BARKSDALE AFB, LA917th WING

Gator Gazette

VOL. 14, NO. 11NOVEMBER 2007

Inside the Pages...

Mom enlists daughter, p. 8Surviving the holidays, p. 4Recruiters’ mass enlistment, p. 5

By Master Sgt. Sherri BohannonWing Public Affairs

Sergeant Waller hit the ground running.Everything and everyone is fair game inan insurgent’s mind. He knew that from histwo previous tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.Safety would be paramount in the survivalof him and his teamSix months later, Sergeant Waller leftWestern Iraq, having been awarded a BronzeStar for his efforts.Sergeant Waller (Kyle) led a team of five“CSI professionals,” a weapons investiga-tion team assigned to Camp Ar Ramadhi, Iraq,whose sole mission was to identify bomb-ers, bomber signatures and piece togetherinformation to build bombers’ profiles, a keypart of counter-terrorism efforts in Iraq to-day. By design, the WIT consisted of some-one from the Office of Special Investigations,two Intelligence experts, an explosive ord-nance disposal technician, and one Armyheavy weapons gunner.The WIT mission, an Army mission since2004, was handed over to the Air Force in2006 due to wartime manning constraints.Sergeant Waller and his team (one of 15 WITteams) was the first evolution of this newconcept.Safety was paramount to mission suc-cess, Sergeant Waller said. Based on infor-mation he received prior to getting in coun-try, he saw flaws in the way the investiga-tive teams were doing business in the west,things that could ultimately cost them theirlives.Under the old construct, the WIT teamrode in a convoy of five to each scene, aconvoy which consisted of three securityvehicles, one in front, in back and in themiddle, one explosive ordnance disposal ve-hicle, a joint emer-gency rapid re-sponse vehicle com-monly referred to asa JERRV aka “cou-gar,” and one highmobility multi-wheelvehicle for a five-man WIT team.“Within the AlAnbar Province,more often than not,when a vehicle suf-fered a direct strikefrom an IED, thedamage was cata-strophic in nature,”Sergeant Wallersaid. “Not only re-sulting in total ve-hicle disablement,but also the loss of human life. Knowing this first hand, I knewI had to change the way we do business,day one, boots on the ground.”Sergeant Waller’s pitch was to cut theWIT HMMWV out of the mix all togetherand have one WIT team member (versusfive) accompany the four-man EOD team intheir “cougar.”“Operating in a (separate) HMMWV wasexcessive and unnecessary,” SergeantWaller said. “Having the WIT separated fromthe EOD members means you’re not able tosee their (EOD) actions. You’re not going tohave a true birds-eye view of what is goingon, or of what has occurred.” This, he said,ultimately hampers the investigation, be-cause it lengthens the time required to com-plete the WIT processes, when time is of theessence.This idea is what turned the WIT leader-ship onto a new way of thinking, he said.“It’s an IED war there, plain and simple,”Sergeant Waller said. “You may get seven tonine calls in a 24-hour period. How do youmaintain and endure 24-7 operations if you

Waller takes home the ‘bronze’

Col. Ed Walker, 917th Wing commander, pins the Bronze Starmedal on Master Sgt. Kyle Waller, 917th Explosive OrdnanceDisposal Flight technician, Sunday, Oct. 14, at the quarterly Wingcommander’s call in the A-10 hangar, Barksdale AFB, La. (U.S.Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Ebony Nichols)

“Nothing is secure;everything is suspect.”

-Master Sgt. Kyle Waller

Bronze

continues on page 5...

“ L i f e i n t h e T o p T e n ”

GATOR GAZETTE

From the Top

This funded Air Force newspa-per is an authorized publication formembers of U.S. military services.Contents of the Gator Gazette arenot necessarily the official viewsof, or endorsed by, the U.S. gov-ernment, Department of Defenseor the Department of the Air Force.Editorial content is edited, pre-pared and provided by the 917thWing Public Affairs Office. All pho-tographs are U.S. Air Force photo-graphs unless otherwise indicated.

UTA Sunday at noon is the dead-line for submitting articles

toPublic Affairs for publication in thefollowing month’s issue of theGator Gazette. Inputs for the GatorGazette can also be made by e-mailto 917wg.pa@barksdale.af.milOffice hours: Monday throughFriday 7 a.m. - 5 p.m., and UTAs 7a.m. - 4 p.m.Office Phone: (318) 456-9181Fax: (318) 456-7444.

