"What I do" by benwrite

To understand who I am, you should know what I do. No, a person is not defined by his occupation, but work is a good indication of the caliber of person you are. Currently I'm the superintendent of the Public Affairs Office for my base, which means I have my hands in on every media relations event, community relations activity, ovesee the weekly base newspaper, manage the office's budget, equipment and training, among a plethora of other small odds and ends I do for the office.
At the core of my job, I am a trained journalist. I may not get to write as much as I used to, but I can still hold my own. Here is the latest commentary I wrote in January.

As we are in the midst of the winter season, I am thoroughly grateful I live in the warm, comfortable South and no longer live in a cold climate. Growing up in the Chicago area meant cold, harsh winters with lots of snow. Every time it would snow my brothers and I would have to shovel our sidewalk and driveway, which felt like was a mile long. After what would seem hours of hard work, we would come back into the house drenched with sweat and worn out from all the manual labor. But before we could undress the layers of clothes we had on that kept us warm in the brutal frigid temperatures, my dad would sternly walk up to us and ask us, “Did you take care of Mrs. Miller’s driveway?”
Mrs. Miller lived two doors away from us. She was a retired librarian and couldn’t get around like she used to and spent most of her life in a wheelchair. Most of the time it snowed, my brothers and I would first go out and concentrate on shoveling but would eventually get distracted by a not-so-friendly snowball fight or a quick game of tackle football where we would imitate Walter Payton and Dick Butkus. After my father would remind us, we would go right back out in the cold, pick up our shovels and take care of Mrs. Miller’s driveway and sidewalk. Her driveway and sidewalk were nowhere as long as ours, so it didn’t take a lot of effort to get it done. She was always so thankful and you could tell it made a big difference to her. Sometimes she would even pay us each a dollar, which was a lot of money back in the day.
What I didn’t realize at the time was my father was trying to instill into us a value to take care of others and to help those in need even if they don’t ask for it.
Today the Air Force calls this the wingman principle. Airmen taking care of Airmen is a philosophy where we naturally look out for one another and stand ready to help one another out in times of need. This isn’t a forced standard, but more of a genuine way of thinking of others as much if not more than ourselves. With a wingman attitude, we can all show we truly care for each other.
Mrs. Miller had a profound affect on me. When it wasn’t snowing, my sister and I would go to her house a lot after school and she would read to us or talk to us. When I was very little, she persuaded me to read more and my love of books stemmed from her encouragement. Sometimes there were things that needed to be done around her house that she couldn’t handle herself, and my sister and I would without question do it. Little things like taking the trash out or getting her mail, but one could always tell they meant a lot to her.
My father called me three days after Christmas to tell me that Mrs. Miller had passed away Dec. 27. I believe the little things Mrs. Miller did for me has made a big difference to me because every time I read or pick up a book, I think of her. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Mrs. Miller for being my wingman.

If I could make a living as a reporter, I would. I love going out and getting the story.
Here's the best story I ever got to cover.

The sheer numbers are staggering: 1,685 people evacuated, 1,400 tons of cargo moved, 952 relief workers transported, and an Army brigade delivered. All of these deeds accomplished within one week by Team Charleston as the entire base community is doing their part to assist in the recovery efforts following the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina to Louisiana and Mississippi.
In addition to Airmen and base civilians working to support relief operations, family members led by Melissa Flint raised $4,420 and a ton of goods for Hurricane Katrina victims. Base members, along with civilian emergency personnel from throughout the state, have also stood up an emergency operations center ready to care for hurricane displaced persons in the event they are evacuated to Charleston.
The call for help began shortly after the Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the Department of Defense to assist with the aid for the entire gulf region. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina left behind its path of devastation, a Charleston Reserve crew was tasked with moving a damage assessment team to Biloxi, Miss. Charleston C-17s have delivered 18 pallets of medical supplies to Louis Armstrong International in New Orleans, a civilian SWAT team from a Michigan police department to New Orleans, and other relief supplies in the span of six days. The base’s Globemaster IIIs also flew 33 missions to move the 82nd Airborne and their equipment to New Orleans so they can help with recovery efforts throughout the area
The most important cargo was the displaced persons who needed to be evacuated out of New Orleans. Aircrews set up the C-17 for emergency evacuations and loaded as many people as possible in each C-17 to transport the evacuees to safety, mainly to San Antonio.
“It’s a life or death situation, so the work we are going to do here is going to hopefully save lives,” said Maj. Brian Langridge, the director of operations for the 437th Operations Support Squadron who was the mission commander for several C-17 evacuation missions.
Most evacuees had nothing to load onto the plane other than themselves. Some of the displaced persons had not had a meal for quite some time, and aircrews gave each passenger a meal ready to eat and a bottle of water as they disembarked the back end of the C-17s.
“I didn’t think the storm would be that bad so I didn’t leave,” said 77-year-old Antoinette Kelly who was living at a retirement home in Metairie, La. “We had no power when the storm hit, we ran out of food and water early Thursday and it took us a day just to get to the (Louie Armstrong International) airport. And when we got here, there was nothing to eat or drink either. It feels good to leave and it’s great the Air Force is moving us.”
“Thank God I’m alive,” said Kynashia Wilson with her 1-month-old daughter Theari Dorsey in her arms. She lived with her fiancée and four children in New Orleans and lost everything to the flood waters left by Hurricane Katrina. “I’m so happy to leave New Orleans.”
For Senior Airman Shawn Campbell, a loadmaster with the 16th Airlift Squadron, this mission was much different than anything he ever did before. Airman Campbell helped load 136 evacuees onto a C-17 and made sure all the passengers were safe during the flight before handing out water and MREs as the passengers offloaded the aircraft at Kelly Field, Texas. “I’ve taken MREs to the people of Iraq, but I’ve never had to take MREs to people in the U.S. It’s a shock to see the devastation, but I’m glad we can pitch in and help out those who are really in need.”

