Posted: Sep  7 01:44 GMT
Subject: 06sep95 afns

989.  NATO air strikes continue
990.  AMC coordinates humanitarian aid
991.  MPC completes digitization of records
992.  Air Force fighters mix it up with MiG-29s
993.  AFRES center offers classes, seminars

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989.  NATO air strikes continue
by Capt. Lindsey Borg
     AVIANO Air Base, Italy (AFNS) -- Fighter aircraft bristling
with weapons left here in waves Sept. 6 to continue the air strikes
resumed Sept. 5 on Bosnian Serb strongholds.
     The multinational coalition force assembled here began its
Operation Deliberate Force air attacks on the Serb military targets
Aug. 30.  The coalition was assembled for Operation Deny Flight,
to enforce the no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
     The attacks were temporarily halted to permit meetings between
U.N. and Bosnian Serb leaders, but resumed Tuesday when it
became apparent the Serbs would not meet U.N. and NATO
demands to remove military threats from Sarajevo, said NATO
Secretary General Willy Claes.
     More than 610 Deliberate Force sorties have been flown by
NATO aircraft, nearly 175 of them since the attacks resumed Sept.
5.  Included in the action are Air Force F-16C, F-16HTS, F-15E,
EF-111, EC-130, OA-10 and A-10 flight crews and aircraft.
     NATO forces began to monitor flights in the airspace of
Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1993.  About six months later, in
April 1994, Aviano-based aircraft began to patrol the no-fly zone
in support of the Deny Flight mission.
     Claes said the coalition has four main objectives, and they have
remained unchanged.  They are to attain:
     -- the compliance of the Bosnian Serbs to cease attacks on
Sarajevo or other safe areas;
     -- the withdrawal of Bosnian Serb heavy weapons from the total
exclusion zone around Sarajevo;
     -- complete freedom of movement for U.N. forces and
personnel and (non-government officials);
     -- and unrestricted use of the Sarajevo airport
     Claes said NATO is determined to reach its objectives.  "I regret
we again must resort to the use of military force to obtain
compliance of the Bosnian Serbs.  No one can doubt our resolve to
see this matter through," he said.

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990.  AMC coordinates humanitarian aid
     SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Air Mobility
Command is coordinating airlift of nonperishable relief supplies to
Rwanda, Croatia, Turkey and Pakistan.
     An AMC-coordinated Evergreen International Airlines Boeing
747 carried 42 pallets of excess military tents from Hill AFB, Utah,
to Kigali, Rwanda, Sept. 6.  The tents will be used to provide
temporary housing for Rwandan refugees.  Also on Sept. 6, an Air
Transport International DC-8 left Charleston AFB, S.C., for
Zagreb, Croatia, with 18 pallets of pharmaceutical and medical
supplies for victims of the ongoing war.  The supplies were
donated by Map International, a nonprofit organization based in
Brunswick, Ga.  The aircraft being used for these operations are
part of AMC's Civil Reserve Air Fleet.
     On Sept. 7, two C-5 Galaxies from Dover AFB, Del., will
deliver gas turbine generators from Ramstein Air Base, Germany,
to Incirlik AB, Turkey.  The generators, deemed excess
Department of Defense equipment, will be used to help provide
electrical power to Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq.
     Later this month, a C-141 Starlifter from McChord AFB,
Wash., will transport 13 pallets of excess military sleeping bags
from Hill AFB to Peshawar, Pakistan, for Afghan refugees.
(Courtesy Air Mobility Command News Service)

