US Air Force: AFD-061114-001

Vol. 66, No. 17Thursday, May 4, 2006Keesler Air Force BaseBiloxi, Mississippi

Develop America’s Airmen today ... for tomorr

ow

I

NSIDE

C

OMMENTARY

Speeders beware,

2

T

RA

INING AND

E

DU

CATION

Salute to scholars,

4

JROTC visit,

7

N

EWS A

ND

F

EATURES

AFAF tops $120,000,

8

MyPay innovations,

10

Volunteers honored,

11

Grant deadline,

14

$500 million saved,

15

Vigil of hope,

18

S

PORTS A

ND

R

ECREATION

Special weekend,

21

Coming soon: Boats,

21

S

ECTIONS

Commentary.....................

2

Training and education.

4-7

News and features.....

8-20

Sports and recreation...

21-22

Digest.....................

23-25

Classifieds......................

27

Dragons deployed —102

Keesler News on Web:http://www.keesler.af.mil

This week in the Triangle

Student numbers

Total students — 3,387Non-prior service — 2,243Temporary duty — 1,126Combat controllers — 18Non-prior service arrivals — 103Guard, Reserve — 715International — 12Fiscal 2006 graduates — 12,672

Communications-computersystems operations craftsman, 9 a.m. today, 10 a.m.Friday, Thomson hall.Ground radio apprentice, 10 a.m. today, Jones Hall.Weatherforecasterapprentice, 10 a.m. today, weathertraining complex.Communications-computersystems planning and implementation managementcraftsman, 10 a.m. Friday, Thomson Hall.Precision measurement equipment laboratory apprentice, 2 p.m. Tuesday,Dolan Hall.Computernetwork cryptographic and systems apprentice, 10 a.m. Wednesday,Bryan Hall.

Recovery draws praise from Looney

AETC leader:Spirit, resolvekeys to effort

By Staff Sgt. Carlos Diaz

Keesler Public Affairs

Gen. William Looney III,commander of Air Educationand Training Command, paidKeesler his third visit in thepast eight months April 25.During this visit, the gener-al received a report on post-Katrina recovery operationsfrom Brig. Gen. Paul Ca-passo, 81st Training Wingcommander, toured KeeslerMedical Center and BayRidge housing area andattended an 81st TrainingWing commander’s call brief-ing, where he pinned aircrewbadges on the last graduatesof the airborne battle manage-ment systems operator course.Before his departure, thegeneral was interviewed forthis article.General Looney was veryimpressed with Keesler’sprogress, spirit and resolve inthe wake of Hurricane Ka-trina. He attributed the suc-cess of recovery efforts todate to the combined resolve

Photo by Kemberly Groue

Sergeant Diaz takes notes as General Looney makes a point during April 25 interview.

of the base and surroundingcommunities.“The progress has beenmiraculous and it’s takenextraordinary individuals doingextraordinary things,” he said.“The thought was that it’dtake almost two years to bringKeesler back to its normal stu-dent load, and the men andwomen of Keesler made thathappen in about four months.”What impresses GeneralLooney most about Keesler’speople in their post-Katrinaenvironment is their never-quit attitude.“It’s the whole camaraderiethat has come together, theirundying spirit and the factthat they will not and nevergive up,” he said.General Looney said creditfor Keesler’s restoration goesbeyond the base itself.

Please see

Visit,

Page 9

C

OMMENTARY

A

CTION

L

INE

...

377-4357

By Brig. Gen. Paul Capasso

81st Training Wing commander

First, try to work concerns through the proper chain of com-mand. When you’ve exhausted this recourse, turn to the com-mander’s action line for assistance.We welcome any suggestions to help make this a more valu-able and useful tool. You may call the commander’s action line at377-4357, write to Commander’s Action Line, 81 TRW/PA, KeeslerAFB, MS 39534-2603, e-mail 81 TRWCommander’s Action Line(on-base) or commanders.line@keesler.af.mil (off-base). For a per-sonal response, include your name, address and phone number.Items of general interest may appear in this column.

You can help apply brakesto housing area speeders

By Master Sgt. Ken Oates

81st Security Forces Squadron

Spring has sprung and so have speedome-ters in our military housing areas.The 81st Security Forces Squadron and81st Training Wing leadership have noticed adisturbing trend — violations of the 15 mphspeed limit on housing area streets.The surge in contractors who aren’t used todriving in our housing areas seems to accountfor most instances of speeding.Housing area residents can help curb thisproblem by being attentive to the speed of vehicles driving near your homes, writingdown descriptions of speeding vehicles, thedrivers and license plate numbers. Then, visitthe 81st SFS desk sergeant, Building 3501,Larcher Boulevard across from the old com-missary. Apatrolman will receive your com-plaint and take action on it.Just like civilian law enforcement agencies,the 81st SFS can identify registered owners of vehicles through a national computer data-base. With that information, the 81st SFScontacts the Keesler agency responsible forthe military member, civilian or contractorand addresses the issue. For military or civil-ian employees, this could be the first sergeantor commander. Our prime contractors havemultiple sponsors.Aspeeding citation isn’t issued in mostcases. However, this procedure allows boththe 81st SFS and supervisors an opportunityto address the issue in hopes of preventing areoccurrence. Although our patrols do theirbest to monitor compliance with the speedlimit in housing areas, they can’t be every-where. They need your help.

