-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! 1210. Air Force supports 'Hump Pilots' at annual reunion by Master Sgt. Rick Burnham Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- Amid mild temperatures and clear skies at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., a handful of historic aviators gathered Aug. 24 to reminisce about their experiences during World War II. It was a time when the temperatures would drop so low that ice would cover the cockpit windows of their cargo aircraft, and the skies would be filled with Japanese fighter planes. For the men and women tasked with flying critical supplies over the China-Burma-India "Hump," it was a time when the dangers of the mission were outweighed only by its importance to the war effort. The mission: deliver much-needed supplies to the Chinese army, which were being dominated by Japan. Supporting those Chinese forces would help keep the Japanese occupied in southern Asia, instead of fighting American forces in the Pacific. More than 250 members of the "China-Burma-India Hump Pilots Association" and their families visited Washington for their 56th annual reunion Aug. 21 to 26. Besides touring a C-17 Globemaster III, dedicated in their honor by Air Mobility Command officials, the group visited a wide range of historical sites in the area, including the White House and Pentagon. Jay Vinyard, a C-46 Commando pilot and one of about 2,200 surviving people from the group, said the 525-mile route from the Assam Valley in India to the remote airfields of southwest China, was a harrowing one that took its toll. "We lost 509 aircraft, 81 of which were never found," said Vinyard, who flew 174 missions over the 'Hump,' "And out of the 1,314 crewmembers who were lost, 345 are still missing." The tremendous odds against them were made even more dubious by the Himalayan Mountain ranges in western China, with peaks as high as 16,000 feet. Woody Woodell of Lake Havasu, Ariz., said the dangers were very real, and often made worse by inclement weather. "Not only did you have to contend with the high mountain ranges and the Japanese fighter planes, but the weather could get very rough at times," said Woodell, a C-47 Skytrain radio operator. "The route was through an area where three different weather fronts could come together all at once. And when that happened, you could get anything from rain, sleet and snow to hurricane-force winds." Often times, Woodell said, the men charged with negotiating those obstacles were barely out of high school. "I remember one particular mission in which I was the oldest member of a four-person crew, which included the pilot, co-pilot and engineer," he said, glancing around the cavernous C-17. "I was only 21 at the time." The sacrifices made by the group, and its early contributions to military airlift, were the key reasons AMC officials worked to ensure the C-17 dedicated in the group's honor was available for a tour during the reunion. Lt. Col. Tim Zadalis of the Developing Aerospace Leaders Office in Washington, who represented AMC at the reunion, said it was important to support the "Hump Pilots" and their families. "They built the foundation of airlift by flying these missions," he said. "We will not let the world forget what they did and the sacrifices they made while doing it. It's an honor to get this aircraft here, and it's an honor to be here with them." Capt. Steve Sprowles, a C-17 pilot who flew the aircraft in for the reunion, echoed those sentiments. He said the aircraft was actually in Australia only days prior to the reunion, and that everyone at McChord AFB, Wash., worked hard to get it to Andrews on time. "We at McChord feel this is their airplane -- it's just on loan to us," he said. "So everyone really busted their butts getting it 'quick-turned' as fast as possible. For what these guys sacrificed for our country in World War II, it is the least we could do." In response to that effort, the surviving members of the "Hump Pilots" left a couple of tangible reminders of the early days of airlift for the men and women of McChord. Besides presenting the crew with a plaque detailing the history of the "China-Burma-India Hump Pilots," members of the group signed a small panel inside the aircraft for future generations of airlifters to see. "This plaque will remain with the aircraft forever, regardless of which base and unit it is assigned to," said Sprowles. "Of course, their signatures will serve as a constant reminder of the tremendous sacrifices they made for our country so long ago." 1212. Payroll deductions beginning for delinquent travel cardholders by Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- In October, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service will begin involuntary payroll deductions for almost 8,000 Air Force people who are more than 120 days delinquent on their government travel charge card accounts. These deductions, up to 15 percent of a person's disposable income, will help Bank of America recoup the millions of dollars that cardholders owe on their past due accounts, said Michael Weber, Air Force Travel Card Program manager at the Pentagon. "Last month alone, Bank of America wrote off $161,000 from delinquent Air Force cardholders," Weber said. Before any payroll deduction begins, Bank of America will notify each cardholder, once an account reaches 90 days past due, and offer them one of two options to settle the account voluntarily, said Col. Gregory Morgan, Air Force accounting, banking and comptroller support director at the Pentagon. "The first option is a one-time payment to bring the account current," Morgan said. "The second option, for those