'93 Grad Honored with Jabara Award

VOL. 47 NO.19 MAY 11, 2007 Cemetery facilities dedicated today By Academy Spirit staff Two new additions to the Academy cemetery will properly honor deceased graduates and their loved ones and shelter mourners from bad or unpredictable weather. The Academy and the Association of Graduates will dedicate a memo- rial pavilion and directory building today at 2 p.m. at the cemetery. Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni will lead the dedication. The directory building houses a computer kiosk with photos and obit- uaries of deceased graduates, Academy information and videos and a grave locator. The project began in May 2006. Its $4.6 million cost was covered by private donations raised by the Association of Graduates. Construction and design contracts were awarded to Gerald H. Phipps Photo by Joel Strayer General Contracts, AR7 Hoover A different sideline Desmond Architects, BCER Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Michael Wynne, and former Falcon head football coach, Fisher DeBerry, Engineering, Inc. and S.A. Miro civil watch with pride as the Academy cadet wing passes in review on the Terrazzo May 4. The parade began a week- engineers. end of tributes to DeBerry, the winningest coach in service academy history. During the parade, Coach DeBerry The site preserves the open look was presented the Outstanding Educator Award by Dean of the Faculty, Brig. Gen. Dana Born. The award recog- of the cemetery from Parade Loop. nizes educators for their superior teaching accomplishments and a demonstrated ability to instill high standards The materials used in the building of integrity, service and leadership in future Air Force officers. For more on the DeBerry story, see Page 14. of both structures are the same as those used in the Cadet Area and include exposed aggregate, granite and aluminum. ’93 grad honored with Jabara award The design of the buildings is By Steven A. Simon Security Transition Command, in Iraq. based on a seven-foot grid, mirroring Graduate/donor liaison development and At the time of his nomination, Major the design of the rest of the Academy. alumni programs Visconi was a member of Air Education Aluminum panels on the colum- and Training Command assigned as assis- barium of the pavilion match the door Major Mark W. Visconi, Class of 1993, tant operations officer/MC-130H lead design of the Cadet Chapel. will receive the 2007 Colonel James Jabara program manager/instructor pilot, 58th The cemetery now accommodates Award for Airmanship today at the Mitchell Training Squadron, Kirtland, N.M. He is three areas for services in the pavilion: Hall staff tower prior to the noon meal. currently foreign policy advisor to the the formal exterior plaza overlooking The event will be marked by the commander, U.S. Central Command Air the cemetery, the interior plaza and the landing of a CV-22A Osprey aircraft from Forces, Shaw AFB, S.C. plaza in nature. Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., on the “I am truly humbled by the tremendous Terrazzo. honor of the Jabara Award,” said the modest He distinguished himself through Remember aviator. “Without a doubt, I have had sustained superior performance while outstanding mentors and instructors Mom on serving as a special operations instructor throughout my career, from my air officers May 13th pilot assigned to the Coalition Military commanding at the Academy to our leaders Assistance Training Team, Multi-National See JABARA, Page 4 Maj. Mark Visconi I N News Feature Sports S Mission of Wish comes AD new I mercy true V-ball champs D Page 3 Page 15 E Page 13 Academy Spirit 2 COMMENTARY May 11, 2007 Into the wild blue yonder of high tech By Lt. Col. Pete Zuppas But, to what extent do we back off long-standing 35th Operations Group deputy commander fighter pilot skills-based training, especially for our The modern fighter legacy fighters, and go “all in” on the technology bet MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNEWS) — My “ without a balanced approach to upgrading tactics seven-year-old son recently informed me that he pilot is becoming more of and training for old school skills and weapons? would soon be the world’s greatest fighter pilot. I don’t Our heritage has been one of the man at the know where he got this idea, but it made me wonder controls of the machine. It appears our horizon places what future generations of fighter pilots will look like. a sensor manager or more emphasis on the machine and technology. We In the past 15 years, we have witnessed a fighter certainly need to maintain America’s high-tech edge, combat shift from a long-standing reliance on fighter aerospace technician, and but we also need future generations of line fighter pilots pilot skills and training to an overwhelming reliance and leaders to maintain a healthy competitive spirit on technology. many of the tasks may not and an