Posted on 09/04/2005 3:45:00 PM PDT by Gucho
Washington state-based airmen fly missions around the globe
A crew from the 97th Airlift Squadron out of McChord Air Force Base near Seattle commutes twice a month to Frankfurt, Germany, and on from there to Afghanistan and other places in the U.S. military’s areas of operation. (Dale Worley / NATO Allied Land Component Command H.Q.)
By Nancy Montgomery - Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
Monday, September 5, 2005
If they got frequent flier miles, the C-17 crews from the 97th Airlift Squadron would have enough to buy their own airlines by now, or at least to fly first-class forever.
Every two weeks, squadron crews leave McChord Air Force Base in Washington state and fly to Frankfurt, Germany, via McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. From there, they board another flight to “wherever they send us,” pick up their own C-17 and fly all manner of missions in one of the U.S. military’s area of operations, according to Maj. Robert Kubek.
After two weeks flying missions, usually in and around Afghanistan, they head back to McChord.
That’s 16,500 miles just getting to work and back home again. And you think you have a commute?
“Back in Washington, it’s three or four days before I feel normal again,” said Maj. Steve Logan, who like other reservists with the 97th Airlift Squadron, was called to active duty more than two years ago.
“As soon as you go out, you start counting the hours … ‘When will I be home?’” said Master Sgt. Rodney Dunlap.
The commute, rivaled only by aviators out of California, just comes with the territory of the C-17, based in the United States and “designed to fly the expanses of the globe,” as 1st Lt. Jeff Woods put it.
The 97th, along with the 728th Airlift Squadron, both a part of 446th Airlift Wing, had flown 35,000 combat hours and 176,000 total hours from February 2002 to December 2004, according to the Air Force, and had delivered more than 179,000 tons of cargo and 72,000 people.
All that flying is one reason why the C-17 usually flies with three pilots. At any one time, one of them might be napping.
The punishing schedule, with the potential for almost constant jet lag, comes with at least one mitigating factor. Sometimes after they return to Washington, if they’re up to date on all their duties and requirements, the crews are totally, if not blissfully, off work for the next two weeks.
“It’s not what you think,” said Tech. Sgt. Brian Petro. “It’s a lot of jet lag. You spend a while trying to recover from flying around the globe. By the time you get all back in the cycle, it’s time to go out again. It wears you out.”
Petro, 40, worked for Federal Express before the reserve unit was activated. Dunlap, who turned 45 on Sunday, was an electrician with the city of Seattle. Logan, 38, is a former, furloughed Delta Airlines pilot. And Kubek, 35, said he mostly “played golf” before coming to active duty.
Although each say they certainly see shortcomings in the military, they also say their missions are a valuable contribution.
“This can be a flying hospital,” Petro says of the C-17 he was riding in late last month, which, on that flight was filled with water trucks, Bulgarian military officers, a variety of public affairs officers, taciturn “agents,” and one U.S. four-star general.
“I’ve been on this plane, we’ve gone halfway around the world to pick up one person,” Petro said. “That’s something.”
Dunlap said it’s a break from 17 years of electrician’s work with the added bonus of saving people’s lives, and Logan said although he doesn’t consider himself a perfect fit with the military, he finds what he does “worthwhile.”
Woods, 29, said he actually prefers this duty to his previous work as a flight instructor. “I definitely like being in the military more,” he said. “I have a sense of being part of something larger than myself. I like the people I fly with.”
On this particular trip, the Washington crew had hooked up in Frankfurt with Staff Sgt. John Stark, 30, who was to be their mission crew chief. Stark, with the 437th Maintenance Squadron, had had a shorter commute: He’d come from Charleston, S.C.
It’s a duty for which he volunteers every other month. “I could easily stay back in Charleston,” said Stark. “But I feel I’m needed here.”
There are at least two reasons why. The first is, better him than someone else. “I’m single. I’m not even dating anyone,” he said. “My expenses are low. I’m easily deployable.”