One great thing about being a military journalist is that you can go anywhere, anytime. After a Russian submarine became entangled in cables, the American military got the call to help. I was on a plane four hours later, but when we heard the Russians wouldn't let reporters of any kind cover the rescue, I had to get off the plane en route. I still wrote a story about it though.

Entangled in cables 600 feet underwater Aug. 4, seven Russian sailors of a minisubmarine had about a day’s supply of oxygen before the air would run out. Time was of the essence.
A massive international effort was asked for by the Russian government shortly after the news of the minisubmarine’s fate. The American, British and Japanese militaries responded to the call for help to the disabled minisubmarine that was taking part in a military exercise near the Kamchatka peninsula in Siberia.
To save the Russian sailors it was going to take a team effort, and Team Charleston played a part in the rescue effort. Charleston AFB officials got the call in the early afternoon of Aug. 5 and by 5:15 p.m. a Charleston C-17 was in the air to pick up a Navy deep sea drone from the Washington Navy Yard that was being prepared at Andrews AFB, Md. A 14th Airlift Squadron aircrew, led by Maj. James Schueler Jr., the aircraft commander, was tasked with immediately flying to Maryland to load the Navy rescue equipment and quickly fly onto McChord AFB, Wash., where a McChord aircrew would take the Charleston C-17 to its final destination of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. This would be the first time since World War II that American aircraft have flown to this area of the world.
Joining Major Schueler were Capt. Bradley Rueter, copilot; Tech. Sgt. Mike Rodgers, loadmaster; Senior Airman Craig White, loadmaster; and Senior Airman Robby Carson, a flying crew chief from the 437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Barracuda Aircraft Maintenance Unit.
Elsewhere, Air Mobility Command mobilized a Mississippi Air National Guard C-17 spun up to rush rescue equipment nonstop to Russia and in California, a Travis AFB C-5 flew to pick up a team of Sailors and two unmanned rescue vehicles from Naval Air Station North Island, Calif.
In a race against time to save the stranded Russian sailors, the Charleston aircrew understood the importance of their mission.
“This is a time-critical situation,” said Sergeant Rodgers from Greeleyville, S.C. “We are going to get to Russia as fast as possible to save those sailors.”
With little delay after loading approximately 80,000 pounds of Navy rescue equipment at Andrews, the Charleston C-17 was back in the air to change crews at McChord and onto Russia arriving in about 18 hours after taking off from South Carolina.
The Charleston C-17 and other AMC aircraft made it to Russia with all the Navy equipment and were ready to assist in the rescue when a British remote-controled vehicle cut away undersea cables that had trapped the Russian submarine. The vessel then surfaced on its own power and all seven sailors were in satisfactory condition when they exited the submarine.
“Team Charleston is always ready to do any mission, any time, anywhere,” said Major Schueler, a native of Brunswick, Ga. “This mission shows the C-17’s capabilities of being uniquely qualified to go halfway around the world in a matter of hours.”

