VOL. 44 NO.28 JULY 16, 2004 Inside COMMENTARY: Base housing a priority for Shaping Up Airmen, page 2 NEWS: Hail pelts base Air Force needs to reduce size by 22,500 Airmen during recent storm, By Tamara Wright Limited Active Duty Service costs, Sergeant Mendez said. All recent page 3 Academy Spirit staff Commitment Waiver program and graduates must pay back any scholarship Enlisted Date of Separation Rollback, said money, Tuition Assistance and Aviator Base picnic date set, Academy military personnel interest- Master Sgt. Penny Mendez, superinten- Continuation Pay. The sergeant said the page 3 ed in applying for early release from the dent of Relocations and Employments Academy has received only one inquiry Air Force attended the Phase II Force with the 10th Mission Support Squadron. from a recently graduated cadet. Girl of the West visit, Shaping Program briefing July 7 and 8 at Palace Chase is a voluntary separa- Senior Airman Seth Riddle, aerospace page 8 the Community Center theater and tion program for officer and enlisted medical journeyman of the 10th Medical Fairchild Hall respectively. members. It gives one the opportunity to Group, has applied for an early out and is FEATURE: Logistics By the end of 2005, the Air Force separate early and serve a commitment in awaiting final approval from personnel keeps things rollin’, needs to reduce the mandated active duty the Air Force Reserve or Air National officials. page 11 end strength to 359,000. The program Guard. “I want to further my education, and aims to reduce the force by 18,000 enlist- Academy graduates are eligible for my current situation doesn’t allow me to Prep ed and 4,500 officers by Sept. 30, 2005. the Palace Chase program but they must do that in a timely fashion. By staying in School Several options are open to Academy have completed one year time-in-service, the Air Force it could take me 10 years to personnel: the Palace Chase program, and it requires them to pay back education ■ training See Airmen, page 3 under way, page 10 Patient care SPORTS: Lady Falcon just misses Olympics, page 15 unchanged COPS Pummel all comers in one-pitch match, with new page 14 Briefly construction By Eddie Kovsky Mandatory briefing Academy Spirit staff All Academy faculty and staff are required to The first stage of construction on the attend a briefing from Air 10th Medical Group’s Hospital begins Combat Command com- mid-August, though preparations are mander Gen. Hal Hornburg already under way. Some patients may from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. find themselves being treated in a tempo- Wednesday in the Arnold rary facility instead of the hospital’s first Hall Theater. Military peo- floor as construction progresses. ple should wear battle dress The $21.5 million project adds 30,000 uniforms. square feet to the existing facility and ren- ovates almost 60,000 square feet. When Lawmakers battle completed in September 2006, the hospital Airmen on the diamond “will be a top of the class Department of A Congressional delega- Defense Medical Treatment Facility,” said tion promises to be tough Maj. Paul Conner, chief of Clinical competition for Academy staff Engineering for the 10th MDG. in a baseball showdown at 1 Most of the first floor facilities will be p.m. Saturday at the Falcon moved to the temporary modular facility Baseball Stadium. The group located in the lower west parking lot in of Congressmen beat West November, where they will stay until reno- Point a few weeks back during vations are finished. a similar visit to the military Photo by Tech. Sgt. James A. Rush Construction work around the facility academy. will affect traffic patterns, including the Academy players hope the Going operational loss of the lower west parking lot. home field advantage will The 10th MDG staff has worked hard Basic cadets spent Wednesday and Thursday at Peterson AFB, Colo., tour- help carry them to victory. to ensure adequate patient and visitor ing aircraft and talking to aircrews about the operational Air Force.The two- No tickets are required. parking exists throughout the 2.5 years the day event featured multiple aircraft from around the country. See more pho- project is expected to take, the major said. Concessions will be available tos and story on page 6. at the game. ■ See Hospital, page 4 Academy Spirit 2 COMMENTARY July 16, 2004 Air Force housing – A commitment to our Airmen By Gen. John Jumper property, or just outside the base, mak- Air Force Chief of Staff ing it as convenient as traditional base housing. Privatization is one tool that The foundation of our Air Force is enables us to provide quality housing our people. Caring for them and their to meet your needs. families remains one of our highest We are equally committed to pro- priorities. One way we’re making good viding a quality living environment for on that commitment is by providing our young unaccompanied Airmen. We safe and affordable housing. currently have a shortage of nearly We are committed to providing our 2,400 rooms, but we are making great Airmen the quality of housing that is strides in filling that gap. From fiscal commensurate with the society they year 1996 through this year, we have protect. Through privatization, increas- spent $1.3 billion in military construc- es in the basic allowance for housing tion money for new dormitories, and (BAH), and a new dorm standard, we we plan to spend an additional $735 are combating the problems of inade- million over the next five years. With quate housing. There is a myth out this money, we will eliminate our room there that the new ways of doing busi- deficit and develop an improved room ness mean that we have abandoned our standard called Dorms-4-Airmen. This commitment to ensuring all Air Force improved design provides a larger liv- members have access to adequate and ing/sleeping area and a private bath- affordable housing. room in each room. In addition, the Let me assure you that nothing is new design improves social interaction further from the truth. Secretary Roche by connecting four living/sleeping and I are committed to ensuring all Air areas to a large living room and Force members have access to safe, kitchen. Each living room/kitchen area adequate and affordable housing either will also have a washer/dryer available in the local community or on our to the four occupants. installations. Providing housing We are also addressing dormitories options in the local community is our for technical training. Currently we first target. Since 2000, we have have a technical training dorm deficit reduced the average out of pocket of over 29 percent, with 40 percent of expenses for members from 18.9 per- our existing technical training dorms cent of the cost of housing to 3.5 per- having three students in rooms cent today through annual increases in designed for two. However, this deficit BAH. will be eliminated by 2009, as we We are on track to eliminate these Photo by Tech. Sgt. James A. Rush build new dorms each year for the next out-of-pocket expenses by next year. Renovations on the enlisted housing in Douglass Valley are expected to be five years. We have already completed completed in early 2005. Under the $19 million project, 44 duplexes and four These out-of-pocket expenses affect construction of eight new technical single family homes will be built. Construction began in March 2005. many of the nearly 60 percent of Air training dorms in the last five years Force families who live off-base. years later, we will have eliminated fare of our Air Force families. We have and have three new dorms under con- Through these increases to BAH, you inadequate units overseas. Secretary been and always will be committed to struction today. will have a wider range of affordable Roche and I view the increased use of providing the best available housing Even as we fight the war on terror- housing options in your local commu- privatization as key to meeting these options for our members—but our ism, we have not lost focus on the nity. goals so we are working with private methods for achieving this goal have importance of quality of life for our We are also aggressively targeting developers when it makes sense to do changed. These new methods provide Airmen. Providing adequate housing the problem of inadequate housing on so. In cases where privatization is nei- greater flexibility to satisfy our hous- allows Airmen to focus on the mission, base. At the beginning of this fiscal ther feasible nor cost effective, we will ing needs. Increases in BAH provide knowing that their families have a safe year, there were 40,000 inadequate use traditional military construction our members greater flexibility to find place to live. military family housing units, but we programs. housing off base. For on-base housing Ours is the greatest Air Force in plan to eliminate these through part- We also tripled our investment in requirements, privatization provides us the world because of the remarkable nerships with private developers and Air Force owned housing and greater flexibility to build and renovate people we attract and retain. The old military construction projects. Through improved the size standards to ensure quality units, while ensuring that the adage that “we recruit individuals, we a process which we call “privatization” our on-base homes are comparable in contractors are responsive to the needs retain families” has never been more we partner with private developers size and quality to modern homes of residents.