So here he was, he said, among the “long-haul truck drivers.” But does he really think of himself in those humble terms? Which bring us to the second reason Stark volunteers:
“I don’t usually admit it,” Stark confided, “but I’m very proud of what I do.”
BBC World News Service - LIVE - Click RealAudio - Stream
BBC World News Service - LIVE - Windows Media - Stream
Click Radio Taiwan International (English)
Live TV Coverage of Discovery Crew
Click LBC 1152 AM London News Radio
Israel News Radio, 0430 UTC - English
Israel News Radio, 2000 UTC - English
Radio Pakistan News Bulletins (English)
Voice of Russia, 0300 UTC - English
Voice of Russia, 0800 UTC - English
Radio China International, 1500 UTC - English
Radio Polonia, 1700 UTC - English
Radio Australia, 0700 UTC - English
Radio Australia, 1100 UTC - English
thank you"Gucho":}}}}}}}}}}}}very good!!!!!
Sunday, September 4, 2005
Afghans give $100,000 for Katrina relief.
Bump - Thank you.
September 04, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens, multinational forces raided a suspected terrorist location east of Al-Amiriyah, Iraq, capturing several terror suspects and destroying a weapons cache Sept. 2, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported today.
Twelve suspected terrorists were arrested during the raid. U. S. military officials in Baghdad said the terrorists are suspected of transporting and emplacing improvised explosive devices and coordinating ambushes with small arms and crew-served weapons against Iraqi security and coalition forces.
Three vehicles loaded with weapons were also discovered and destroyed by coalition forces, officials said.
No civilians were reported injured during the raid, officials noted
Another tip from a civilian helped soldiers from Task Force Liberty's 1st Brigade Combat Team find and defuse a 155mm artillery round buried beside a road near Balad Sept. 2, officials reported. The device was rigged to detonate on command as an improvised explosive device.
The soldiers also captured six suspected terrorists fleeing the scene in Tikrit area. The suspects were in a house washing their hands and attempting to change clothes when they were captured, official said.
In northern Mosul, multinational forces from Task Force Freedom captured 32 suspected terrorists Sept. 1 and 2, officials noted.
Two insurgents were detained by soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment during a cordon-and-search operation. Two more terrorists were captured in eastern Mosul Sept. 1 after they fired small-arms weapons at coalition soldiers searching a home in eastern Mosul, officials said.
Local civilians pointed out a vehicle that had been used in mortar attacks, and further investigation led to the confiscation of drums of AK-47 rounds, officials reported.
Another 21 insurgents suspected of terrorist activities in northwest Tal Afar were captured Sept. 2. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment also detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon- and-search operation in Tal Afar Sept. 1, officials said.
Task Force Liberty soldiers thwarted an imminent ambush in Ad Duluiyah Sept. 2 and detained the four would-be attackers, officials in Tikrit reported today. More terrorists were stopped when coalition soldiers identified an ambush setup and called in attack helicopters to provide support, which caused the attackers to surrender, officials said. During questioning, the detainees provided the location of four more insurgents, who officials said were also subsequently detained in Ad Duluiyah.
A man claiming to be an Iraqi police officer was captured in Ramadi as he attempted to gain passage through an entry control point, officials noted.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force were conducting security and observation activities when approached by the military-aged male. The man produced various identification items and attempted to bribe the troops in an effort to gain access, officials reported. The man continued to change stories, to include claiming to be a police officer.
On Sept. 1, a terrorist was killed and another was wounded when the improvised explosive device they were assembling exploded in an Ad Duluiyah home, officials said.
