Vol. 45 No. 19 May 13, 2005 Inside COMMENTARY: Drug abuse lesson, Page 2 NEWS: Jabara Award, Page 3 Juniors get job assignments, Page 4 2005 Cyber Defense, Page 5 Cadet for a day, Page 6 Modernization a priority, Page 6 Cadets participate in intercollegiate flying championship, Page 8 Air Force selects first sergeant candidates, Page 9 Promotion study Row, row, row... guides, Page 10 A team of Academy cadets row a Zodiac Boat to shore while competing in the Sandhurst competition at the United Women in higher levels States Military Academy April 30. The Sandhurst competition pits military academy and Reserve Officer Training Corps in DOD, Page 11 teams against one another in a series of challenges over a nine-kilometer course. See complete coverage, Pages 12-13. (Photo by Master Sgt. John Coleman.) Sandhurst competition, Page 12 BRAC information now available, Page 14 SPORTS: Cadet sets Academy discus throw record, Page 16 Former secretary of Briefly Air show state addresses cadets Peterson AFB hosts an By Tech. Sgt. Gino Mattorano “Evolution of Air and Space” Academy Spirit staff air show June 4. Gates open at 7 a.m., the performance “As a nation, we owe the armed forces starts at 10 a.m. This event is a debt of gratitude we will never, ever, ever open to the public. Admission be able to repay,” said former Secretary of and parking are free. State James A. Baker, during a speech to cadets May 5. Marketing Yourself Mr. Baker was the featured speaker for for a Second Career the Ira C. Eaker Distinguished Lecture on Guest speaker, Retired National Defense Policy series. The lecture Army Col. Dick Crampton, is delivered at the Academy toward the end talks about making the tran- of the spring semester of each academic year sition from military service to graduating cadets by an individual distin- June 3 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. guished in the field of national defense policy. Military spouses are welcome. Mr. Baker’s speech focused on the broad Call 333-3444 to sign up. challenges confronting the armed forces Seats are limited. moving into the 21st century. He started out General Nominated by naming two phenomenon shaping today’s Former Secretary of State James A. Baker speaks to cadets during his visit to the international environment - the unrivaled Academy May 5. Mr. Baker was the featured speaker for the Ira C. Eaker Brig Gen Johnny A. preeminence of the United States in world Distinguished Lecture on National Defense Policy. (Photo by Joel Strayer) Weida, 34th Training Wing commander and Commandant affairs since the end of the cold war, and the In addition, the United States is an economic tive government and free markets,” said Mr. of Cadets, is among 24 threat posed to the United States by global giant who’s gross domestic product is roughly Baker. “Even the Middle East, long a home brigadier generals the President terrorism. 25 percent of the total global output. “In to autocratic government and socialist “Together these two phenomenons consti- has nominated to the Senate to many ways, our economy is the standard economic policies, is moving, however tute what could be called the paradox of bearer of contemporary capitalism,” he said. become the service’s newest fitfully, toward more open societies.” American power,” he said. “We are stronger He further went on to say that United major generals. However, cautions the former secretary, General Weida is a 1978 than ever before, but in many ways, we are States’ influence has made a big impact on America should be careful not to stretch its graduate of the Air Force more vulnerable than ever before.” the trend in governmental change throughout commitments beyond its ability to meet them. Academy, and has served as Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the the world. Commandant of Cadets since United States has no real global, military or “Despite reverses, the long-term global “Despite our preeminence, we must April 2003. ideological rival, according to Mr. Baker. trend is more and more toward representa- continued on page 4 Academy Spirit 2 COMMENTARY May 13, 2005 A brother’s lesson in drug abuse By Col. Robert Winston Tony’s grades in school started slipping. He began to habit. But he couldn’t kick the habit. I really don’t 86th Airlift Wing become a discipline problem. think it’s possible to stop once you are hooked on The only thing he cared about was getting high. heroin. RAMSTEIN AB, Germany (AFPN) — It was Drugs became the center of his life. On the night my brother died, he drank a bottle of Saturday morning, May 5, 1995, when the