Here is a link to a story I covered after a guy shoplifted from my base and tried to get away. Working with cops is great, and I wish I could do it more often.

http://public.charleston.amc.af.mil/organizations/437AW/Wing_Staff/Public_Affairs/news_dispatch/2003ad/oct/Oct3%20DT.pdf

OK, this was a fluf story, but at least I got to take a trip out of town and have a nice dinner. I'll take a trip to any where, any time.

Representatives from the 43,000-strong Air Mobility Command enlisted force honored the commander of U.S. Transportation Command and AMC during an Order of the Sword ceremony here July 29.

More than 400 Airmen from across the command and Air National Guard and Reserve units attended the ceremony honoring Gen. John Handy, as he became only the seventh person in AMC to receive the Order of the Sword.

"The Order of the Sword is the highest honor and tribute noncommissioned officers can bestow upon an individual," said Command Chief Master Sgt. Mike Kerver, the AMC command chief. "General Handy is a leader among leaders and a man among men. It is only befitting we honor him by pledging our loyalty to him with a symbol of power, strength and justice."

The evening ceremony began as all 400 Airmen in attendance and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald Murray stood outside the Scott Club to welcome General Handy. After dinner, two Scott AFB Honor Guard members carried the ceremonial sword into the ballroom.

The sword stands more than six feet tall and takes two people to carry. Highly polished, it shines bright as a symbol of power rightfully used. With a gold handle and fine details, it represents truth and justice.

Also during the evening, every enlisted attendee signed a proclamation swearing an oath of loyalty to General Handy. The scroll was presented to the general later that evening.

"In my almost 39 years of service, no one left more of an impression on me than Master Sgt. Cliff Brasil," said General Handy, who first met the NCO in 1968 when he was a second lieutenant. "He was my first sergeant and was a role model for me and was the sharpest NCO. I thought of him throughout my career and hoped I could match his professionalism and high standards."

The general didn't forget the NCO. When General Handy pinned on his fourth star, retired Master Sgt. Cliff Brasil was there.

Set to retire this fall, the general offered the enlisted members some advice. "Someone is looking to you to be a 'Cliff Brasil.' Each of you doing your work with pride, professionalism and dedication has empowered me to do things for you. You all have made me so proud to wear our uniform. I am so proud of you all."

COAST GUARD AIR STATION BORINQUEN, Puerto Rico (AFNEWS) -- The Candy Bomber met children of all ages at an open house here March 22, including a man who received chocolate dropped to him as a child in Germany.
Retired Col. Gail Halvorsen received his nickname for dropping candy tied to parachutes from his C-54 Skymaster to children during the Berlin Airlift.
Approximately 500 people attended the open house, which featured a C-54 on display. The aircraft was flown from this site that served as Borinquen Field and later Ramey Air Force Base from 1939 to 1973. Also in attendance were more than 90 members of the Ramey AFB Historical Association.
More than 200 children from local schools flocked to Colonel Halvorsen, who signed autographs and took handkerchiefs, string and candy bars and taught children to make candy bombs just like he did during the Berlin Airlift.
"We put a chocolate bar on a parachute," said Adriana Font, an 8-year-old third grader from Ramey School. "It was fun."
"Kids are the same everywhere," Colonel Halvorsen said. "The only difference is the circumstances they are in. We just need to give them support. They tied (the candy) on (the parachute) and then threw it up in the air and watched the parachute open up. It was like magic."
The Candy Bomber's mission began nearly 60 years ago with two pieces of gum and a promise.
"My first airlift mission was July 12, 1948. I flew every day, initially flying three missions a day that would take almost 16 hours," Colonel Halvorsen said.
On July 17, he went to the airport fence line to talk to some of the approximately 20 children who had gathered there.
"These kids did not have enough to eat," he said. "All I had was two sticks of gum and I broke them into pieces and gave them out to several kids. The kids who didn't get a piece smelled the wrapper."
The colonel promised the children he would bring more candy.
"People who are so grateful get your attention," the colonel said. "They wanted freedom and food, and we gave them both."

Read the rest at http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123046209

HOUSTON (AFPN) -- The deputy director for the war on terrorism kicked off the battle between the NFL's Houston Texans and Washington Redskins by tossing the coin at Reliant Stadium Sept. 24.

Brig. Gen. Mark O. Schissler, who works in the Joint Staff Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate in Washington, D.C., represented American servicemembers as he helped start the football clash, which the Redskins won 31 to 15.

The general, with members from each military branch, were recognized during the Houston Texans' Salute to the Military day.