Task Force Liberty soldiers responded to the explosion, searched the house, treated the wounded terrorist and detained him for questioning.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq Combined Press Information Center news releases from Baghdad, Iraq)
By American Forces Press Service
September 04, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Air Force people, aircraft, and equipment from across the country have been participating in FEMA directed Hurricane Katrina efforts. Air Force efforts to date include:
USAF Action Today
Rescues 494
Sorties 369
Passengers flown 4,249
Cargo tons delivered 2,213
Aeromedical evacuation patients flown 1,072
Civil Air Patrol sorties 3
USAF Action To-Date
Rescues 1,364
Sorties 789
Passengers flown 13,472
Cargo tons delivered 4,005
Aeromedical evacuation patients flown 1,883
Civil Air Patrol sorties 13
USAF AIRCRAFT IN ACTION
Aircraft Mission
C-130 Hercules Airlift
C-17 Globemaster III Airlift
C-5 Galaxy Heavy airlift
C-141 Stratolifter Airlift
KC-135 Stratotanker Airlift & aerial tanker
OC-135 Open Skies Aerial photo
E-3 Sentry Air traffic control
HC-130 Helicopter aerial refueling
HH-60 Pave Hawk Search & Rescue
MC-130 Combat Talon Search & Rescue
MH-53 Pave Low Search & Rescue
C-9 Nightingale Aeromedical evacuation
USAF SYSTEMS IN ACTION
1. A 25-bed Emergency Medical Squadron (EMEDS)is deployed at New Orleans International Airport, with 75 more beds coming.
2. Contingency Response Groups deployed to Lafayette and New Orleans, LA as well as Gulfport and Keesler AFB, Mississippi to facilitate airlift operations.
Sun Sep 4, 2005 - 12:11 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked navy chief Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov on Sunday at a time when the military is facing criticism over its handling of a mini-submarine accident last month. The Kremlin said Putin had appointed Admiral Vladimir Masorin as the new navy head. Putin did not give a reason for Kuroyedov's dismissal.
Local media had speculated that Kuroyedov could be axed after seven Russian sailors were freed last month with British help after three days trapped in an AS-28 rescue mini-submarine 600 feet down in the Pacific with dwindling air supplies.
Some critics asked why the Russian navy did not have the rescue equipment to hand to match the navies of NATO countries.
Russian media said last month's events showed the navy had failed to learn lessons after the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster five years ago when the 118-man crew died when it sank in the Barents Sea after explosions on board.
Putin, who met both men at his country house outside Moscow, told Masorin -- previously chief of the main staff of the navy -- that he had a lot of work ahead to build on reforms already undertaken in the navy.
"You ... face difficult tasks," he said. "We would not be able to solve all these problems even with the state's economic potential growing if we do not strengthen discipline and order and solve tasks of social protection of seamen."
Putin praised Kuroyedov's efforts in helping with naval reform, but also noted the bad times during his time in office since 1997.
"Since that time, we have not simply restored a significant part of the navy but also created a realistic programme for its development," he said.
"At the same time, there were difficult events, tragedies. We all know about that. But I would like to underline once again that with all these problems, all these tragedies, the main thing is that the navy is undergoing a revival."
One admiral, Eduard Baltin, told Ekho Moskvy radio that Kuroyedov's dismissal may have been linked to ill health.
"Kuroyedov is very ill. He has been lying in hospital for two months, he had a complicated operation," Baltin told the radio station.
© Reuters 2005.
ALGIERS, Sept 4 (KUNA) -- Algerian security forces killed two terrorists in clashs that flared Sunday during a combing operation held in a forest area, 120 kilometers to the east of Algiers, a source said.
The forces have seized two Kalashnikovs from the terrorists, who, the source said, belonged to the Salafi Group for Da'wa and Combat (GSPC).
The combing operation will continue to hunt down more terrorists, the source added.
Chairman of Algeria's National Reform Movement Abdullah JabAllah has called for national conciliation yesterday urging what he called "terrorists" to rejoin society by accepting a project for peace and national conciliation called for recently by President Abdul-Aziz Boutaflika.
