southwestforehand, my squadron — the 4th Fighter ern United States. Squadron Fuujins — had been training Once I landed, I and preparing ourselves professionally 1st Lt. Nadolny peeled myself from and mentally to deploy to Iraq. We flew the Viper seat and our daily training sorties and attended was welcomed by my fellow Fuujins. I various exercises, including Green Flag . was finally in Iraq. Immediately my eyes West at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. We blinked from the dust and from a distinct were ready to accomplish the mission and do our part to help promote democracy in smell that is constantly in the air. After a thorough^in-processing, I arrived at my Iraq. much-anticipated living quarters. Much I had mixed emotions as the date apto my delight I saw that there was a small proached. What would it be like to fly fridge and television with all the Ameriover a foreign land in an F-16 with live weapons on my jet? What would it be like can Forces Network programming I could ever wish for. Maybe this wouldn't be so to live at this Iraqi air base that Saddam bad after all. Hussein built 44 years ago? Ultimately, My first few missions were eye-openI thought about what my day-to-day life ing. I could see firsthand the positive would be like living thousands of miles impact that we were having on the daily from home in a potentially hostile envilives of the Iraqi civilians and how many ronment. BY 1 ST LT. BRAD NADOLNY 777-7000 actionjine-pa@hill.afmil Report suspicious When you call or send an e-mail, your comactivity via the AFOSI ments will be recorded and staffed through the EAGLE EYES program agency responsible for action. Please give your supervisor and chain of com- Dial: 777-5056/3057/ 3058. Watch mand the opportunity to work with you in anReport - Protect swering questions and solving problems before Force Protection calling the Action Line. This will help me better is Ow Business serve your interests. Items of basewide interest Everyone is a Sensor will be published in the Hilltop Times. Phone numbers — The base agencies listed can be contacted cjirectly if you have a complaintbra'problem with their services: ' , • Hill Straight talk : 777-9696 iffty'Fc 777-5305 ; 24-hr. Crisis Information... 777-3056 IC Complaints (lor appointment) Force Support Squadron 777-4134 .777-5361 IC Complaints . Base Restaurants 777-2043 Retirement/Compensation ...777-6142 (after hours) .777-5361 Fraud, Waste or Abuse....:.. (civilian) (recording) Social Actions 777-3516 •885-9595 Loud Noise 1-877 Employer Relations 777-7129 (complaints) Military Pay.., ; 777-1851 .777-4918 75th Medical Group Civilian Pay : 777-6246 .777-1856 Civil Engineering Air Force Suggestion 777-6901 .777-7433 Hill Pride Hotline Program Peak Energy Seminar Ninety-five percent of Americans surveyed say they don't have enough energy. Let us show you the seven steps to increase your energy by up to 40 percent within two weeks without any lotions or potions, Tuesday, March 31, from 11 a.m. to noon. Bring your lunch if you wish. To sign up, call the Health and Wellness Center at 777-1215. ' THINK SAFETY i Hill's Total 2009 DUIs: 7 Hill's Last DUI: Unit Involved: Airmen Agilnst Drinking and Driving provide rides whin designated driven arc unavailable. Calf 777- 111J any time to request a ride. ----- ^,-r->T-T s 777-5333 Military Housing 825-9392 Maintenance Safety Office 777-3333 Safety Office Hotline 5B6-9300 Union 777-3257 AFOSI Narcotics Hotline 777-1852 Family Assistance Center... 777^3090 (whenactivated) • -^ >•_-••,•.-, d the March Madness basketball event March 23r to sign forms to get donations started for the Air Force Assistance Fund campaign. The effort is ongoing to support military members and their families through AFAF affiliates including Air Force Village Foundation, the Air Force Aid Society, the General and Mrs. Curtis E. LeMay Foundation and the Air Force Enlisted Village. Anniversary of Operation Allied Force/Noble Anvil fighter. An A-10 pilot located the downed F-117 pilot for a successful Ogden Air Logistics Center historian rescue, and the A-10 pilot later received the Silver Star for his actions. his week 10 years ago — beA USAF F-16 aircraft was lost and ginning on March 24, 1999 the pilot was successfully recovered. — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, led by the United Four KC-135 aircrew members States Air Force, launched Operarisked their lives to air refuel two tion Allied Force against YugoslaA-lOs, which had nearly run out of via to prevent the forced eviction fuel. Each of the air refueling crew and genocide of Albanian Musmembers