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991.  MPC completes digitization of records
     RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Just 248
workdays and more than 450,000 personnel records after the
process began, the Air Force Military Personnel Center here
digitized its last active duty personnel record.
     The milestone draws the Air Force closer to its goal of a near-
paperless personnel record environment.
     Maj. Gen. Burt Davitte, AFMPC's commander, along with
Airman Kristy Williams, a member of the Automated Records
Management System team, guided the last record stored on
microfiche through the digitization process Aug. 29.
     "This achievement moves the Air Force a giant step closer to
being the first service in DOD to have totally optical personnel
records," Davitte said.  "There's still plenty of work to do to
finalize full conversion, but the people in ARMS have achieved a
major milestone."
     In less than a year, more than 100 employees, splitting 16-hour
work days, digitized 13,152,358 microfiche images and 1,858,378
paper documents for transfer to optical disks, according to Col.
Pete Blaufarb, program manager for ARMS.
     "It truly is a significant milestone," he said.  "We had set 250
work days (one year) as a goal to complete this leg of the project
and some thought we were crazy.  Well, our team of airmen,
civilians, and contractors completed the project two days earlier.
Now we're ready to ship our scanners to (the Air Reserve
Personnel Center) and over the next 12 months convert the Guard
and Reserve microfiche personnel records.  Those records will be
stored with the active duty records on optical platter jukeboxes at
AFMPC."
     AFMPC's progress means the Air Force is leading the services
in their efforts to move into the 21st century.  By the fall of 1996,
all Air Force personnel records -- active duty, Guard, and Reserve -
- will be stored on an optical platter, completely replacing
microfilm as the storage medium.  In an effort to accelerate ARMS
progress, the records management team at ARPC began digitizing
paper documents in mid-May, a full four months ahead of
schedule.
     "The Air Force did a great job of managing micrographics and
persuing optical storage as the follow-on storage technology,"
Blaufarb said.  "You have to realize the birth of ARMS goes back
to 1987, when a group representing each of the services met to
discuss replacing micrographics.  I think our achievement today is
another example of the Air Force's dedication to exploiting
efficiencies and cost savings offered by emerging technologies."
     The ARMS equipment arrived at AFMPC in early 1993.  A
rigorous 18-month acceptance test followed with the prime
contractor, Cordant, achieving system acceptance in August 1994.
ARMS officially became operational on Aug. 31, 1994, when the
ARMS team began digitizing both paper documents and
microfiche images.
     The transition to optical disks means a much more reliable
storage and retrieval system, and could lead, said Blaufarb, to
better records management support for base and major command
personnel offices.
     "We envision using ARMS as the platform for transporting
personnel records over communication lines right to the military
personnel flights.  Eventually, we hope to see electronic documents
flowing from bases and major commands directly to ARMS optical
storage without it ever being a piece of paper.  The applications are
limitless."

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992.  Air Force fighters mix it up with MiG-29s
by Senior Airman Bob Purtiman
     PENANG, Malaysia (AFNS) -- It's been said imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery.  If that's the case, than the U.S. Air Force
and the people at McDonnell Douglas Corp. must like the MiG-29
Fulcrum, which bears a striking resemblance to the F-15 Eagle.
     Up until a few years ago, not many people had the opportunity
to peek behind the Iron Curtain for a glimpse at the Soviet bloc's
top-of-the-line, air-superiority fighter.  The MiG-29 was hidden in
a shroud of mystery -- until the Berlin Wall came crumbling down
and with it, the Iron Curtain.
     Since the fall of the curtain, excess Soviet military equipment
has become available in large numbers, and aircraft such as the
MiG-29 went on the sales block.
     For a group of 12th Fighter Squadron pilots from Kadena Air
Base, Japan, the shroud lifted recently during Cope West 95 when
they flew with and engaged MiG-29s flown by Royal Malaysian
Air Force pilots.  The exercise marked the first time American
pilots have trained with the Fulcrum in the Pacific region.
     "We were in a little awe of it because we couldn't believe we
had the opportunity to fly against and train with something we've
spent the last decade trying to devise methods of defeating," said
Lt. Col. Jeffrey McChesney, 12th FS commander.  "For a pilot, it
was very exciting, kind of like being a kid in the candy store."
     For 18th Wing Commander Brig. Gen. William T. Hobbins, a
veteran of 25 years in the fighter business, the opportunity to see
the aircraft and fly with it is the pinnacle of his flying career.
     "I was impressed with the aircraft," he said.  "It looks an awful
lot like the F-15.  From a distance, the visual identification
problem is significant.  Up close you can tell the difference.
Flying against it, you come away with the opinion the aircraft has a
lot of power and maneuvering capability.
     "We train extensively in the art of aerial warfare and
maneuvering against an adversary such as the MiG-29," he added.
"So physically seeing it flying next to you, you say to yourself,
'This is the aircraft I've been training to defend against?' and
everything comes full circle."
     Even though the "Dirty Dozen" pilots only flew one or two
sorties against the Fulcrums, they learned lessons that could help in
combat someday.
     "I learned how I would fight against a MiG-29 if the need
arises," Capt. Jeff Gustafson said.  "Unfortunately, we didn't get to
face them that often.  We learned a lot off two sorties, but we could
learn much more if we flew against them the entire two weeks."
     After two weeks of flying with the MiGs, the Dirty Dozen don't
intend to trade in their Eagles.
     "This exercise has reaffirmed to me that we have the best-
designed plane in the world for air superiority and the best air force
to support it," McChesney said.  "That fact has been driven home
hard."
     With the lessons learned and some of the knowledge passed on,
many fighter pilots have a better understanding of the Fulcrum.
     "The pilots will now be familiar with the aircraft in terms of
seeing it, knowing its physical characteristics, how it maneuvers in
relation to our tactical exercises and how it employs simulated
weapons in aerial combat," Hobbins explained.  "That is invaluable
to the wing, whose mission is to maintain integrated, deployable,
forward-based air power.
     "This was an awesome experience for our pilots and
maintainers to get a close-up view of the aircraft considered a high-
technology rival of ours for the past decade," he added.  "Many of
us will never forget this unique experience and the friendships we
made with our RMAF pilots and maintainers."  (Courtesy Pacific
Air Forces News Service.  Purtiman is assigned to 18th Wing
public affairs.)