JabAllah described Boutaflika's recent proposal to be "more comprehensive than all former suggestions," adding that the movement has been seeking such a solid step for 15 years.
But he criticized the proposal, though, saying it mainly deals with the social aspects of the situation without giving the proper political attention.
The proposal will go through a public referendum on September 29.
UPDATE 1-Rescue helicopter crashes in New Orleans -TV
Sun Sep 4, 2005 - 8:18 PM ET
NEW ORLEANS, Sept 4 (Reuters) - A rescue helicopter crashed in New Orleans on Sunday, U.S. television networks reported.
The two crew members from the Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter were safe, MSNBC said.
Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying on the ground near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around the wreck was blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades.
There was no immediate information on what had caused the crash.
© Reuters 2005
Sep 04, 2005 - 8:05 PM US/Eastern
By ROBERT H. REID - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq
Saddam Hussein's defense team complained Sunday it will not have enough time to prepare for his trial as the government officially set Oct. 19 for the start of proceedings that could end with the execution of Iraq's former dictator.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops killed seven insurgents Sunday in Tal Afar, including six who fired at the Americans from a mosque, the U.S. command said. Iraqi officers said well-armed insurgents controlled the center of Tal Afar and their ranks included fighters from Yemen, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.
A legal adviser to Saddam's family, Abdel-Haq Alani, said that starting the trial next month would "undercut the defense capability to review the case."
He was reacting to an announcement by the chief government spokesman, Laith Kubba, that Saddam and seven former henchmen would be tried on Oct. 19 in the 1982 massacre of 143 Shiite Muslims in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad.
Kubba's announcement confirmed unofficial reports that the first trial of Saddam and key lieutenants would begin just days after the Oct. 15 national referendum on Iraq's constitution.
Trying Saddam so soon after the referendum could further enflame sectarian tensions among Saddam's fellow Sunni Arabs, many of whom oppose the draft charter.
If convicted, Saddam and the others could receive the death penalty.
Alani said the defense had received no official notice about the date, but complained that if Oct. 19 was the start, it would not leave enough time to prepare.
"How can one review thousands and thousands of pages in just a matter of a few days?" he told The Associated Press by telephone from London. "This court has been deliberating with the evidence for the past year, but it has been keeping it away from the defense, which is not fair."
Saddam's Iraqi lawyer had no immediate reaction.
The co-defendants include Barazan Ibrahim, the ousted regime's intelligence chief and Saddam's half brother; and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. The others are lesser figures in the Saddam-era intelligence services or ruling Baath Party.
Rather than lump all charges against Saddam into one mammoth, time- consuming trial, Iraqi authorities have opted for a series of cases focusing on specific atrocities.
Iraq's Shiite- and Kurdish-dominated government is convinced that speedy trials for Saddam will expose crimes of his regime and undercut support for him within the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
"This court will conduct itself according to international standards," Kubba said. "We hope to rebuild national unity and rid ourselves of a dark page in Iraq's past and move on."
Pretrial investigations are under way into about a dozen cases, including the 1988 gassing of up to 5,000 Kurds in Halabja and the bloody 1991 suppression of a Shiite uprising in the south after a U.S.-led coalition drove the Iraqi army out of Kuwait.
The Iraqi tribunal announced July 17 that it had filed charges against Saddam in the Dujail case. Iraqi law requires the court to announce the start date for a trial within 45 days of the filing of charges.
Under Iraqi law, the defendants will stand before the judge while he reads the charges against them. Defense lawyers will be given the opportunity to respond and ask for a postponement.
If the judge believes a delay is justified, he can grant an extension, usually 15 days. Further extensions can be requested.
The former U.S. governor of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, abolished the death penalty soon after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But the Iraqis reinstated capital punishment after sovereignty was reinstated a year later so they would have the option of executing Saddam if he was convicted of crimes committed during his nearly three decade regime.
