WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! 000549. EAF On-Line offers electronic gateway for AEF deployments by Capt. Wilson Camelo Air Combat Command Public Affairs LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- The Aerospace Expeditionary Force Center is unveiling the first version of an electronic one-stop shop for AEF deployments April 15 to help ensure people deploying as part of the Expeditionary Aerospace Force concept are fully prepared for their arrival in theater. Called EAF On-Line, the Web site will feature training templates airmen can access to obtain information and actions they need to complete -- specific to their Air Force Specialty Code -- prior to deploying, said Lt. Col. Gordon Bennett, the initiative's project officer. The restricted Web site can be accessed via military computers at http://aefcenter.acc.af.mil/eafonline. The April 15 version will feature training templates for communications, legal, and maintenance AFSCs deploying for Operation Southern Watch. The full-up version with training templates for all AFSCs deploying to support any steady state deployment will be available on line by October, Bennett said. "The goal is to have EAF On-Line serve as the backbone for all AEF actions for people deploying to support Air Force worldwide operations," he said. "We want everyone identified for an AEF deployment to go to this site first to obtain the information and actions they need to complete so they are ready to hit the ground running when they arrive at their deployed location." That information includes listings of what kind of training, shots, and qualifications are required for each AFSC and location. Once logged onto EAF On-Line -- accomplished by entering a career field, AEF number, deployment location and home base -- people can access the requirements and training needed for the deployment, such as weapons, chemical warfare and air base ground defense. In addition, the site will feature force protection and geopolitical issues, lessons learned from previous rotations and links to related news articles. "We want to make people smart and do as much training as we can on this side of the ocean. This will benefit the people on the other side of the ocean when they receive a fully-trained, fully-briefed airman," Bennett said. As the site is developed other aspects such as Right Start briefings, travel arrangements, and issues such as orders, pay and outprocessing actions will be added. Bennett stressed that EAF On-line's success is reliant on feedback from airmen in the field. This will be accomplished through a button on the Web site that allows users to provide feedback directly to the AEF Center. "We hope people of all specialties will visit the site and suggest ways to improve our information. The site is for the deploying troop. We are trying to present information they will need, and consider valuable. Feedback is essential for our success." The October 2000 upgrade to EAF On-line will also benefit commanders by allowing them to track the readiness status of their unit and people. More importantly, it will also help them manage people's operations tempo. This is because commanders will have all their assigned people entered in databases that can be sorted in various fields, including number of days already spent on temporary duty assignments. Conducting briefings and training on this side of the ocean also has positive implications for a large portion of the force -- reservists. "Giving reservists the ability to obtain their training and complete their requirements at home will pay off big down the line, and make this critical portion of our Air Force even more effective in a deployed environment," he said. Air National Guard and Reserve people and units are filling approximately 10 percent of the AEF taskings, Bennett said. The AEF Center is a centralized, cross-functional, total force team designed to facilitate Expeditionary Aerospace Force operations. Its mission is to assist EAF operations by assisting in the sourcing of Aerospace Expeditionary Force assets, identifying and refining training requirements, monitoring readiness, and guiding deployment and redeployment planning. 000546. United States will not cut troop levels in Saudi Arabia by Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFPN) -- Contrary to news reports, U.S. troop levels in the area will not be reduced. An April 9 story quotes an anonymous U.S. military official as saying that Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and Saudi Defense and Aviation Minister Prince Sultan agreed to reduce troop levels at Prince Sultan Air Base. "The story is complete hogwash," said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. "We have no plans to reduce the number of airmen or planes at Prince Sultan Air Base, and the topic of reducing airmen in Saudi Arabia was not discussed tonight between Secretary Cohen and Prince Sultan. In fact, Prince Sultan expressed a strong desire for a continued U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia at current levels." U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Wyche Fowler said there "has been no discussion whatsoever, at any level, about reduction of American soldiers." There are about 4,000 U.S. service members in Saudi Arabia. During a news conference following meetings between