AFCEA - Los Angeles

The Air Force awarded a contract to FlightSafety Services Corporation on May 1, taking a major step forward in achieving the service's top acquisition priority - delivering a new aerial refueling capability to the warfighter.

The contract, a Fixed Price Incentive Firm (FPIF) and Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract of $78,369,818 which includes an initial obligation of $1 million, is for engineering, manufacturing, and development of the KC-46A Aircrew Training System (ATS).

The remaining amount will be incrementally funded. The contract contains options for production, training, operations and sustainment that if exercised will increase the value of the contract.
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Contracts valued at $5 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m.

A memorial service was held May 1, at Fort Lesley J. McNair for a general and his wife who recently passed away.

Maj. Gen. Joseph D. Brown, IV, who served as the commandant for the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University, and his wife, Sue, died April 19 when their plane accidentally crashed near a small airport in Williamsburg, Va.

As people talked at the ceremony, a common theme came to light - friendship.
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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will make a decision soon on the scope of civilian furloughs in response to sequestration spending cuts, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today.

Hagel is reviewing analysis on the budget "and he'll reach a decision in the near future," Little told reporters.

Little acknowledged news reports that some services contend they do not need to use furloughs to make their sequestration goals.

"There are different pockets of money in different places for each of the services," he said. "To be totally straightforward, the math does work for some services to avoid some furloughs, at a minimum. For other services, it is harder."
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In the quiet darkness surrounding the flightline here, the awaiting aircraft roars to life with an escalated screech, and cool air rushes to fill the newly-lit cabin.

As the chill meets the lingering humid air within the aircraft, a smoke-like fog diffuses into the nooks and crevices around the computer stations and throughout the cockpit.

While it sounds like a mysterious and menacing science fiction movie, this is a commonplace occurrence for the E-3 Sentry crew from the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron.
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I recently read an article that cited a number of studies on the benefits of preschool. As the father of three school-aged children, it was interesting to me because it validated a number of beliefs that I had on the advantages of starting learning early in a young brain. What I didn't expect though, were the lessons and benefits that were shown to carry forward into adulthood, and the rewards of challenging ourselves over a lifetime.

In a nutshell, the preschool studies that began in the early 1970s reversed the previous thinking that infants and toddlers needed nothing more than their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter to be met for them to thrive.
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"Since I didn't bow, he took the bottle and busted my teeth out," he said.

A Japanese sergeant dropped a bottle of Coke where John was supposed to walk, so he picked it up and gave it to him. Afterwards, he was punished for his lack of "respect."

John Mims, a Bataan Death March survivor, and approximately 70,000 other Filipino and American prisoners of war endured the torturous march in April, 1942. During the march, POWs were forced to walk 80 miles through the Philippines to the captured Camp O'Donnell. The prisoners were stabbed if they could not keep up, and those who were not bayoneted would most likely die from disease or decapitation before the end of the war.
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It's important for children to learn financial life skills early on to maintain financial security and avoid woes in adulthood, a Defense Department official said.

Barbara Thompson, the director of DOD's office of family policy and children and youth, said in an interview with American Forces Press Service and the Pentagon Channel that the department continues to encourage military families to sidestep debt by creating a feasible spending plan and using resources that are available to them for achieving financial stability.
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In the not-too-distant future, Defense Department personnel will be able to securely access data any time and anywhere, the department's deputy chief information officer for command, control, communications and computers and information infrastructure said here today.

The current mobility strategy calls for Wi-Fi to be the primary means for DOD personnel to access routine data by 2017, Maj. Gen. Robert E. Wheeler said at the Mobile Work Exchange Spring 2013 Town Hall Meeting.

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In the not-too-distant future, Defense Department personnel will be able to securely access data any time and anywhere, the department's deputy chief information officer for command, control, communications and computers and information infrastructure said here today.

The current mobility strategy calls for Wi-Fi to be the primary means for DOD personnel to access routine data by 2017, Maj. Gen. Robert E. Wheeler said at the Mobile Work Exchange Spring 2013 Town Hall Meeting.

