April 23, 2015 Vol

COLORADO SPRINGS MILITARY NEWSPAPER GROUP Thursday, April 23, 2015 www.csmng.com Vol. 9 No. 16 HHHH HHHH Did you know? 50 FSS Happenings on page 14 AFSPC Commander discusses priorities at Space Symposium By Lt. Col. Christina Abbott-Marks Air Force Space Command Public Affairs COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Gen. John E. Hyten, com- Did you know you can register mander of Air Force Space Command, recently identified several now to attend TEDxSchriever on key actions to be taken to ensure U.S. strength in space for the May 15? The event will feature a mix future. On April 14 at the 2015 Space Symposium in Colorado of TEDTalks and live speakers such Springs, Colorado, he discussed his command priorities, changes as Helen Thorpe, author of “Soldier in store for space crews and new initiatives to assure access to Girls: The Battles of Three Women at space. Home and at War” and Red Cross vol- “Winning today’s fight is my first priority,” said Hyten. “When unteer (and Schriever’s FSS deputy we have Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed in harm’s commander) Thea Wasche and her way all around the world, we have to make sure our No. 1 prior- therapy dog Lacey. It’s open to any- ity is to get them everything they need, every minute of the day one with RA access, call 567-5040 because everything that they do is critically dependent on space... or email [email protected] we cannot fail in that mission.” to sign up! “We also have to figure out how to prepare for tomorrow’s fight if war should someday extend into space,” he said. “We have to move into the future.” “Our crew force is the greatest in the world, but they are un- Base Briefs believably young and inexperienced,” he said about the Airmen 50 SW hosts April who operate the Air Force’s space systems. “It is that way because we designed our crew force to progress from crew duty to the promotion ceremony day staff as they gain experience and expertise. But this means You are cordially invited to attend to our most capable operators are not on crew.” the April Promotion Ceremony 8 a.m. In a future contested environment, he said that the nation Wednesday, at the Schriever Fitness needs its best people on duty, ready to “make real time decisions Center. Please be in place no later than about what’s going on if something bad should happen. You have 7:45 a.m. to have very experienced people on crew.” U.S. Air Force photo by Duncan Wood Hyten explained ways in which the space operator crew force Gen. John E. Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, recently identified several Finance offers new hours is going to be changed. key actions to be taken to ensure U.S. strength in space for the future. On April 14, 2015, Effective April 13, the finance cus- See Symposium page 4 at the 2015 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., he discussed his command tomer service office is open 9 a.m. to 3 priorities, changes in store for space crews and new initiatives to assure access to space. p.m. Monday through Friday. If these hours do not meet your needs, please call to schedule an appointment at 567- 2010. As a reminder, for Government Expo brings new tech solutions to Schriever Travel Card issues, please contact your unit APC. For Defense Travel System issues please contact your unit ODTA. Finance in-processing briefings re- mains 8 a.m. Mondays. Separation and retirement briefings will continue to be the first and third Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m. For questions, please contact 2nd Lt. Carly Serratore at 567-6416 or [email protected]. More Briefs page 13 Sign up for weekly Schriever announcements, news and more. Visit www.schriever.af.mil and click “Public Affairs” under featured links. Public Affairs Inside United in values ............................ 3 Heroes among us .............................. 6 Where there’s smoke ..................... 11 U.S. Air Force photo/Christopher DeWitt Team Schriever members visit with vendors during a Tech Expo April 16, 2015, at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. The expo gave military and civilian members an opportunity to network and see some of the latest equipment and services available in their respective industries. By Brian Hagberg Schriever after a 12-year hiatus. come back next year in a strong position to 50th Space Wing Public Affairs “The turnout speaks to a demand on secure more companies that offer techno- More than 140 Schriever Air Force Base base for this type of event,” said 2nd Lt. logical solutions relevant to our varied base members took the opportunity to meet with Christopher Babcock, 50 SCS. “The last time missions,” Babcock said. vendors at a technology expo the 50th Space we had a tech expo here was 2003.” The 50 SCS partnered with National Communications Squadron hosted at the Babcock said he was very pleased with the Conference Services, Inc. to bring the expo fitness center April 16. number of attendees; given there were adverse back to Schriever. Schriever seemed like a logi- Schriever participants met with 13 tech- weather conditions and visits from two Air cal expansion for NCSI, a private company nology and technology education ven- Force officials at the same time. See Solutions page 4 dors during the event, which returned to “[The number of attendees] allows us to 2 April 23, 2015 Schriever Sentinel Distracted driving is more than just cell phones By Brian Hagberg said. “We tell them more Airmen die from 50th Space Wing Public Affairs traffic accidents than from combat related It has been the leading cause of accidents injuries. We’re trying to mitigate this as best involving fatalities or injuries in Colorado we can.” for at least the last four years, and it doesn’t Safety encourages people to use an ap- come in a can or bottle. proach to risk management that allows them Distracted driving has been the primary to SEE: search, evaluate and execute. The cause of fatal and injury crashes investigated premise behind this approach is to always be by the Colorado State Patrol since 2011 and aware of what’s going on around you, evalu- made up an average of 20 percent of those ate anything that looks potentially danger- accidents. ous and execute a plan to remove or reduce “AAA said in 2013 that 13 to 15 people the danger. die per day due to distracted driving,” said “I always give the example of seeing that Tech. Sgt. Alejandro Torres, 50th Space Wing law enforcement has pulled someone over on ground safety manager. Highway 94,” Torres said. “You see it, that’s Torres said people often assume distracted the first thing. Then evaluate, are they close driving only refers to activities involving cell to the road or far off, then execute. You need phones, but distracted driving encompasses to move all the way over because of the move much more. over law; slowdown 10 mph below the speed “Cell phones are the first thing people limit and it’s as simple as that. But if you’re usually go to when they think of distracted not paying attention, you’re not going to be driving, but it could be anything in your Courtesy photo able to do that.” car physically, or even in your mind that A driver heads west on Falcon Parkway during a recent morning commute. One way to cut down on distracted driv- can distract you,” Torres said. “In the traffic ing by military members, at least according safety course we teach, we talk about three to help reduce those numbers,” Torres said. distraction throughout the commute. to a 2013 USAA survey, is to have super- different types of distracted driving: manual, Torres said local law enforcement agen- “[The sun] is a distraction as well because visors and/or commanders simply request visual and cognitive.” cies will be emphasizing on distracted it clearly takes away your ability to see the that people not text while driving. Based on Manual distraction includes anything that driving enforcement this summer. El Paso road,” Torres said. “We talk about it in [new- the survey results, 57 percent of people re- takes the driver’s hands off the wheel or ve- County Sherriff’s Office will have a par- comer’s briefing] for everybody who is new sponding said they would stop texting while hicle controls. Visual distractions cause the ticular focus on Highway 94 and Bradley here and we emphasize it wherever we can. driving if their commander or supervisor driver to take his or her eyes off the road, road, he added. We give out sunglasses for people to keep asked them to. while cognitive distraction is when the driver “They’re going to be out in force focusing in their cars so while they’re driving to and “That particular statistic tells us that if is mentally focused on something other than on speeding and enforcement of distracted from work they have something to mitigate we could just get supervisors, or anybody, driving. driving,” Torres said. “That’s going to last that hazard.” to talk about [distracted driving] and tell From 2011 to 2014, distracted driving throughout the summer.” In addition to the sunglasses, the Safety people that they shouldn’t drive distracted, was the primary cause for an average of 720 One of the biggest distractions those com- office also offers a traffic safety course, are- then maybe we could lower the number of crashes per year, according to data from CSP.

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