the prince and Cohen, Sultan said the U.S. troops are in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the U.N. framework to conduct operations over Southern Iraq. "These troops are doing their duties to keep the peace only, not to be aggressors," Prince Sultan said. "Whatever is said more than that is not true." Cohen and the prince said the discussions were fruitful. One part of the discussions centered on the Peninsula Shield forces of the six Gulf Cooperation Council members -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. All six GCC countries contribute to the force, but it is more a paper force than a real one. The forces only exercise together about once every two years. Prince Sultan suggested the United States join with Peninsula Shield forces to achieve more multilateral exercises. The prince also commented on U.S.-Iranian relations. He said Saudi Arabia called for peace, and he hoped Iran would respond "with what is in its security interests. All steps taken by the United States toward this goal are welcome," he said. Cohen and the prince also discussed the Cooperative Defense Initiative, which seeks to tie the Gulf States, Egypt and Jordan into an early-warning network to track missile threats. He said the United States thinks the initiative is an important program for the gulf because of the threat of chemical and biological agents in the region. "There is no particular sense of timing to this issue," Cohen said. "I have been talking about it for several years. We are talking about it because we have seen evidence that the spread of chemical and biological weapons continues." 000458. Air Force budget bolsters space programs by Mary Ann Roney Air Force Space Command Public Affairs PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- The Air Force space budget for fiscal 2001 provides all necessary components to continue to organize, train and equip the nation's premier space and missile force at Air Force Space Command. According to Brig. Gen. Brian Arnold, director Space and Nuclear Deterrence, Secretary of the Air Force, Acquisition, "As a whole, the AFSPC Operations and Maintenance budget has remained relatively constant over the last few years." The FY01 space budget (including O&M, procurement, research, development, testing and evaluation) is $8.8 billion, which is approximately 9 percent of the Air Force's total budget. As in the past, this new budget reflects concern about military readiness and continues to address the modernization of weapons and support systems both at the national and command levels. AFSPC project areas that are seeing funding increases are wide-ranging, said Arnold. Global Positioning System modernization, upgrades to the GPS Operational Control System and Anti-Jam development and testing dollars are growing substantially, virtually doubling from the FY 2000 budget. GPS satellites provide extremely accurate three-dimensional location information (latitude, longitude and altitude), velocity and precise time to military and civilian users all over the world for navigational purposes. According to Arnold, Space Based Infrared System - High will see a budget increase of more than $148 million, which will enable the project to comply with DOD full-funding policy and implement a procurement policy to reduce concurrency risk. SBIRS gives the warfighter critical information in the area of missile warning, missile defense and battlefield warning. While overall Milstar funding will decrease in FY01, the dollars for satellite sustainment engineering will be augmented slightly. Milstar is a joint service satellite communications system that provides secure, jam resistant, worldwide communications requirements for military users. The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, EELV, (the Air Force's space lift modernization program) will adjust funding up more than 50 percent in order to match launch schedule changes and to correct for congressional reductions. Some AFSPC programs that maintained resource allocation without an increase or decrease are the Eastern and Western launch range funding which held firm at about $550 million and the Defense Support Program, which is a key part of North America's early warning system. "There are, however, a few significant cuts in the budget," Arnold said. These include GPS II procurement and launch schedule adjustment. As well as, the National Polar Orbiting Environmental System restructuring resulting in a 25 percent loss of funding. Also the Space Architect program has moved from Air Force control to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. On the whole, the proposed budget continues to expand the technology and funding necessary to deploy a National Missile Defense system and to upgrade the aging ICBM force. It also provides for research and development of emerging missions and will help encourage AFSPC goals. 