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Contracts valued at $5 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m.

Beginning May 1, Airmen can submit their cost-reducing ideas via the Airmen Powered by Innovation websites while at home, the office or on their smartphones.

With budgets shrinking, Air Force leaders are calling on Airmen to share their best money-saving ideas through the "Every Dollar Counts" campaign.

In the wake of sequestration, the initiative marks a cultural shift that empowers Airmen to find and recommend areas for savings that may be used to support readiness needs, said Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer.
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Officers considering 2014 advanced academic degree and experience broadening programs have a narrow application window, which is currently open, Air Force Personnel Center officials said.
In addition, mobility pilot, intelligence, space, missile, weather, cyber operations, munitions and missile maintenance, logistics readiness, security forces, civil engineer, personnel, chaplain, scientific/research, developmental engineering, acquisition, contracting, finance and special investigations career field officers may be able to apply for one or more developmental programs.
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Nearly half of the fighter squadrons in U.S. Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa halted flying operations three weeks ago.

The action was a result of the reduction of flying hours Air Force-wide -- one impact of the current sequestration-related budget challenges affecting the Defense Department. When factoring in ongoing and anticipated deployments, there is limited ability to respond to operational requirements across two combatant commands.

The Air Force flying hour program shrinks or grows based on the amount of money available. Each year Air Force leaders make decisions regarding how much flying their units can afford. In the past, flying hours were assigned to wings with the goal of keeping their aircrews trained and at the highest readiness level. This year, due to the reductions forced by sequestration, Air Force officials were unable to program enough money to keep all fighter squadrons trained.
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With his hands bound in manacles, an imprisoned Air Force pilot watched from his bamboo holding cell as North Vietnamese soldiers moved a wounded American prisoner into the cell across from his. The pilot was shocked at the man's appearance; his fingers were raw and his body was emaciated. His whole body was covered in wounds; he had been pushing through the jungle for 45 days without food. The pilot did not recognize the new prisoner.

The next morning, the guards had the pilot and his cell mate pick up the new prisoner to take him to the bathroom. The withered man looked over at his fellow prisoner and said, "Aren't you Guy Gruters?"
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Senior leaders from the active-duty Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve were on Capitol Hill here April 24th to discuss the impact of sequestration on Total Force readiness.

In written and oral testimony, they reconfirmed the Air Force's commitment to serving America's long-term security interests by providing airpower and contributing its core missions to the joint team. They also highlighted sequestration and budget impacts to the Total Force's flying hours, weapon system sustainment, personnel and infrastructure.
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Sometimes a headache is just a headache. Other times it can be the sign of something much worse.

Just ask Maj. Shawn Boyle, an Individual Mobilization Augmentee reservist with the 436th Airlift Wing/Judge Advocate office.

Boyle, who lives outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., was experiencing what he thought were severe migraine headaches. Over time the headaches and the pain from them continued to grow worse. Boyle had been to the doctor several times and he was taking aspirin.
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After slipping by each other the narrow aisle of an E-8C Joint STARS aircraft, more than a dozen Airmen settle into their seats and begin to flip switches and work through checklists. Their olive-green headsets block out the roar of the jet engines and replace it with busy radio chatter as the crew prepares for the mission ahead.

Computer screens in front of them come to life, as their aircraft's radar returns a black and white image of lines, bumps and craters. Additional radar sweeps fill the screen with yellow dots. The clutters they form begin to trace the path of roads and highways.
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Staff. Sgt. Endro Accettola, an electrical systems journeyman from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, left his hometown of Balikpapan, Indonesia, in 2002 at the age of 14. His first time back to Indonesia was with the U.S. Air Force on a humanitarian operation called Pacific Angel.

PACANGEL is a joint and combined humanitarian assistance mission held in various countries several times a year and includes medical, dental, optometry, engineering programs and various subject-matter expert exchanges.
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Contracts valued at $5 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m.