financially unable to pay the account in full, is to enter into a written agreement with Bank of America to make voluntary monthly payments." By voluntarily settling a past due account, Bank of America will permit the cardholder to restore their government travel charge card privileges, Weber said. However, if a cardholder defaults on these agreements or does not make arrangements with the bank to settle the account, the unpaid account balance will be submitted to DFAS for immediate involuntary payroll deduction, he said. This will result in the permanent termination of all government travel charge card privileges for the offending cardholder. Additionally, Bank of America will begin reporting all delinquent government travel charge card accounts to the credit bureaus. "This financial irresponsibility by Air Force members greatly impacts their ability to travel and to accomplish the mission," Morgan said. Morgan said increased unit oversight of the travel charge card program is needed to help combat current and future account delinquencies. "When commanders are more cognizant of their unit's program, we see a much lower delinquency rate among Air Force members," he said. "As more commanders have become involved, we have dropped from a 12-percent delinquency rate to one much closer to the nationwide delinquency rate among Visa and Master Card users." "Although the Air Force has reduced the number of its delinquent accounts, the lowest among any service, we still have a long way to go," Weber said. "It's really up to the person entrusted with the government travel charge card to do the right thing -- pay for what you use." 1213. Officials release F-16 accident report LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- Investigators determined engine failure led to an F-16 Fighting Falcon crash on the Melrose Bombing Range in New Mexico on March 21. The aircraft, assigned to the 27th Fighter Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., was destroyed. The pilot experienced minor injuries after ejecting from the aircraft. Air Combat Command's accident investigation report released Aug. 30 said there was clear and convincing evidence complete failure of the No. 3 main thrust bearing led ultimately to engine failure. Investigators also found two substantial factors that directly contributed to the accident. First, a crew chief failed to perform a proper pre-flight maintenance inspection. Second, maintenance personnel failed to identify a contaminated pump filter in the aircraft engine oil system. The accident occurred during a four-ship low altitude intercept-training sortie. 1211. Air Force announces OTS selections RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- The Air Force is giving 170 enlisted people the chance to trade in their stripes for gold bars after being chosen to attend Officer Training School. Air Force Recruiting Service officials conducted OTS Selection Board 0108, which met here Aug. 7 to 10. The board considered 460 total applications, selecting 305 for a 66 percent selection rate. As part of the selection process, board members review both objective and subjective factors. Objectively, the board considers each applicant's academic discipline, grade point average, and Air Force Officer Qualifying Test scores. Subjectively, board members evaluate work experience, accomplishments, adaptability, character, leadership ability, potential for future growth, and other recommendations. For active-duty enlisted people, performance reports and commander's recommendations are also evaluated. A minimum of three Air Force colonels review every application. The selection process is similar to an Air Force officer promotion board. Key to the entire process is that no single factor leads to an individual's selection or nonselection, OTS selection officials said. Individuals selected for OTS can expect class assignment information about eight weeks after their physical is certified for commissioning. The OTS boards meet about every six weeks here at Recruiting Service headquarters. For more information concerning OTS and the application process, active-duty people should contact their local education services office; civilians should contact the nearest Air Force recruiter. 1208. Hydraulic shop surges to keep E-3s flying by Darren D. Heusel Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFPN) -- People from the 552nd Component Repair Squadron hydraulic shop here recently produced 23 serviceable E-3 Sentry aircraft brake assemblies in a little more than nine hours to avert a potentially fleet-grounding problem. Work on the assemblies, valued at more than $293,000, started at around 4:30 p.m. CDT Aug. 8 and was finished at about 2 a.m. Aug. 9. Shop officials said brake assembly production levels usually average about 10 a month. The need for this surge came when shop maintainers performing routine maintenance on the brake assemblies discovered the supply system was out of pressure plates. These are a critical part in allowing the aircraft to stop. The unavailability of these parts meant that no serviceable brake assemblies could be produced and the entire E-3 fleet could be grounded. So, after some quick searching for parts, shop members went into a surge mode and produced enough assemblies overnight to keep the aircraft flying. "In retrospect, it was a huge mission because it impacted the entire fleet," said Master Sgt. Randy Heavin, hydraulic shop section chief. "The fact that we completed the mission in only nine-and-a-half hours was pretty amazing. It was a great effort on everyone's part." When pressure plates are inspected, section workers either repair or replace them