February issue of Citizen Airman available

  • Published
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  Air Force Reserve Command's 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., is on the leading edge of the Air Force's effort to modernize its fleet of C-130 Hercules aircraft.

C-130H-2s from the 908th, along with C-130E models from the Idaho Air National Guard's 124th Wing in Boise, will be the first in the Air Force to go through the Avionics Modernization Program.

Bombings. Kidnappings. Mass murder. Virtually no act of violence is off limits to terrorist organizations as they demonstrate on an almost daily basis their willingness to do virtually anything, no matter the cost in human lives, to advance their goals and agendas. Faced with this kind of environment, U.S. officials have been forced to prepare for the very real possibility of something that in the not-too-distant past was almost unthinkable: A terrorist attack on domestic soil involving weapons of mass destruction.

Also, read about the 442nd Fighter Wing that made history in April when it became the first U.S. Air Force fighter unit to forward-deploy into Iraq. Wing airmen opened Tallil Air Base near the ancient Babylonian city of Ur as an Operation Iraqi Freedom coalition base of operations. The A-10 Thunderbolt II wing from Whiteman AFB, Mo., made history again less than a month later when it became the first U.S. fighter unit to forward-deploy a second time and open yet another base, Kirkuk AB, in northern Iraq.

In other stories, as part of an overall Air Force plan to modernize its fleet of KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, two Air Force Reserve units are getting rid of their older planes for newer models. The 927th Air Refueling Wing at Selfridge ANG Base, Mich., and 940th ARW at Beale AFB, Calif., are converting from KC-135E models to KC-135R models. When completed, these conversions will bring the 927th and 940th up to par with all of the other AFRC KC-135 units, which are currently flying the newer R models.

Also, read about how Air Force Reserve recruiters will have an additional way of getting enlisted accessions beginning in fiscal 2005, thanks to a new active-duty program. The National Call to Service Program, which went into effect Oct. 1, allows up to 1 percent of new active-duty enlisted recruits, or about 370 people each year, to sign up for a 15-month service obligation. This 15-month period starts after the recruits complete their basic military training as well as their technical school training.

Finally, the Air Force National Security and Emergency Preparedness Agency is looking for individual mobilization augmentees to serve as emergency preparedness liaison officers.

"We're facing a fiscal '04 shortfall of nearly 30 officers for liaison duties with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state and National Guard emergency operations centers, and various numbered Army and air forces," said Col. John M. Dumoulin, Alabama's EPLO.

When disaster strikes and local and state officials look to the federal government for help, EPLOs quickly go to work behind the scenes. Colonel Dumoulin compares them to highly trained switchboard operators.

For these stories and more, visit Citizen Airman’s Web site at www.afrc.af.mil/HQ/citamn/. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)