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993.  AFRES center offers classes, seminars
     ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFNS) -- The Air Force
Reserve Professional Development Center is offering a wide array
of classes and seminars this fall and winter.
     Details on how to sign up for these courses are available to
reservists through their unit training office.
     The courses, dates and locations include:
     -- U.S. Air Force Reserve First Sergeant Academy -- A two-
week class for individuals assigned to a 100090 position.
Candidates must attend within one year from date of assignment.
Dates are Oct. 23-Nov. 3 and Jan. 22-Feb. 2 at Robins AFB.
     -- First Sergeant Academy's Additional Duty Course -- A five-
day version for people performing first sergeant duties as an
additional duty.  Dates are March 11-15 at Robins.
     -- Squadron Commanders Course -- A five-day seminar
providing recently selected squadron and flight commanders with
an overview of their duties and responsibilities.  Ideal candidates
are individuals selected for squadron commander positions.  Dates
are Nov. 13-17, Jan. 29-Feb. 2, and March 18-22 at Robins.
     -- Academic Instructor Course -- A two-week road version of
Air University's Academic Instructor Course.  Prerequisites are
completion of Quality cascade training and selection by unit
commander.  Dates are Nov. 27-Dec. 8 at Robins and Feb. 26-
March 8 at a location to be determined.
     -- Confronting Difficult Issues Course -- This three-day course
focuses on structured methods for confronting difficult issues,
dealing with resistance, active listening and negotiating work
agreements.  Other applications cover managing change, delivering
bad news and dealing with conflict in group situations.  Training
methods include group discussions, self-analysis exercises, role-
playing with feedback and coaching.  A follow-on support and
feedback plan will be developed for use after participants return to
their organizations.  Sessions are held at Robins and other locations
as coordinated by unit commanders.
     -- Enlisted Air Reserve Technician Orientation -- A four-day
orientation for enlisted ARTs providing an overview of the ART
program, along with a focus on ART issues and responsibilities.
Dates are Oct. 24-27, Dec. 5-8, and Feb. 6-9 at Robins.
     -- ART Officer Orientation -- This course provides newly hired
ART officers with an overview of the responsibilities and
opportunities associated with an ART career with emphasis on
civilian personnel and career management.  Functional managers
from Headquarters AFRES present a variety of topics using a
briefing-discussion format.  Dates are Feb. 27-29 at Robins.
     -- ART Officer Manager Seminar -- A four-day seminar for
mid-level ART officers.  Supervisory GS-12s, 13s and 14s must
attend this course, which was established by the AFRES Manager
Development Council.  Dates are Jan. 9-12 at Robins.
     -- NCO Leadership Development Program -- A 10-day program
which offers college credit and hands-on experience in leadership
and management.  It is designed for mid-level enlisted people, E-4s
and above.  The curriculum addresses theories and concepts of
leadership and management.  The hands-on sessions stress real-life
situations.  An integral component of the program is the blending
of people from different Air Force specialties.  Additionally, team-
building exercises and grass roots team projects introduce the
participants to Quality concepts and provide an opportunity for
them to interact with their commander.  Sessions are held at unit
locations.
     Two courses are available to Air Force Reserve officers include
the Junior Officer Leadership Development Seminar and the
Reserve Components Junior Officer Professional Development
Seminar.
     Junior Officer Leadership Development Seminars start on
Friday evenings and end on Sunday afternoons.  JOLDS focuses on
developing creative and innovative processes in leadership skills
development for officers in the rank of second lieutenant through
major.  Dates and locations are Oct. 6-8 at Westover Air Reserve
Base, Mass.; Oct. 20-22 in San Antonio, Texas; and Oct. 27-29 at
Maxwell AFB, Ala.  Officers can sign up for this course by
contacting Tom Obenland at (800) 223-1784, Ext. 70376; DSN
497-0376; or (912) 327-0376.
     The Reserve Components Junior Officer Professional
Development Seminar provides unit and individual mobilization
augmentee junior officers with an opportunity to attend a joint
service junior officer seminar in the Pentagon and Washington,
D.C.  Second lieutenants through captains with preferably less than
seven years commissioned service are eligible to attend this once a
year training.  The next seminar is Jan. 22-24.  Units select
reservists, and major commands choose IMAs to attend the
seminar.  Quotas limit the number of candidates units can
nominate, and officers can attend the seminar only once during
their career.  (Courtesy Air Force Reserve News Service)
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