police told My parents tried everything they could to stop my Sour Mash, took some depressant pills, then put the me my brother was dead. brother. Family meetings, church counseling, profes- needle in with the venom that took him from us. They told me over the telephone and were very sional counselors and boarding school couldn’t pull He was found sitting on the toilet, cold. Not a cavalier about it. But I understand why they were so Tony away from the drugs. When he turned 18, he very dignified end. It all started with that first joint callous. My brother had died of a heroin overdose, dropped out of school. that ensured acceptance from the gang. and they probably figured I was junkie a too. About this time he started using heroin. For the young readers, my message is just don’t I came from a normal Air Force family. My Tony married, had three children, abandoned his do it. What you may think is a harmless experiment brother, Tony, and I grew up on Air Force bases and family, drifted, remarried, had another child, then will become the first nail in your coffin. loved riding our bikes down to the flightline to see the planes. All of our friends were Air Force brats and abandoned them. One doesn’t have time for such Marijuana use is the first step. Just say no. Dump most dreamed of one day becoming pilots. trivial things when one is a junkie. any friends who offer you drugs. You don’t need to But when my brother was 14, he went to a Grand I have no idea how many other people’s lives were hang out with losers like that. Funk Railroad concert with some friends and smoked ruined by the drugs my brother sold to help support Parents need to watch their children. Who are his first marijuana joint. Most of his friends were his habit. their friends? Who are their heroes? smoking the stuff, and he just wanted to be part of the He stole thousands of dollars from my parents on What are the words of their favorite music crowd. two different occasions to buy drugs. I hate to think of saying? How is their behavior and school perfor- It was a decision that destroyed his life. what Tony must have done to support his heroin habit, mance? My parents told us about the dangers of drugs. but he was hooked and couldn’t stop. Do whatever it takes to keep your children away The schools educated us all about how drug use could Despite all this, we loved my brother. He really from drugs. ruin your future. But he must have listened to his was a nice guy. Tony knew he was destroying himself To my fellow Airmen, my message is that I will peers who said not to worry, he couldn’t get addicted and hurting all those around him, and he was miser- not tolerate any illegal use of drugs. I will do every- to pot. Tony liked pot and continued to smoke it and able. We never stopped praying for him. My parents thing in my power to put drug users away, and take started experimenting with other ways to get high. sent him twice to detoxification hospitals to kick the pleasure in doing so. Airmen learn lessons from Holocaust By Tech Sgt. David Duggins before I began reading history books. repeats itself. Vietnamese, Chinese and nates, friends and families. 91st Missile Security Forces Squadron This is true for many of us. Cham Muslims were among the two Enough positive influence can So why do we remember? million victims of Cambodian dictator reach the global family of humanity. We MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. The best argument is the simplest: Pol Pot’s ethnic cleansing from 1974 to have made great strides, but as poet (AFPN) — Many years ago, I saw a There are lessons in this terrible event, 1979. In April 1994, the ethnic majority Robert Frost reminds us, there are miles documentary called “Night and Fog,” relevant to us today as Airmen and Hutu exterminated 937,000 Tutsis in to go before we sleep. made in 1955 by concentration camp human beings. Rwanda. Former Yugoslavian President The U.S. Holocaust Memorial survivor Jean Cayrol and French In 1933, nine million Jews lived in Slobodan Milosevic was charged with Museum has chosen “From Liberation director Alain Resnais. Only 32 minutes Europe. By 1945, six million had fallen genocide by the United Nations War to the Pursuit of Justice” as the theme long, depicting concentration camps, under a methodical state-sponsored Crimes Tribunal for crimes against for this year’s Days of Remembrance medical experiments and starved skeletal victims of the Nazi Final program of genocide. Adolf Hitler, humanity carried out from 1992 to observance to honor the continuing Solution, the film affected me deeply.