later received the Distinlims living in Kosovo. The United guished Flying Cross. States was the dominant memDuring the air campaign, which ber of the coalition against miliended on June 20,1999, USAF KCtant Serbians, although all NATO 135s and KC-lOs flew 9,001 missions members were involved. During This United States Air Force photo shows an F-16 to deliver 348.5 million pounds of the ten-week conflict, NATO airfuel to receiving aircraft. Increasequipped with an electronic combat device used craft flew more than 38,000 comingly, USAF airlift and civil engiduring Operation Allied Force/Noble Anvil. The bat missions. device lured enemy radar-controlled missiles away neering assets had been consumed This was primarily an air camby providing a much larger radar cross section than by a large scale relief operation in support of refugees crowding into paign and NATO's second major the aircraft would have had. Incorporating the combat operation following the Sep- device into the weapon system was one of many camps in Albania, Montenegro and tember 1995 Operation Deliberate contributions Team Hill made to the relatively short, Macedonia. Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Adding to the immediate operayet very significant air combat operation. The United States named its part tional and logistics burden, the USAF of Operation Allied Force as Noblehad resources committed to patrolAnvil. ling the no-fly zones in Iraq (Operations just fielded the JDAM with the help of Northern Watch and Southern Watch), The operation occurred during a peAFMC's Air Armament Center and the was in the final stage of forming 10 Aeroriod of significant change for the Air Ogden Air Logistics Center. The latter, space Expeditionary Forces to better Force and Air Force Materiel Command. was especially instrumental in bringing manage deployments, and in the middle The Air Force was still adjusting to the all types of required air munitions to the of transferring vital sustenance from two post-Cold War environment; in particular, fight. Operation Allied Force incorpothe disappearance of the Soviet military rated the first large-scale use of satellites of the Air Logistics Centers closing (as a result of the 1995 Base Realignment and threat and rapid, primarily computeras a direct method of weapon guidance Closure mandate) to the three ALCs that driven technological advancement. The and other new uses of cyberspace for remain today. Air Force budget* was shrinking, the defense. force size falling, bases were closing and Also during the operation, USAF The magnitude of U.S. involvement remaining personnel faced an increased F-15 pilots shot down two MiG-29s. One was made clear when on April 27,1999, operations tempo. MiG-29 was shot down by a Dutch F-16 President William Clinton authorized the and another MIG-29 was shot down by a call up of 33,102 reservists and stop/loss The air operations over Kosovo were USAF F-16. significant in many respects. For inprograms to suspend service members' stance, the USAF used the B-2 and Joint On March 27,1999, enemy groundfire normal separation dates from active duty. Direct Attack Munition for the first brought down an F-117 in Yugoslavia. It Only the Air Force chose to implement time in combat. Combat air forces had stop/loss actions. was the first combat loss of the stealth T C Nest TODD CROMAR/U.S. Air Force Senior leaders and wing commanders BY DAVE KENDZIORA Pimm Tip from lha H«atlh ind Wcltncfi Canter of them are just trying to .make a better life for themselves and their families. We provided airborne protection for the provincial elections that occurred shortly after our arrival. This all happened in a country where only one year earlier, it was almost impossible for many people to feel safe on the streets, let alone vote in a historic election. It felt amazing to protect the people of Iraq who are actually influencing the path their country takes toward democratic principles. I have now been here a month and flown 17 combat sorties. After all the years of challenging and demanding training, I can finally realize the rewards of that preparation. These rewards are ultimately experienced by the people we are here to help and protect. The citizens of Iraq are now, and will for the foreseeable future, benefit from the efforts of individuals working together as a team every day here in Iraq. I'm proud and humbled to be part of this team and to be a firsthand witness to such historic times. First Lt. Brad Nadolny is deployed with the 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron that is based with Hill AFB's 388th Fighter Wing. |