Col. Ed Walker

Commander

Jessica D’Aurizio

Chief, Public Affairs

Capt. Newman Robertson

Public Affairs Officer

Master Sgt. SherriBohannon

Editor

Mrs. Betty Stephens

Public Affairs Assistant

Tech. Sgt. Jeff WalstonStaff Sgt. Ebony Nichols

Staff Writers

GatorGazette

917th Wing Public Affairs1000 Davis Ave. E.Bldg. 6803, Rm. 212Barksdale AFB, La., 71110November 2007Vol. 14, No. 11

Col. Bruce Miller917th WingVice CommanderChaplain DeVaul

Pace and Purpose

By Chaplain (Maj.) Ralph DeVaulWing Chaplains Office

Over the years there have been a number of fascinating Biblical characters that provided mewith key insights to surviving life’s challenges.And yes, each of theirnames begins with J.Each had deep spiritualroots.

Jacob

representedpersistence. He set his mindon a goal and never lostsight of it.

Joseph

, his son,represents forgiveness.Even though betrayed byhis older brothers, in theend he forgave them; a to-tal selfless act. It also helped reunite his family.

Joshua

took his group to the “promised land.” Hewas encouraged by God three times to be strongand courageous and to stay focused on the task athand.

Job,

as we know from scriptural readings,developed a great sense of patience. It took a while,but in the end he got there. That’s what patienceis. It’s perseverance.

Jabez,

a little known charac-ter, had a deep sense of dependence on God. Hissimple prayer revealed he understood his humanfrailty and a need for dependence on God. He askedfor the best God could give. As a farmer, he askedfor more land to plant. The more he could har-vest, the more he could give back. Jabez prayedfor guidance, the “hand of God.” Finally, Jabez,aware of evil, asked God for protection.

Jeremiah

represented compassion for others. Read Lam-entations, and you will see a heart of compas-sion, especially for wayward people. And finallythere was,

James,

the brother of Jesus. As a kidgrowing up in the house with Jesus, he was sar-castic about his “brother” the Messiah. In theend, however, he saw the big picture and was wellknown for his common sense approach to living.He got it!I’ve enjoyed my time at the 917

these pastseven years. May God bless your journey. Don’tdo it alone. God’s there for you.

Lessons from the “Js”

I was at my daughter’s soc-cer practice the other day and Iheard her coach constantly say-ing: “Watch your pace,” and“Pass with a purpose.” The pacepart of the comment was in rela-tion to their speed of play. Shewanted them to run faster, kick harder and shoot with morepower; all functions of pace. Thepurpose portion was to move theball in relation to our team, theopposing team, and the goal; not just passing or shooting, butpicking a target and hitting it.A good lesson for all of us is:We need to use pace and pur-pose in the execution of our Op-erational Readiness Inspection.We have practiced to everycontingency that we can think of for this ORI, not only for Phase Iand II, but also transition day. I’msure you can remember back inJanuary when we began our finalpreparation; pulling out the“gear” and slowly putting it on,trying to get a seal, find thestraps and check the zippers.Now it is literally second natureto put the mask on and quicklycomplete any task that faces us.We have all found a quicker paceto get any job done under anycircumstance. There is however,one more piece of this puzzle;purpose.The fact that we can do any-thing quickly does not over-shadow the requirement to do itright. That is the purpose of thetask. We need to very carefullycheck and crosscheck that weare accomplishing the task athand with purpose. Guidelines,buddy checks and checklists allhelp us with the purpose.Don’t forget during Phase Ito follow your checklist to com-plete the processing tasks.Check your buddy in Phase II tomake sure his or her gear is right.Offer to help on transition dayto make sure your work area isready to go. All of this ensures asense of purpose to our actions.We have prepared for thisinspection like a team preparesfor the big game. Remember tomove with pace, watch your pur-pose, and enjoy the success youhave earned. Like we say as theythrow out the ball, “Game on!”

Questions about the upcoming Operational Readiness Inspection?

Visit the Wing ORI Web page! Click on the Wing intranet page, then “ORI Page” in the left-hand column.

NOVEMBER 2007

Wing News

Each month, the Winghighlights one of its memberswho goes above and beyondhis/her call of duty. Thismonth, we feature Tech. Sgt.Richard Taliaferro.

