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Show M S March 27, 2014 'Step Up' campaign aims to stop sexual assault On-base events scheduled to raise awareness, uphold values By Hill AFB Sexual Assault Prevention and Response This year as we head into Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), we are being told to "Live Our Values: Step Up to Stop Sexual Assault." This statement on even more defining values, all of which shape who we are as individuals and as an organization. The point is, we know, by rote, what it means to have good values. The question is, do we know how to uphold those values? The inherent issue in having a set standard of behaviors and values is how to enforce them. A drill sergeant can yell at a trainee to shine their shoes until they are blue in the face, but that sergeant implies that we already hold the tools we need in our Air Force Core Values to stop the violence and tragedy of a sexual assault. From day one we were taught our own cultural, familial and societal values. When we joined the Air Force we were asked to take is going to have to keep yelling until the day the trainee makes that action a personal responsibility. The SAPR office, likewise, can hold training after training, brief each wave of newcomers... but change isn't going to happen until Airmen at all levels decide to take responsibility for defending and protecting their fellow Airmen against sexual assault, while in turn isolating perpetrators until they have no choice but Airmen learn from Hill AFB leader to get out. Take the values you know and live them. Integrity First, Service Before Self and Excellence in All We Do. Have the integrity to make sexual assault a problem you won't tolerate. Begin in the workplace by standing up to those that make inappropriate comments or jokes. Serve your wingmen by being brave and refuse to be a passive See STEP UP I Page 10 Air Force sets goal to reduce budget over next five years BY MITCH SHAW Hilltop Times staff Courtesy photo Maj. Gen. H. Brent Baker Sr., Ogden Air Logistics Complex commander, addresses the Hill AFB First Four on the topic of effective leadership and the power of positivity March 19 at The Landing. The First Four is an organization comprised of the junior enlisted Airmen focused on the elements of service, community, activity, leadership and education. First Four gets two-star's leadership, management advice BY SENIOR AIRMAN ADAM C. BORGMAN 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs H ILL AIR FORCE BASE — Team Hill's senior leader spoke to nearly 80 junior enlisted Airmen during the Hill AFB First Four meeting March 19. Maj. Gen. H. Brent Baker Sr., Ogden Air Logistics Complex commander, spoke on the topic of effective leader- ship and management. "Everyone is a leader, and you will either influence people in a positive way or influence people in a negative way," Baker said. "Leadership by example will speak volumes to your troops." Baker emphasized the power of being positive and said it can determine the morale of the people around you. "As a leader, the first thing people will do is evaluate how you are going to handle a stressful situation," Baker said. "If you panic, they are going to panic. If you are calm and very positive about the outcome and come up with a plan to overcome the situation, your people will learn from that." Baker, who enlisted in 1979 and attended Officer Itaining School in June 1985, left a lasting impression on those attending the meeting. "I was very excited to get leadership and management advice from Maj. Gen. Baker," said Airman 1st HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Sequestration — it's a phrase that's been repeated often and seems like it will never go away. The Air Force announced recently it will resume a program that will reduce its force by thousands of airmen over the next five years, in an attempt to meet budget reduction requirements caused by sequestration. The program calls for voluntary cuts through separation and early retirement plans, but it also calls for involuntary cuts that would be made at the discretion of special Air Force retention boards. The program was first announced in December, but was halted earlier this year as defense officials took it under review. On March 15, the Pentagon announced the program is back on. The Air Force says reducing the force through voluntary means is a priority, but retention boards are not only planned for 2014, but 2015 as well, though airmen who are eligible for the retention boards this year won't have to go through them again next year. "Airmen who were eligible for programs during the first round in 2014 will not be eligible for the retention boards in 2015, unless they have specific negative quality force indicators," Lt. Gen. Samuel Cox, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said in a news release. Cox said ensuring well-performing airmen are not subject to multiple See BUDGET I Page 10 See FOUR I Page 10 Public comment accepted on plan for 'Military Response Program' project Air Force to clean up contaminated weapons sites BY MITCH SHAW Hilltop Times staff HILL AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force has a plan to clean up three contaminated military weapons sites on Hill Air Force Base. The Air Force is currently accepting public comment on a plan to clean up three "Military Munitions Response Program" sites that are now inactive at Hill. The sites include an outdoor small arms firing range, a munitions dump and a powder burning pit. The firing range and mu- nitions dump both contain lead munitions debris that have been left over from years of range practices, while the burning pit contains both munitions debris and potential explosives. All three sites are located along the eastern edge of the base. According to the plan, which can be viewed in its entirety at www.hillrab. org/OU14ProposedPlan, the material that could theoretically pose explosive risks includes "unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, or munitions eszs:Q1'..* ,4 *.t.ftw. X.N constituents present in high enough concentrations to provide an explosive hazard." But the report also says the explosive cornpounds may degrade once they are released into the environment, which can be influenced by physical conditions specific to a site, like the composition of the Learn more about the Air Force's plan to clean up military weapons sites on Hill Air Force Base at www.hillrab.org/OU14ProposedPlan sediment and the presence or absence of oxygen. As for the possibility of human lead exposure from the munitions debris, the plan says groundwater has been eliminated as a potential pathway to reach humans, but the inhalation of lead in airborne dust could reach humans who may be conducting intrusive activi- ties like soil excavation at the sites. The plan says multiple remediation actions were considered in the cleanup effort, but preferred remediation of the sites includes excavating contaminated soil and disposing of it at an offsite waste facility and using digital mapping to remove any explosive compounds. The plan says that since operations at each site have been terminated, Hill and the Department of Defense have developed more stringent munitions storage, training, management, and disposal procedures that meet or exceed state and federal requirements. To find out how to submit a comment on the plan, go to www.hillrab.org/OU14ProposedPlan. Contact reporter Mitch Shaw at 801-625-4233 or mishaw@standard.net . Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23. |