From: bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: AF News Svc 01/05/93
Date: 5 Jan 1993 14:29:13 -0600
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


001.  Restore Hope update
002.  Missing Americans
003.  Kirtland transfer
004.  Blood deferral lifted
005.  Wild Weasels
006.  Intel changes
007.  Involuntary retraining
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001. Restore Hope update
by TSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
     WASHINGTON -- In a scene reminiscent of Desert Storm, President Bush
again visited American troops stationed in a war zone at his orders.
     For his visit to Somalia, Bush arrived on an Air Mobility Command C-141
and spent Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 in-country to see firsthand how the U.S.-led
forces were supporting Operation Restore Hope -- the American mission to
establish security and food distribution in support of the United Nations
humanitarian relief program.
     Bush spent the New Year's holiday first at Mogadishu with American forces
who had occupied the Somali airport, and then on a tour of the famine-stricken
town of Baidoa, which the world community used to call "The City of Death."
     Throughout his New Year's visit, Bush -- wearing a desert battle dress
uniform shirt and hat -- praised the military people for their efforts in
perhaps his last chance to visit up-close with deployed American troops as
their president.
     "When you see what you have seen and what I saw today, I'm absolutely
convinced that we've done the right thing," Bush said during a Cable News
Network report from Somalia Dec. 31.
     "We are very proud of this humanitarian effort," Bush said.  "The
pictures of you all caring for others come all around our country.  This is,
in a sense, a humanitarian mission.  And you're doing it in A-1 style."
     As Bush stopped for photo opportunities and hand shakes with American
troops, he acknowledged that his visit doesn't mean an end to U.S. involvement
in Restore Hope anytime soon.
     "I expect everybody is wondering, 'Well, that's great, but how long?' And
I wish I knew the answer," Bush said.
     "But I do know that it's not an open-ended commitment.  The definition of
our mission is clear under the United Nations' guidelines."
     In a separate CNN report, Bush said President-elect Bill Clinton "was
very encouraging about my coming here."
     "I think he knows very clearly the importance of the work, humanitarian
work, that all these men and women are doing.  It's so moving."
     Meanwhile, the Pentagon said 1992 closed with approximately 9,600 U.S.
military personnel on the ground in Somalia, and another 9,000 sailors and
Marines on board naval vessels off the Somali coast.
     As of Dec. 9, the official beginning of Operation Restore Hope in
Somalia, the Air Force had already flown 1,400 humanitarian missions into the
region, and started building a massive air bridge to assist the U.N. in
providing humanitarian relief supplies.
     For Restore Hope, the Air Force was tasked with moving the bulk of the
28,000 the U.S. ground troops, along with equipment and supplies for what has
become the biggest U.S. deployment since the Gulf war.  The relief effort is
designed to help an estimated 1.5 million Somalis in danger of starvation, by
safeguarding U.N. food deliveries.
     TSgt. Phil Woodney, an Air Force Television News reporter deployed to
Somalia over Christmas, said his video camera gave him a unique perspective on
why the world is racing to feed this starving, shattered population.
     "Flying over the Somalian countryside makes you wonder how, or why,
anyone lives there," Woodney said.  "There's very little vegetation... it's
brown, dusty and hot."
     Woodney said he was "very impressed" with the efficiency and organization
of the AMC operation at Mogadishu airport, and can see why Air Force support
is needed.
     There were plenty of bullet holes, burned-out buildings and destroyed
vehicles at Mogadishu airport and the surrounding area, but from what the Air
Force controlled, it looked almost like normal base operations, Woodney said.
     "The Air Force people I talked with were in pretty good spirits,
considering that they'd be at what some call 'the end of the world' over the
holidays," he said.
     "I remember SrA. Jim McClung, 2nd Mobile Aerial Port Squadron, Little
Rock AFB, Ark., saying, 'We're bringing Christmas to the Somalis.'"


002. Missing Americans
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- A team of technical representatives of Vietnam and
the United States began joint investigations and remains recovery operations
Jan. 2, the 21st joint field activity conducted by U.S. and Vietnamese
representatives since September 1988, the Pentagon said.
     Investigating unaccounted for Americans in Vietnam, the joint team will
work in seven Vietnamese provinces.  It plans to investigate 22 primary cases
and excavate a crash site.  The team also hopes to investigate as many as 50
other cases, and will be prepared to conduct other excavations as appropriate.
     The Pentagon says there are 2,264 Americans still listed as missing or
otherwise unaccounted for in Indochina.  Of that total, 1,656 are listed as
unaccounted for in Vietnam.  To date, 270 Americans previously listed as
missing in Vietnam have been accounted for.
     The 51-member U.S. team will be under the operational control of the
Joint Task Force for Full Accounting, and include forensic specialists with
experience in investigations and recovery operations.
     The activities are expected to last 16 days.


003. Kirtland transfer
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Kirtland AFB, N.M., transferred from Air Mobility
Command to Air Force Materiel Command Jan. 1, the Air Force announced Dec. 31.
     The move activates the 377th Air Base Wing, which will take command of
all base support responsibilities such as civil engineering, mission support,
and morale, welfare and recreation activities.
     This action also consolidates all mission support functions needed to
support the largest organization on Kirtland -- the Phillips Laboratory.
     The Air Force said the move is not expected to have a monetary or
manpower impact.