000550. Air Force vice chief of staff address issues at Aviano by Senior Airman Amy Berry 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFPN) -- After the Air Force vice chief of staff interacts with troops, it's no surprise to hear him say, "I love the Air Force, I love Air Force life, and I love Air Force people." And for those Air Force people, Gen. Lester Lyles spends much of his time developing new ways and examining existing ways to support them. He deals with issues that range from retention and recruiting to education and retirement benefits to operations tempo. Lyles, who has been selected to command Air Force Material Command, visited Aviano recently for a closer look at how people here perform their mission. The general said that in the last 10 years, the Air Force has decreased in size by roughly 40 percent, while the operations tempo and deployments have increased nearly 400 percent. "I know we will always get the mission done," he said. "One way or another, our people always come through. So, we need to figure out a way to support them. "We're struggling to some extent right now in the Air Force. We recruited more people last year than we have (annually) in the last 10 or 15 years, but our retention numbers are not where they need to be," said Lyles. "We're trying to make sure we have the right kind of initiatives. We're working on the right ... kinds of things to support our people." Lyles and Carol DiBattiste, undersecretary of the Air Force, lead a recruiting and retention task force to examine solutions to these problems. "Our task is to support the chief and secretary to examine every ... solution we can to support our people," he added. Some of these solutions include bonuses, better educational benefits and more recruiters in the field. Recruiting is a major challenge, he said. "We're sort of treating it like a war. We're putting every effort we have and breaking every rule we have to do this and make sure we're going to succeed. "We were very pleased with the support we got last year with the pay raise, the largest pay raise we've had in 20 years or so," he said. "But there's still more that needs to be done, even in pay." Taking care of people is the No. 1 mission, Lyles continued. "All of the leadership in the Air Force is very focused on taking care of our people first. That's the right thing to do." Lyles said this year's focus is on health care for active duty members and their families, and for retirees. "We are literally trying to make sure we look at every comprehensive step we can to make life in the Air Force more attractive," Lyles said. "We really need to make sure we retain the great people and recruit great people because we need their skills and expertise. If you don't have the people to get the job done, it's going to make those who are currently on active duty have a harder time trying to accomplish the mission." The Expeditionary Aerospace Force concept was developed to help today's smaller force accomplish the mission and lower the operations tempo. In that respect, Lyle said he believes "the accomplishments here at Aviano have literally been a model of what this Air Force needs for the future. "The Expeditionary Air Force structure is sort of a model for how we're going to operate, but we really didn't have it practiced really well until after Operation Allied Force. OAF essentially showed us that it could be done," he said. "We saw with the lessons learned here at Aviano exactly what the challenges are. We also saw the successes," the general added. Lyles said that although the EAF concept is not perfect, it is starting to put some reliability into airmen's lives, and it is also beginning to have an impact on the operations tempo. "We are an expeditionary Air Force," Lyles said. "For the kind of missions that we know we're going to have, the kind of mission like you've executed and proved and implemented at Aviano, the (air expeditionary force) structure and EAF concept is the right thing for the United States Air Force. "Our number one obstacle is just like our number one priority: taking care of our people and retaining and recruiting the great people that we have." (Courtesy of U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service) 000551. NCO Academy students spruce up American 'kinder' graves in Germany by Tech. Sgt. Ann Bennett Air Force Print News KAPAUN AIR STATION, Germany -- Students of Kisling Noncommissioned Officers' Academy Class 2000-03 and their family members showed their community spirit recently by volunteering to clean up the American Kindergraves site in Kaiserslautern. The students chose to clean the gravesites, which hold the remains of American children who died and were buried in Germany, as part of the academy's legacy program. Each academy class chooses a community service to perform and leave behind as a legacy for other classes to emulate. Before beginning their clean-up efforts, the students took part in a graveside service led by fellow classmate Tech. Sgt. Keith Rogers, from nearby Ramstein Air Base. Rogers, a part-time minister at his local church, said there is some good in volunteering to keep a solemn place like a cemetery clean. "We can learn to empathize with those who have lost loved ones, especially their children," he said. The students then set to work mowing, edging and raking the gravesites; weeding and trimming the surrounding flowerbeds; and scrubbing each of the 451 gravestones. The Kindergraves are in a German cemetery marked by a memorial stone with an inscription that reads: "In memory of 451 American children buried in Kaiserslautern, 1952-1971." Once scattered throughout Germany, the graves were brought together near Kaiserslautern in 1985. The consolidation of the graves in one cemetery resulted in the formation of the American Kindergraves Foundation, which is co-chaired by the Ramstein Area Chief's Group and the German American Women's Club. Besides cleaning the American Kindergraves, the students held a blood drive and bought a marble memorial marker to replace the weather-beaten concrete memorial currently between the American and German flagpoles on the academy's parade field. The students also sponsored a cookout and a pie-in-the-face fundraiser to help victims of recent floods in Mozambique. A $1,100 check was presented to the American Red Cross for the flood relief mission. "We can hold our heads up high, knowing that together we made a difference," said Tech. Sgt. Scott Bowermaster, legacy committee chairperson. 