Shiites and Kurds suffered the most under Saddam's regime because of their suspected ties to Iran during a 1980-88 war. Both groups also rose up against Saddam in 1991. The Shiite uprising was crushed after the United States refused to intervene on their behalf, although it did provide protection to Kurds.
In a statement, the U.S. command said soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Carson, Colo., killed seven insurgents "after receiving small arms fire during three separate incidents in Tal Afar." There were no U.S. or Iraqi government casualties, the military said.
In other developments Sunday:
_A roadside bomb exploded as a repair crew fixed a pipeline leak near Kirkuk, killing one technician and injuring another.
_A pair of drive-by shootings in Baghdad killed four people.
_A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi police checkpoint near Iskandariyah south of Baghdad, killing one policeman and injuring two.
_Saboteurs blasted a pipeline that carries fuel from Beiji to an electric power station in Baghdad.
Jon Henley in Paris
Monday September 5, 2005
A fire early yesterday which killed 14 people, including two children, was almost certainly the result of arson, according to police investigating the third major blaze in the Paris region in little over a week.
A police spokesman said three local teenage girls had been remanded in custody, suspected of deliberately setting letterboxes alight in the communal hallway of an 18-storey council block in the suburb of L'Hay-les-Roses, a few miles south of the French capital.
"Witnesses reported seeing three or four girls hanging around in the lobby right before the fire," the spokesman said, adding that some of the 11 residents injured in the blaze were in such serious condition that the death toll would "very probably" rise.
Many of the victims died after fleeing their homes and inhaling toxic smoke generated by temperatures that exceeded 300C (570F), said a fire officer, Alain Antonini. "Those who stayed inside were fine," he told French radio. "It's those who rushed out and ran into ... the smoke and fumes who explain the terrible toll."
The local mayor, Patrick Sève, said the blaze bore "little relation" to the two other fires in central Paris that have killed 24 African immigrants over the past 10 days. Although police now suspect one of those blazes may also have been arson, both involved badly maintained, overcrowded, inner-city buildings between 100 and 150 years old.
The block that went up in flames yesterday was a relatively modern "HLM", a low-cost council housing block built in the late 1970s. It held some 800 people in 110 apartments and had been recently renovated, Mr Sève said.
Survivors described the screams of panicked residents and said some people had leapt from windows as the flames tore through the entrance hall and up the stairwell. Some youths had thrown stones at the firefighters, apparently angry at the length of time they took to arrive.
But rescue officials said the response was fast and some 160 firefighters had arrived at the scene within half an hour of the blaze being reported at just after 1am. The fire, which wrecked a number of apartments on the first three floors, was under control in 90 minutes and firefighters penetrated the building 26 times to rescue lower-floor residents. Those in the upper storeys were told to stay put with their doors firmly shut.
"There was smoke, and people were screaming and wanted to jump," said one upper-floor resident, Claude Camps, 48, who fled with his wife once the smoke had died down. "When we finally came out, there was nothing left of the hallway."
Florence Leclerc, who lives on the ground floor, said: "There was a terrible panic. We saw the bodies of people we knew, our neighbours. A couple and their two children, a whole family just upstairs, are all dead."
The prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, who last week announced plans to build new public housing and evict squatters from blocks considered fire hazards, sent his "sincere condolences", and President Jacques Chirac, in hospital with sight problems, reportedly discussed the fire with a senior aide by phone.
Paris's city hall has said the capital has about 60 unsafe squats and that more than 10,000 flats are unhygienic in the greater Paris region, where more that 300,000 families - many of them immigrants - are waiting for permanent social housing.
05 Sep 2005 00:46:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Update)
BATON ROUGE, La., Sept 4 (Reuters) - A civilian helicopter that was not involved in rescue operations crashed in New Orleans on Sunday and the two people on board were slightly injured, a state official said.
The helicopter crashed in the area of the Danziger Bridge, said Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
"The helicopter came down hard and rolled over on its side and broke its blades off and broke its tail off," Smith told reporters in Baton Rouge.