as the technical order warrants. Over time, the pressure plates supply had dwindled and no new contracts to produce them were in place. Supply representatives resorted to removing serviceable brakes from mobility readiness spare packages to provide brakes for the aircraft, Heavin said. As brakes were being depleted from the MRSP, the issue's critical nature reached an all-time high. Hydraulic shop workers located surplus pressure plates from around the world and relayed that information to supply liaisons and item managers. After numerous calls and meetings, contracts for manufacturing new plates, as well as for procuring pressure plates from surplus vendors were developed. Once shop workers confirmed the parts had been shipped, Heavin said his "hydro commandos" went right to work setting up an assembly line. "This maintenance milestone blasted all previous shop production rates and enabled a joint task force mission that was in question of making its scheduled departure to deploy on time," Heavin said. Heavin said his troops might have been able to "cannibalize parts from another E-3," but one of those aircraft still would have ended up being grounded. Besides Heavin, others responsible for the surge include Staff Sgt. Walter Reynolds Jr.; Senior Airmen Sean M. Ford and Anthony Vigil; and Airmen 1st Class Jeffery G. Pedersen, William Courtway, Daniel Saalfrank and Richard Mora. Also participating from the 513th Maintenance Squadron were Master Sgt. James O. Smith, Tech. Sgt. Larry H. Jackson and Senior Airman Bryan D. Weedn. Heavin said his shop produced 26 brake assemblies once before, "but it wasn't as critical because we still had pressure plates in the kits." What's more, he said, "This will hold us over until September when a new contract goes into effect. These really put us over the hump and saved the day, so to speak." (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service) 1209. 20th anniversary of USAFE headquarters bombing observed by Capt. Elizabeth A. Ortiz U.S. Air Forces in Europe Public Affairs RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- Twenty years ago, U.S. Air Forces in Europe headquarters here became the target of a terrorist attack. On Aug. 31, 1981, at 7:21 a.m. (12:21 a.m. EDT), bombs concealed in the back seat of a Volkswagen Jetta with stolen U.S. Army Europe license plates exploded outside of Bldg. 201, injuring 12 U.S. military members and two German civilians. Six of the victims were seriously injured, including the assistant deputy chief of staff for operations at the time, Brig. Gen. Joseph Moore, who had just arrived to work on a bicycle. According to an unclassified historical document, the blast caused extensive damage to two of the facility's three wings. Every window facing the parking lot was blown in. About 50 cars were riddled with debris -- about half of them beyond economical repair. Damage to the C Wing, home of Allied Air Forces Central Europe headquarters, was extensive. The B Wing, which housed the USAFE command section, was also heavily damaged. Both wings had to be vacated until repairs could be made. Overall, 716 windows and frames and 286 doors had to be replaced. Essential repairs were estimated at more than $3 million and work began immediately. The terrorists arrived on base in the car, which contained three explosive-filled butane cylinders (the kind used in travel trailers or gas grills) wired to the electric clock on the dashboard. A Honda motorcycle, which had been stolen and repainted, was also brought on base. The perpetrators escaped on the motorcycle, which was later found near Mackenbach, a village located about a mile north of the base. On Sept. 2, the Red Army Faction, a well-known terrorist organization at the time, delivered a three-page letter to a German news service claiming responsibility for the bombing. The group attacked Ramstein because it believed the base was a "launching place for a war in the Third World," according to the report. "A terrorist attack, like the one at the USAFE headquarters in 1981, serves to remind us that terrorists are relentless in the pursuit of causing a tragic event so they can publicize their cause," said Col. John T. Salley Jr., director of USAFE's directorate of security forces. "Unfortunately, we live in an age when all DOD members must first think of their own personal force protection awareness prior to doing many activities while traveling throughout Europe." Col. Lavon Alston, deputy director for USAFE's civil engineer directorate, was a captain in the nearby CE directorate at the time. He recalled how his building shook and the windows rattled when the bomb exploded. "A bomb was not the first thought that crossed people's minds," said Alston, who thought a boiler had blown up. "We just sat back down. A bomb was the farthest thing from my mind at the time. Now, it'd be the first." Alston realized it was serious when he saw people running from the headquarters building. He remembered seeing the blown-out windows. "It (the bomb) did quite a bit of damage," he said. The next morning was "pretty hairy," as civil engineers scurried to get funds to start rebuilding with better security features, Alston said. For one, a fence went up around the base to separate it from the surrounding area. Prior to the bomb explosion there was no such physical barrier. "We've come a long way," Alston said. "Security has changed quite a bit." Now, there are pop-up barriers and a permanent security ring around the headquarters. Twenty years ago, there was no DOD anti-terrorism and force protection program like today's, so for Alston, he said the bombing really increased his awareness. "When it