000551a.gif and 000551a.jpg Tech. Sgt. Daniel Dennison, a student of Kisling NCO Academy Class 2000-03, weeds the flowerbed surrounding the American Kindergraves memorial in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Ann Bennett) 000547. Washington showcases memorials honoring women by Rudi Williams American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The Women in Military Service for America Memorial is perhaps the largest and best-known tribute to women's contributions to the nation's defense and defenders. It's also only one of hundreds of its kind. Statues and inscriptions etched into marble in parks, gardens, cemeteries and cathedrals honor military women, war correspondents, industrial workers, American Red Cross and Salvation Army workers -- and women who took their husbands' places on the front line after the men fell in combat. At the ceremonial entrance to Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial is the first major national tribute to all military women -- past, present and future. It also recognizes women who have served in direct support of the armed forces, particularly during conflicts, in a special way called "We Also Served." The memorial project completely restored a structure formerly called the Hemicycle and took about 11 years from concept to completion. Dedicated on Oct. 18, 1997, it attracted more than 162,000 visitors last year. The Vietnam Women's Memorial, dedicated in 1993, is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial complex on the Washington Mall. Congress authorized the memorial in 1988 to honor the "women of the armed forces of the United States who served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era." The bronze statue by sculptor Glenna Goodacre of Santa Fe, N.M., depicts three women, one of whom is tending a wounded soldier. The statue is 68 inches tall and weighs one ton. The memorial pays tribute to 10,000 women stationed in Vietnam during the war. It also honors the more than 265,000 other military women who served stateside and in other areas of the world during the Vietnam War. Eight trees encircling the statue's site commemorate the eight women who died in Vietnam. Their names are engraved in the shiny black granite wall panels of the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial. American Red Cross spokesperson Kelly Alexander said women are honored by several memorials and other tributes at Red Cross Square in Washington. Over the years, hundreds of Red Cross workers lost their lives while supporting American combat troops, she noted. A sculpture dedicated in 1959, in the square's garden, depicts two men and a woman of the Red Cross carrying a casualty during World War II. The inscription etched into the white marble base reads: "In honor and memory of the men and women of the American Red Cross who have given their lives in the service of mankind." Nearby is a bibical-looking memorial dedicated to Jane A. Delano. "She was the founder of Red Cross nursing and health services and was in charge of Red Cross nurses during World War I," Alexander said. More than 295 Red Cross nurses died in service during the war. Delano later became the second superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps and died in France while inspecting Army hospitals after the war. A verse from the 91st Psalm inscribed on the marble base of the Delano Memorial reads: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." Pointing to the front of the main Red Cross building, Alexander noted that it was built in 1917 to house the national headquarters executive offices and is now a national historic landmark. "In memory of the heroic women of the Civil War" is etched into the white stone above the building's tall white columns. Inscriptions gracing the front of the Red Cross visitors, history and education center include: "In memory of heroic women of the world war." Another reads: "And that this memorial may carry on the light of her service for the sick and wounded of war and for those who suffer from diseases," and "To the mothers who gave their sons for their country." The only sculpture honoring Red Cross founder Clara Barton is inside the center. The bronze bust was presented to the Red Cross by the Armenian Assembly of America with the inscription, "To the American Red Cross in commemoration of their 100th anniversary of the relief mission to Armenian led by Clara Barton, June 5, 1998." African American activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune isn't normally thought of as a major contributor to the nation's defense efforts, but she lobbied the War Department