"There were two civilians on the helicopter. Both sustained cuts and scrapes," he said.
It was not known why the helicopter was in the area, Smith said.
The U.S. military and Coast Guard have conducted hundreds of helicopter flights in the New Orleans area in recent days searching for Hurricane Katrina survivors and have rescued thousands of storm victims.
Early media reports said the crashed aircraft was a Coast Guard helicopter.
Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying on the ground near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around the wreck was blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades.
Smith said he did not know if shots had been fired at the helicopter. Gunfire has been reported on numerous occasion in the New Orleans area in recent days.
"It could have been mechanical failure," he said.
AlertNet
UPDATED: 08:36 - September 05, 2005
Private cars will be only allowed to move on the roads every other day in an effort to ease gasoline shortage, said a new restriction announced by Iraq's government on Sunday.
A statement issued by the cabinet said the cars whose plates end with even numbers and odd numbers will use the roads every other day.
The new restriction will be imposed from Tuesday, the statement said, adding that the decision will not include the public transport, trucks and government vehicles.
Hundreds of Iraqi drivers are waiting in long queues outside the gas stations in all Iraqi cities, as the government failed to ease gasoline crisis because of violence and lack of security in the war-torn country.
Source: Xinhua
05-Sep-2005
Islamabad, 1 Sept. (AKI/DAWN) - The Pakistan navy has received eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft free of charge from the United States. The US has also offered Perry-class frigate warships for sale to Pakistan, according to the Pakistani chief of the naval staff Shahid Karimullah. The sale offer "has been made by the US Navy" to the Pakistan Navy, Karimullah said, adding that the price of the frigates will be negotiated once the US Congress gives its approval.
Named after an American naval hero, Oliver Hazard Perry, the frigate warhips were designed by the US in the 1970s as general-purpose escort vessels. Although some Perry-class vessels are slated to remain in US service for years, many others are being de-commissioned and transferred to other countries where they are being modernised.
The naval chief said Pakistan was also acquiring four P-22 F frigates from China. He said three of these frigates will be built in China and the fourth in Pakistan. These frigates will form part of the Pakistan Navy’s fleet by 2013. He said that since the delivery of the first Chinese frigate was to take some three years, a good stop-gap arrangement could be made by acquiring some Perry-class frigates, which were not as efficient as the Chinese P-22-Fs.
He said the Pakistan navy, which was currently weak in terms of units, will emerge as a balanced and powerful force. Drawing a comparison with India, he said the eastern neighbour had 21 submarines, compared to the 5 of Pakistan.
Answering a question, he said at some stage Pakistan will have to develop its own nuclear submarine, as no country was ready to provide them to Islamabad.
As for the 3-PC Orion aircraft, Admiral Shahid Karimullah said that the US navy had signed the transfer document making the aircraft a property of the Pakistan government. With the induction of eight P-3Cs, the navy’s existing fleet of P-3Cs will grow to 10 aircraft. The two P-3Cs already with the navy are currently undergoing an overhaul in Pakistan with US assistance and were expected to be operational by the end of this year.
P-3C Orion is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft with an endurance of about 18 hours, which can carry Harpoon missiles. The eight aircraft now being inducted will be fitted with modern avionics and mission systems by Lockheed Martin, the manufacturers of the P-3C Orion. The expenses in modifying the aircraft avionics systems will be met mostly by US military aid.
The naval chief termed the aircraft acquisition a significant achievement. They would augment the Pakistan navy’s capability to actively monitor its areas of interest at sea and add a new dimension to the offensive punch of the Naval fleet, he said.
Admiral Karimullah said provision of these aircraft was indicative of the strong Pakistan-US relations and hoped that the defence cooperation between the navies of the two countries would further increase in times to come.
The first aircraft will be delivered to Pakistan in December followed by another in January-February 2006.
(AKI/DAWN)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.