hits home, you really start paying attention," he said. Wolfgang Motz, then the German legal adviser for what was then the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing here, was on his way to work the morning of the bombing. He remembered traffic was backed up into all the surrounding villages. He, too, never suspected the real reason for the delay. "Back then, there were a lot of exercises and traffic would be backed up, so it was almost routine," Motz said. What was not routine was security police driving up and down the lanes of vehicles looking for him. They wanted to escort him on base so he could let his German legal counterparts know a bomb had just exploded at Ramstein. It was a "great shock" for people stationed here, said Motz, now the host-nation adviser to USAFE Commander Gen. Gregory S. Martin. Motz recalled the threat terrorist groups posed. There had been attacks on senior German government officials, business executives and public prosecutors. Still, "it was hard to accept we were the target," he said. "It's just a miracle nobody was actually killed." Ronald Lynde echoed the sentiment. Lynde was Allied Air Forces Central Europe assistant chief of staff for personnel and administration at the time. He was in the headquarters building the morning of the explosion. "We were incredibly lucky that day," he said. A NATO evaluation team had just left Bldg. 201 after an early morning briefing. Lynde, then a lieutenant colonel, had just finished making the morning coffee in a second-floor room overlooking the soon-to-be bombsite. He walked back across the hall, sat down at his desk, and the bomb exploded. The shock wave blew him underneath his desk -- a good thing because it protected him from the flying glass when the windows were blown into his office. "My personal inventory and Vietnam flashback was quickly interrupted by the hysterical screams of our two elderly German cleaning women," he recalled. "They ... were not seriously injured but totally disoriented by the blast." Lynde and the two women made their way out of the decimated building and across the street to the dental clinic, which had been quickly converted into a triage station. From there, they were transported by ambulance to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, treated and released. The bombing changed the way USAFE and Ramstein officials looked at security. At the time of the bombing, base officials were preaching about installation and building security. "There was a level of awareness in the base military population because of the terrorist attacks that were going on, but infrastructure and routines on the base had not been changed to increase security," Lynde said. "That all changed after the bombing." Unlike today, no special security precautions were taken at headquarters in 1981. "Anybody could park their car there, essentially," Motz said. The bomb had been timed to catch the maximum number of people on their way to work, Motz said. "There probably would've been more injuries if it had been any other day but Monday, the day of the explosion," he said. "People tend to come in a bit later on Mondays." In essence, the bombers chose the wrong day -- to USAFE's immense benefit. Officials also said it was fortunate that the butane cylinders, assembled to explode simultaneously, did not. One didn't explode at all and was found on the second floor of the building after penetrating the building's 8-inch-thick wall, according to the report. "The other two exploded within seconds of each other, reducing the destructive potential," Motz said. "A bomb expert testifying at the trial said that if the three canisters had exploded at the same time, all three wings would've collapsed." As a legal liaison with the host nation, Motz was heavily involved in the trial proceedings, which took place in 1986. In the end, two members of the now-defunct Red Army Faction were tried for the bombing and convicted in December 1986. The mastermind, Helmut Pohl, originally sentenced to life imprisonment, was pardoned in June 1998. Despite the blast and traumatic aftermath, the terrorists never disrupted operations at USAFE headquarters. For the terrorists, the bombing was a political statement. They perceived U.S. forces to be an instrument of imperialism. "For them, it was along the lines of a military act against military aggression," said Motz. "It wasn't a crime. Although a "fairly sizeable" leftist movement existed at the time, the "clear, overwhelming majority of Germans absolutely didn't support them (convicted bombers) -- quite the opposite," Motz said. "The German government at all levels was stunned about the bombing." Lynde agreed. "Taking part in the terrorist trial and beyond, I never saw anything but contempt for these terrorist activities," he said. "We continually received strong support from the German community and the local government." It took a fairly significant effort by the Air Force legal system to prosecute the case, Motz said. Nearly 300 witnesses testified -- 50 of them American. Motz also described how the bombing instilled the need for greater security -- a condition that has lingered ever since. Even though awareness and force protection practices have dramatically improved in USAFE and Air Force-wide, the threat remains. "The base (Ramstein) today has improved infrastructure and security practices in place," said Lynde. Still, "because of the size, population and traffic ..., we are still very vulnerable to terrorist attack and must remain vigilant." (Courtesy of USAFE News Service) *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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