004. Blood deferral lifted
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Military people who served in the Persian Gulf area
are now free to donate their blood with some modifications, the Pentagon said
Dec. 30.
     The deferral on blood donations had been ordered in November 1991 to
preclude the risk of transmission of leishmaniasis, a parasitic infection
caused by the bite of a sandfly.
     Dr. Enrique Mendez Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health
affairs, lifted the ban on donations effective Jan. 1 after a 14-month
deferral period showed no scientific evidence that the viscerotropic form of
leishmaniasis is a serious threat to the blood supply.
     During the deferral period, only 28 cases of leishmaniasis were confirmed
in members of the military participating in Desert Shield and Storm.
     In addition, the Pentagon said no cases of transmission of leishmaniasis
involving blood donations of military personnel have occurred.


005. Wild Weasels
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force will keep an active-duty squadron of
F-4G aircraft at Nellis AFB, Nev., to ensure the destructive suppression of
enemy air defense capabilities until a suitable replacement is available,
Pentagon officials announced Dec. 30.
     The 561st Fighter Squadron will be activated at Nellis and the 20 F-4G
Advanced Wild Weasels will start arriving at the 57th Wing in early 1993.  The
action will result in an increase of 746 full-time military and 17 civilian
jobs.


006. Intel changes
by TSgt. Sarah L. Hood
Air Force News Service
     WASHINGTON -- In line with the overall reorganization of the Air Force,
the intelligence career field is doing some internal merging to provide a
streamlined force to meet the needs of a smaller military.
     Eight intelligence officer specialties have been combined into four with
officers in the Air Force 80XX career field given new specialty codes and job
titles Oct. 31.  Instead of six entry-level and two staff-level specialties,
intelligence officers will serve in two entry-level and two staff-level
specialties.
     The intelligence force will be phased into the new structure over the
next two years.
     Fiscal and practical reality are the driving factors behind the
intelligence field changes, said Maj. Gen. Richard J. O'Lear, assistant chief
of staff for intelligence.
     "This is a time to throw away all former standards and perhaps come up
with some new ways of doing business.  We're in a post-Cold War era and we may
want to change previous conceptions about how we're going to do business,"
O'Lear said.
     If it is necessary to do the same amount of work with fewer people, then
"we'll have to become more efficient."
     There are about 3,000 Air Force intelligence officer positions authorized
throughout the Department of Defense.
     Under the old system, the way these officers were used did not match
their specific classification and training.
     Restructuring the existing officer career fields is a positive step
forward in improving support to the mission, O'Lear said.  By broadening the
training program, an officer comes out of the school better prepared to do a
number of jobs well.
     The result is a better manager in the officer corps.
     "We would look for the technical work to be done by the enlisted force,
which I see as job enhancement for them," O'Lear said.  The Air Force is
looking at conducting an enlisted review within intelligence soon.
     The move to the new structure will provide a better qualified,
all-purpose intelligence officer who has more flexibility in what he or she
can do because they are better trained, O'Lear said.
     "Through the experience base they develop assignment-wise, they will be
better able to handle the jobs they may encounter at the squadron level, where
there is a smaller number of people and they can't afford to specialize."
     The local users of intelligence will find they have a better qualified
officer who knows more about how intelligence is gathered, processed,
disseminated and applied.  That in itself should be enough to justify the
change.
     Many of the officer jobs will stay the same despite the changes.  But
lieutenants and junior captains must cross-train to qualify in another 80X5
specialty.
     The commands must ensure officers receive additional training if needed
for the job, said Col. Benjamin G. Romero, chief of the force management
division of intelligence.
     For example, intelligence applications officers must have targeting
training or the new intelligence applications course to perform targeting
functions or all officers should have job certification training on skills
unique to the job.
     Effects on training include offering a broader foundation to intelligence
officers in the initial skills courses.  While the common core fundamentals
course has been expanded by five months, functional training has been
shortened.
     The intelligence operations course is now 3.7 months long and
intelligence applications is 3.9 months.
     Cross-training only requires completion of the functional course.
     Some transition problems are to be expected, O'Lear said.  "There always
are when you change."
     Everyone involved in the restructuring has tried to make the transition
plans as thorough and comprehensive as possible to minimize, among other
things, the disruptions and personal inconveniences.
     A series of tapes are being produced to explain why the changes are being
made, how they will be implemented, and what they will mean to individuals and
units.


007. Involuntary retraining
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- About 600 career NCOs will be at risk for
involuntary retraining as the Air Force moves into the third phase of the
fiscal 1993 NCO Retraining Program, personnel officials said.
     The program started in early August with a goal of retraining about 1,900
staff, technical and master sergeants.  The first two voluntary stages
resulted in about 1,300 retraining applications approved for 68 percent of the
goal, but 15 career fields have come up short of the goal, officials said.
     NCOs in skills 361X0, 451X6A, 452X3, 452X3C, 452X4M, 453X1, 466X0, 542X0,
542X2, 551X0, 552X0 566X1, 602X3, 603X0 and 811X2 were notified of their risk
status in October and encouraged to apply for retraining at that time.
     The involuntary phase involves two steps.
     First, the Air Force Military Personnel Center will identify NCOs who
have a second or third specialty code in a shortage skill and return them to
that job by mid-January.
     The center will then provide major commands and field operating agencies
with lists of eligible individuals in each of the 15 specialities and
establish the commands' involuntary retraining quotas for each skill.
     Commands then select and notify those who will be retrained.  Individuals
should be notified by early February.
     NCOs selected can either submit a retraining application or ask for
separation or retirement, if eligible.  Those who want to retrain can ask for
up to three retraining specialties.
     More information is available from local personnel offices.
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