Unit:

917th MaintenanceSquadron

Job title:

Armament SystemsTechnician

Job description:

Maintain A-10 weapons release and gunsystems

Most rewarding job aspect:

Seeing that what I do directlyimpacts mission effectiveness

Goals:

Stay healthythroughout retirement

Hometown:

Shreveport, La.

Hobbies:

Fishing, skiing,bowling, drag racing

Favorite TV show/movie/dish:

Two and a Half Men/ Heart Like a Wheel/porkchops

I’m proudest of:

My wife andmy father

Best asset:

patience

Pet peeve:

People with nopatience

What I like most about the917th Wing:

Great people towork with, and I get to gointeresting places.

Sergeant Taliaferro

GEAUXGATOR!!

NEWCOMERS

307 RHS

Senior Airman Stephan Pease, Haughton, La.Airman 1st Class Jeremy Clack, Bearden, Ark.

47 FS

Maj. Williams James, Collierville, Tenn.Maj. Garret Povar, Stonewall, La.Senior Airman Jerimi Aaron, Shreveport, La.

717 AMXS

Tech. Sgt. Bradley Smith, Shreveport, La.Senior Airman Ingrid Lofton, Harvey, La.

917 AMXS

Staff Sgt. Branden Tramel, Kingwood, Texas

917 CES

Staff Sgt. Brad Kiter, Bossier City, La.

917 LRS

Senior Airman Christopher Justice, Longview, Texas

917 MDS

Maj. Ronald Theiss, Nacogdoches, TexasCapt. Marimel Tilley, Bossier City, La.Airman Shawney Carson, Barksdale AFB, La.

917 MSF

1st Lt. Stephanie Strickland, Haughton, La.Staff Sgt. Makaela Clemons, Jacksonville, Ark.

917 MXS

Senior Master Sgt. Vernon Cox, Fort Worth, TexasStaff Sgt. Donald Hardison, Haughton, La.Staff Sgt. Daniel Watson, Crossett, Ark.

917 SFS

Tech. Sgt. Donald Royal, Westlake, La.

917 WG

Master Sgt. Denise Zamarron, San Antonio, TexasStaff Sgt. Ana Essex, New Iberia, La.

917th Wing

Salutes

RETIREMENTS

Lt. Col. Gregory Kropp, 93 BSSenior Master Sgt. Robert Collins, 917 CESMaster Sgt. Jim Scott, 917 MXS

PROMOTIONS

To Senior Master Sergeant:

Claude (Pete) Cohen, 917 MXS(Note: Sergeant Cohen promoted on Sept. 1. Ourapologies for leaving you off the list!)

To Master Sergeant:

Sherri Bohannon, 917 WG (PEP)

To Technical Sergeant:

Lorna Anderson, 717 AMXSJose Areizaga Jr., 917 AMXSWade Janes, 917 WG (PEP)Arlis Kennedy, 917 MXSChristopher Mitchell, 307 RHSRussell Morris, 917 MXSMelonie Myers, 917 CESJoseph Owens, 917 CES

To Staff Sergeant:

Dean Christensen Jr., 917 LRSMatthew Hammett, 717 AMXSJacqueline Ross, 917 MSG

To Senior Airman:

Kristen Cobble, 917 MXSNikeasa Gentry, 917 MOSTchailleh Jones, 917 MDS

To Airman 1st Class:

Stephen Ellis, 917 AMXS

Progress is being made in the effort to establish an A-10 associate unit at Davis-MonthanAFB, Ariz. The proposed flying squadron is part of the 917th Operations Group expansion.Col. Ozzie Gorbitz, 917th Operations Group Commander, Lt. Cols. Terry McClain and RodGlass, 47th Fighter Squadron, will be attending a site activation task force to discuss manythings; including, memorandum of understanding, facility requirements, timelines, and an Inte-gration Plan.“If all goes well, Lt. Colonel McClain and I will begin flying with the 358th Fighter Squadronstarting possibly in December,” said Colonel Glass.In the future, few full-time and part-time operations support positions, such as life supportand operations administration, will need to be filled.“We plan to hire more A-10 FTU IPs (instructor pilots) as demand (from the 355th FighterWing) dictates,” said Colonel Glass. “At this time, there is no plan to have a maintenancepackage; however, that possibility is being considered for implementation two years down theroad.”The associate flying squadron will fly with the 355th Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB,Ariz. Its mission - “to support A-10 pilot training at DM,” according to Col. Gorbitz. Moreinformation will follow as details become available.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

917 OPS moves ahead with proposed squadron