AFCEA - Los Angeles

After spending more than a year coordinating airpower in Iraq and helping to ensure U.S. forces there drew down to less than 50,000 boots on the ground, the top Aiman in Iraq is headed home.

Serving as the director of the Air Component Coordination Element in Iraq, the director of the force strategic engagement cell for U.S. forces in Iraq, and the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force-Baghdad, Detachment 2 commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Reynes Jr. has watched the number of servicemembers in Iraq decrease from 148,000 to almost 50,000, and the number of Armen decrease from more than 12,000 to fewer than 6,000.
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F-15E Strike Eagles from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho join F-22 Raptor squadrons here Aug. 25 to aid in training exercises.

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An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft crashed approximately one mile north of El Mirage Airfield, Calif., Aug. 31.

The RPA was flying a training mission and launched from Gray Butte Airfield located about five miles east of El Mirage. Both airfields are about midway between Palmdale and Victorville, and are about 15 miles south of Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

The aircraft belongs to the Aeronautical Systems Center here. The Medium Altitude Unmanned Aircraft System Division is the Aeronautical Systems Center organization charged with acquiring RPAs for the Air Force.
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Sixteen Asia-Pacific militaries attended the 7th annual Pacific Endeavor at Changi Naval Base, Singapore Aug. 16 through 27. Pacific Endeavor is a humanitarian communication workshop sponsored by the Singapore Armed Forces and U.S. Pacific.

At the workshop, military communication technology experts tested their abilities to rapidly establish a communication infrastructure within a disaster relief scenario using web-based 2.0 technologies.

Attendees were also able to form friendships with counterparts in the communication field.
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Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin C. Conaton made an official visit to Air Mobility Command here Aug. 19 and 20 to learn more about command's continuing mission, capabilities and abilities.

Ms. Conaton flew to Scott AFB on a C-17 Globemaster III and during the flight she was provided a demonstration by an aeromedical evacuation team and witnessed an airdrop.

"The flight gave me a first-hand look at a lot of AMC's mission," Ms. Conaton said. "It was amazing to see a team of professionals in action and the capabilities they can bring to the joint fight."
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The war in Iraq is over and the United States is entering the final phase of the U.S. engagement in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here Sept. 1.

U.S. combat operations have ceased, the secretary said. American forces are still participating in some counterinsurgency operations with the Iraqis, and they are training and advising and assisting Iraqi forces, but the United States is not at war in Iraq.

Secretary Gates said a lot has changed in Iraq since he took office in December 2006. Then Iraq was in desperate straits. Ethnic violence, encouraged by al-Qaida in Iraq, threatened to tear the country apart. Sunni and Shia Arabs were at each other's throats and both groups distrusted the Kurds. Insurgents were planting roadside bombs and driving car bombs into Iraqi and coalition forces.
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The United States military marked a historic milestone Sept. 1 as it made the transition from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn. This transition signifies a formal end to U.S. military combat operations and reaffirms the U.S. military's commitment to the Iraqi Security Forces and the government and people of Iraq.

The transition to stability operations began almost two years ago and was made possible by increased capability of Iraqi Security Forces. As the ISF troops improved their ability to combat terrorists and provide security for the Iraqi people, U.S. military members gradually moved into a supporting role and started conducting stability operations.
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Beginning Sept. 1, the new Tricare Overseas Program contract goes into effect, giving beneficiaries easier and greater access to health care outside the United States.

International SOS Assistance, Tricare's overseas contractor, is partnering with military treatment facilities to give Department of Defense beneficiaries comprehensive health care services. International SOS operates provider networks around overseas MTFs, and in remote locations to better serve Tricare beneficiaries.
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The last EC-130H Compass Call assigned to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing departed here Aug. 29 for deployment to another U.S. Central Command base, capping a 6.5 year tour of duty in which Compass Call crews flew some 23,300 combat hours in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron is home to the EC-130H aircraft and about 30 Airmen.
The move is another sign of the times for the U.S. military, which continues its responsible drawdown of forces in Iraq in order to meet a presidential mandate of only 50,000 troops in country by Aug. 31, said Lt. Col. J.D. Rye, the commander of the 43rd EECS.
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Teaching healthy habits to children at an early age can carry those habits through the teen years and into adulthood.

Here are some important habits to teach children:

Routinely and regularly washing hands is very important to stop the spread of germs and diseases and to avoid getting sick. All that is needed is clean running water and soap, or at least a 60 percent alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Daily exercise can be effective when it turns into family time by taking walks after dinner, bike riding, video workouts, or game consoles that let children move their whole bodies. Encourage children to enjoy fitness and to join team sports to burn calories and gain group, communication and bonding skills.
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Most people would agree that saving energy, especially when it saves money and resources, is a good thing. But developing concrete ways to conserve and actually produce tangible results can often be difficult to accomplish. Ed Wilson, the energy manager at Los Angeles Air Force Base, and his team have managed to do just that by installing lighting upgrades and daylight sensors in buildings throughout the base.