By Col. (Dr.) Kenneth Levin

81st Dental Squadron commander

I’m an Air Force colonelof 28 years and a commanderfor more years than I’d like toadmit.Most of us can think back to the days when we enteredactive duty and remember thereasons we chose the profes-sion of arms. In my case, itwas not only the lure of trav-eling the world, being part of the greatest fighting force barnone or even the hope of learning a new trade. I need-ed a reliable pay check and a job that allowed personalgrowth and job security.I don’t think that’s verydifferent from many who areentering active duty today.Unquestionably, my rea-sons for staying are very dif-ferent from why I joined andI wouldn’t give up my AirForce experiences for any-thing.Rather than reflect on allthe benefits how the militaryhas impacted my life, I wantto focus on retirement bene-fits, which I believe are mis-understood and under-repre-sented.How many of you knowwhat your Air Force retire-ment is really worth? Howmuch would you have had tosave to draw a particularmonthly income?My hope by asking thesequestions is to get you think-ing, because unless you’vegone through this thoughtprocess, you won’t be able tomake the right decision whenit comes time to leave themilitary.No matter which programyou fall into, Air Force retire-ment plans are among thevery best available anywhereon the planet. Where else canyou start drawing payments atthe 20-year point for the restof your life and have thosepayments indexed to infla-tion? The words “indexed toinflation” make our plangreat.Here are a couple of exam-ples of the value of a militaryretirement plan:

A30-yearchief mastersergeant

retiring this yeargets $48,546 a year. Manywould start drawing benefitsat age 48 and could do so formore than 40 years. That’sactually longer than theyserved on active duty.How much would thischief have to have in the bank to receive $48,546 for 40years indexed to inflation?Figuring on an inflation rateof 3.5 percent per year, he’dneed to have $1.8 million inthe bank that pays $37,000annually for 40 years, assum-ing a 5 percent rate of returnannually.

A20-yearmasterser-geant

retiring this year draws$21,390 a year. He’d haveto have $750,000 in the bank to pay out this amount for 40years.As these examples demon-strate, your retirement canalmost double by remainingon active duty for 30 years.This logic can be used tocalculate the worth of yourretirement, regardless of yourrank. Try it. You may bepleasantly surprised. I was.

Military retirement

What it’s actually worth

K

EESLER

N

EWS

No. 1 in Air Force,2004, 1997.No. 1 in AETC,2004, 1998, 1996;No. 2, 2003, 2001,1999, 1997, 1991;No. 3, 2005, 2002,1995.

81st Training Wingcommander

Brig. Gen. Paul Capasso

Public affairs director

Lt. Col. Claudia Foss

Editor

Perry Jenifer

Staff writers

Susan GriggsStaff Sgt.Lee SmithStaff Sgt.Mike Eaton

Staff photographer

Kemberly Groue

The Keesler News office isin Room 113, Taylor LogisticsCenter, Building 4002. Themailing address: 81TRW/PAIN, Keesler AFB, MS 39534-2120. Phone:377-4130, 3163,3837, 7340. Publication date:Thursday. News deadline: noonMonday.Classified advertisingdeadline: see Classified sec-tion. Editorial content is edit-ed, prepared, and provided bythe 81st TRW Public AffairsOffice in compliance with AirForce journalistic standards.All photographs are Air Forcephotographs unless otherwiseindicated.The Keesler News is pub-lished by Gulf Publishing Co.,a private firm in no way con-nected with the Air Force,under an exclusive writtencontract with the 81st TRWand as an authorized publica-tion for U.S. military servicemembers. Contents aren’tnecessarily the official viewsof, or endorsed by the U.S.government, Department of Defense or Air Force. Theappearance of advertisingdoes not constitute endorse-ment by the U.S. government,DOD, Air Force or Gulf Publishing of products orservices advertised. Every-thing advertised shall bemade available without re-gard to race, color, religion,sex, national origin, age, mar-ital status, physical handicap,political affiliation or anyother non-merit factor.

Keesler’s2006 safety goals

Make safety ...

a core value,a best business practice,a competitive and asymmetricadvantage.

Make every employee ...

feel safe at work and home.

Review and updateyour Keesler Form 21,Shelter Intention.The form is availavbleon the Keesler home page.