appreciation for what it takes to maneuver a Thanks to technologies such as the Global fighter to a position of advantage, and track another Positioning System, GPS weapons (including joint even require a pilot. aircraft in their gun sight. direct attack munitions), data-links, advanced targeting The challenge, chivalry and thrill of “guns only” pods, beyond-visual-range missiles like the advanced dog fighting is clearly of a by-gone era. But the corre- medium-range air-to-air missile, helmet-mounted valued air power asset in many current scenarios. sponding passion, will-to-win mindset and skill-sets cueing systems, and high off-boresight missiles like There are scientists with great plans in motion for derived benefits are not. the AIM-9X, the importance of traditional fighter even more capable unmanned aerial combat vehicles And, who knows when we’ll need to do some of pilot skills is rapidly dwindling. The old school fighter to share and possibly rule the skies of the future. that fighter pilot stuff? pilot is becoming almost obsolete. Youngsters right now being weaned on X-box For example, all our current fighters have a gun: Superior eyesight (like in Chuck Yeager stories), will be our future trained killers controlling these crit- the Joint Strike Fighter will have one also. But, it has hand-to-eye coordination, knife fight in a phone ters from stationary consoles thousands of miles from been ages since we regularly employed — other than booth, check six, fur ball, aerial gunnery skills, corner the fight, far removed from the battlefield. More and our A-10 Thunderbolt IIs — the gun in combat. Yet, velocity, look-out-the-window, situational awareness, more, we are taking the fighter pilot out of fighter within the past couple of years, strafing has become reading a map, terrain masking, turn-and-burn, 9G combat. Incorporating “At ‘em boys - launch the an important tool in the war on terrorism. tolerance, speed is life, hair on fire - - these are a few UCAVs” into the “Air Force Song” just won’t have What goes around comes around. Technologies of the fading requirements from the fighter pilot the same ring to it. may fail or be denied and bingo, future generations world of today and the associated “fly, fight and win” There is no doubt many of the technological need to be ready -- like Luke Skywalker attacking the mindset may also be fading as well. advances and systems have made us exponentially Death Star in manual mode. The modern fighter pilot is becoming more of a more effective, especially in recent “unchallenged” So, at least for now, and hopefully for as long as sensor manager or aerospace technician, and many air campaigns. And, clearly, our highest levels of we have people in the flying machines (“at ‘em boys, of the tasks may not even require a pilot. MQ-1 technologies -- the F-22 Raptor for example -- can give ‘er the gun”), we’ll keep balancing our training PredatorsCh or adronesra carryingcte weaponsr D likee laser-velintimidateopm potentialen threatst to the point they may to include a good dogfight now and then. guided, air-to-surface missiles are becoming the most elect to not even attempt to fly or challenge us. Good luck kids and happy hunting! CharacterCharacter CCornerorner Can one make a difference? Can a single person’s everyday actions save thou- papers, raised funds, coordinated paperwork and organ- sands of lives? Nicholas Winton, a 29-year-old stockbroker ized transportation. Of the 5,000 children who were to be from C London,ad certainlyet neverSi gimaginedht theP impactic hetu couldreplaced with foster parents, Winton’s rescue efforts ulti- make in the months leading to World War II. mately transported 669 children out of Czechoslovakia Winton planned to take a ski trip to Switzerland in the before Hitler’s armies invaded the country. spring of 1939, but was convinced at the last minute by a Of 15,000 Czech Jewish children taken to concentra- friend to visit Prague to witness the Jewish refugee problem. tion camps, only a few survived including the 669 that Thousands had fled Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany for safe Winton aided. Did Nicholas Winton’s action make a differ- haven in the yet unoccupied Czechoslovakia. Winton ence? Not only did he help to save a generation, but today witnessed Jewish families desperately seeking ways to get they and their offspring number about 5,000. their children out of harm’s way. The thought of what would The proposed theme for next year’s National happen to these innocent children was enough to inspire Character and Leadership Symposium is Winton into action. “Impassioned Citizenship: Can One Make Although it would have been easy to resume his vaca- A Difference?” Speakers will inspire tion plans and comfortable lifestyle, Winton returned to and educate the Cadet Wing on how London and devised a plan.

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