during World War II to commission black women officers in what became the Women's Army Corps. In 1944, Bethune became the national commander of the Women's Army for National Defense, an all-black women's organization founded on Nov. 15, 1942. The organization was created to seek "opportunities for service ... share in this fight for democracy ... and to provide an instrument through which our women could serve in this great crisis, with dignity and pride...." With the help of President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bethune fought for better conditions for African Americans men and women in the military. The National Council of Negro Women, Inc. erected a huge statue honoring Bethune's many contributions to the nation on July 10, 1974, in Lincoln Park in northeast Washington. The three-person statue features the renowned educator and two students. Several quotes from Bethune are inscribed around the larger-than-life-size statue: "I leave you finally a responsibility to our young people. I leave you also a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow man. I leave you a respect for the use of power. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a thirst for education. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another." In northwest Washington, the Nuns of the Battlefield Monument pays tribute to more than 600 nuns who nursed battlefield casualties during the Civil War. The monument stands on the corner of Rhode Island Avenue and M Street. The history of women serving in defense of America began more than 220 years ago with those who served during the Revolutionary War, and it continues with those who serve today, said Judy Bellafaire, curator of the Women's Memorial. Several heroines from the Revolutionary War are honored with memorials, including "Molly Pitcher," who followed her husband to war and took his place at his cannon at Battle of Monmouth after he fell in combat, Bellafaire noted. Pitcher, whose real name was Mary Hayes, is memorialized on a stone pillar at the battle site, near the town of Freehold, N.J. A life-size statue of her also stands near her gravesite in her hometown of Carlisle, Pa. A life-size statue in the town of Carmel, N.Y., honors Sybil Luddington, the "female Paul Revere." In 1777, 16-year-old Luddington rode cross-country to alert members of her father's militia to the British attack on the nearby town of Danbury, Conn. A monument at West Point, N.Y., honors the deeds of Margaret Corbin during the Battle of Fort Washington, Bellafaire said. "When Margaret's husband was killed in the battle, she manned his cannon until she too was wounded. Corbin was the first woman awarded a disability pension by Congress for wounds incurred during military service." A statue in the town of Martins Ferry, Ohio, honors Betty Zane's bravery during the siege of Fort Henry (present-day Wheeling, W.Va.), Bellafaire said. "When defenders of Fort Henry ran out of gunpowder in September 1782, Zane dashed about 100 yards to the storage shed, wrapped a supply of gunpowder in a cloth, and ran back to the fort through heavy crossfire," she said. Two monuments in Arlington Cemetery honor civilian nurses who risked their lives caring for soldiers and sailors during a yellow fever epidemic of the Spanish American War. One is a shield-shaped monument dedicated to Dr. Anita McGee, who organized the civilian nurse effort during the war. Nearby, a Maltese cross, the symbol of the Spanish American War nurses, is carved into a rock in recognition of the women who died while nursing yellow fever victims. "A white marble monument in Arlington National Cemetery stands guard over the graves of more than 400 Army and Navy nurses who died during World War I," Bellafaire said. "Many of them were victims of the influenza epidemic which swept across military bases and ports both in Europe and across the United States." It also honors the memory of Army Nurse Corps Superintendent Jane Delano. Bellafaire said more than 300 of the nearly 500,000 American women who served during World War II died during the war, but there are only a few memorials in their honor. Three statues honor members of the World War II Women's Airforce Service Pilots. WASPs served as test and ferry pilots and towed targets for student gunners. The memorials are at the Greater Wilmington Airport in Delaware; Avenger Field at Texas State Technical College, Marshall, Texas; and in the Jimmy Doolittle Garden of the Confederate Air Force Museum and Airfield in Midland, Texas. A memorial to all "Women of the Sea Services" during World War II is on the Avenue of Flags at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wis., Bellafaire noted. Some memorials encompass all wars and both genders, such as the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, N.H., dedicated to all men and women who have given their lives for their country, Bellafaire noted. She said some of the pictorial stones set in the cathedral's "Altar of the Nation" honor military women of the Revolutionary War and the Indian Wars, the Army nurses who served in the South Pacific and at Anzio, Italy, during World War II; and Navy nurses who died at sea. "These are only a few examples of tributes to women that are scattered across the country," Bellafaire said. 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