The lighting upgrades, which primarily work off motion-occupancy sensors in the main office areas, corridors, restrooms and break-rooms are saving energy. Also, daylight sensors that pick up the amount of lighting that is coming from outside into the work space automatically turn off the perimeter lighting when not in use, which also saves money.
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After spending more than 18 months coordinating and synchronizing airpower for U.S. servicemembers in Iraq and helping to ensure U.S. forces reached their goal of less than 50,000 boots on the ground, the top Airman in Iraq is headed home.

Serving as the director of the Air Component Coordination Element in Iraq, the director of the force strategic engagement cell for U.S. forces in Iraq, and the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force, Baghdad, Det. 2 commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Reynes Jr. has seen the number of servicemembers in Iraq dwindle from 148,000 to almost 50,000, and the number of Airmen fall from more than 12,000 to fewer than 6,000 in his time here.
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For the first time, members of the Retired Reserve who are not yet age 60, the so-called "gray area" retirees, can purchase Tricare health coverage for themselves and their eligible family members with the Sept. 1 launch of Tricare Retired Reserve.

"This new program offers a health coverage opportunity for "gray area" guardsmen and reservists who served America honorably, setting a proud example for today's forces," said Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the Tricare Management Activity. "Tricare Retired Reserve will provide an outstanding health benefit."
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Air Force Services Agency officials are slated to begin testing a reorganization of Air Force food services this fall with a pilot program at six Air Force installations across the U.S.

The pilot program, called the Food Transformation Initiative, will test a food delivery model aimed at improving quality, variety and availability of food at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Ala., Fairchild AFB, Wash., Little Rock AFB, Ark., MacDill AFB, Fla., Patrick AFB, Fla., and Travis AFB, Calif.

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The theme for the eighth annual Net-Centric Ops Conference, to be held Sept. 20 at the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel and Resort in New Castle, N.H., is "Changing Environments -- Changing Applications."

Organizers of the conference say discussions will be focused on fully realizing net-centric opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls that loom in the cyber environment now and in the future.

"Our hope is to get everybody thinking about how to maximize the benefits of net-centricity for the benefit of our warfighters while focusing on the bottom line of mission assurance," said Ron Mason, the Air Force program executive officer for net-centric and cyber systems and the lead government coordinator for the conference.
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Jet engine mechanics from the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron work on refinishing and installing C-130 Hercules propeller blades here Aug. 30.

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If I were to walk into just about any shop on base and say, "We're under attack. Grab a weapon and follow me," I'm confident most people would do just that. I've spent enough time in the area of responsibility and have watched our Airmen in combat to know that we don't lack physical courage.

But what would happen if I walked into your office and announced the worst idea you had ever heard? How many people would have the moral courage to speak up and say, "Sir, that's not a good idea, and here's why..."
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Airmen from the 7th Expeditionary Air Command and Control Squadron here flew their final mission in support Operation Iraqi Freedom Aug. 31 before the Department of Defense officially transitions to Operation New Dawn Sept. 1.

The 7th EACCS has flown E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System operations in support of OIF since its inception in 2003, providing airborne battle management, command and control, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance throughout the entire area of responsibility.
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Officials at Rockwell Collins successfully delivered 21 developed prototype ground-based GPS receiver application module modernized receiver cards developed under the Global Positioning Systems Wing's Receiver Card Development program. These GB-GRAM-M receiver cards recently have completed the contractor's formal qualification testing and have been delivered to support the GPSW's developmental test phase.

Concurrent with card delivery, Rockwell Collins engineers conducted live-satellite signal-track testing to support on-orbit testing of an SVN 62 satellite providing feedback to the system test team from the user equipment perspective. The live tracking of true military code signal and recent card deliveries mark a significant milestone in the modernized user equipment receiver development program that will bring the next generation of GPS technology to the warfighter.
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A number of Pakistan, U.S. and international organizations, both military and civilian, gathered at Pakistan Air Force Base Chaklala, Pakistan, Aug. 28 to form a joint aviation coordination cell aimed at streamlining air operations supporting Pakistan's flood relief efforts.

After torrential rains pounded the country and a surge of water jetted through towns and villages, many people were left without food, water, shelter and other basic necessities. The Pakistan air force's central flood relief cell stood up at Pakistan Air Force Base Chaklala to direct relief toward areas most in need, but there was still a communication gap between many of the Pakistan and international relief providers and organizations involved.
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