In addition to the coin toss, a joint service color guard presented the colors. Army Staff Sgt. Santantoniano Smith from the Houston Recruiting Battalion sang the national anthem as 200 Soldiers, Coast Guardsmen, Sailors, Marines and Airmen presented the American flag -- the size of the football field. At halftime the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team performed in front of the more than 70,000 fans.

The game was a homecoming for General Schissler, a Houston native. A 1974 graduate of St. Thomas High School in Houston, he then graduated from the University of St. Thomas. The general taught high school at Houston's Memorial High School prior to joining the Air Force in 1981.

"It is a huge honor for me to represent all the military members including the 200,000 deployed around the world in harsh and hazardous areas," General Schissler said. "As we kick off (the football game) they'll endure hard times to protect our freedom."

Providing advice to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the general is responsible for developing the U.S. military and national strategies related to the war on terrorism.

"We are not in a classic fight like we have had in the past," said the general. "We have been fighting the war on terrorism longer than our involvement in World War II. We have to change our tactics to plan to win this long war. Our enemy is committed for the long haul and we have to be prepared to do the same. We will."

The general took time to meet servicemembers at the game and talk to people in the crowd.

"After 9/11, Americans have a new fondness for our flag not seen in the last 40 years or so," said General Schissler. "I'm happy to return to Houston where the military are not well known to let Americans see our great men and women in uniform live and in the stadium. That is a great way for them to connect to what we do.

"We need the support of every American in what we're doing and what we're going to do in the future," the general said. "We're so grateful to the franchise for giving us this kind of opportunity and really delivering this kind of honor to our military."

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123027843

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFPN) -- President George W. Bush met and spoke to a crowd of more than 4,000 servicemembers and families as he praised the military for their efforts fighting the war on terrorism Oct. 28 at a rally on the Charleston AFB flightline.

The president's visit follows an Oct. 27 stopover by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"The American people respect you, they appreciate you, and I will do everything in my power to make sure the families and those who wear the uniform have all the support necessary to win this war on terror," President Bush said.

Addressing the ongoing war in Iraq, the president said, "We are in Iraq to help that young democracy fight off the radicals and extremists. We are in the fight in Iraq to make sure it is not a safe haven from which to launch further attacks on the United States. Our plan for victory is to make sure Iraq can defend itself and govern itself and sustain itself.

"If the United States of America were to leave before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here," said the president, who spoke in front of five C-17 Globemaster IIIs. "And that is why we will support our military. And that is why we will fight in Iraq. And that is why we will win in Iraq."

In the crowd were Airmen from Charleston AFB as well as Sailors from Naval Weapons Station Charleston.

Speaking directly to the servicemembers, the president said, "I thank you for being part of this noble and just and important cause. We are fighting a war that will set the course of a new century. The outcome will determine the destiny of millions across the world. The outcome of this fight will determine whether or not our children can grow up in the peace we want them to grow up in. Like generations before, we will do the hard work now to make sure our children can grow up in freedom and peace."

This was the second time for Airman 1st Class Deondra Scott to hear the president speak. The 21-year-old medical technician from the 437th Medical Group at Charleston AFB first heard and shook hands with the commander in chief while stationed at Scott AFB, Ill.

"I think for the president to come to my base shows he is seriously concerned for the military members fighting the war on terror," said the native of Pensacola, Fla.

"It makes me proud that he took the time out from his schedule to talk to us and let us know what his plans are for us as servicemembers," said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Ryan, a Navy Nuclear Power Training Command student at the Navy Weapons Station Charleston.

The president's support also was felt by family members of the military members from this South Carolina airlift hub. Although Capt. Emanuell Vega, a pilot from the 14th Airlift Squadron here and is deployed to Southwest Asia, his family and parents came out to hear what the president had to say.

"I came here to see my daughter-in-law, my granddaughter and the president," said Tony Vega, who drove six hours from Phoenix City, Ala., to Charleston. The retired Army sergeant first class and his wife, Milly Vega, are parents to Captain Vega, and were on the Charleston AFB flightline with daughter-in-law Jennibeth Vega and watched the president hold 22-month-old Selena Vega for photographs after speaking to the crowd. "It was great to have my granddaughter held by him. I am so grateful."

"I got an autograph, picture and shook his hand," said Claudia Richoux, the 8-year-old daughter of Lt. Col. Kenny Richoux, the 17th Airlift Squadron commander here. "I'm never going to wash my left hand again. I met (Vice President) Dick Cheney and the president in back to back days. Sweet!"

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123030188