TRANSIT CENTER MANAS, Kyrgyzstan - During the two week period of Dec. 10 to 25, approximately 17,108 servicemembers travelling via the Transit Center at Manas made it home in time to see their families for the holiday season.

"On average, Detachment 1 processes 800 passengers a day," said Capt. Jonathan Bowe, 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (Detachment 1) assistant director of operations. "On Christmas day, we flew a total of 984 passengers."

Bowe is deployed to TCM from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and also works as an instructor aircraft commander in the C-17 Globemaster III.

On Christmas Eve a C-17 Globemaster III arrived with 158 Marines from Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan. The average lay-over time for transients is two to three days; the Marines left the TCM by 11 a.m. the next day.

Airman Brooke Breeden also works for 817th EAS and is a loadmaster also deployed from JBLM. On Christmas day, he flew 158 Marines into the area of responsibility and brought the 158 Marines back to the TCM.

"It was really touching to bring 158 Marines out of the AOR after their yearlong deployment," Breeden said. "They were so happy and that makes up for flying on Christmas."

For Bowe, working on Christmas was like working on any other day, but he knew the impact he had on the military members and their families transiting through the TCM.

"It's always nice to know you are helping people get home to see their families no matter what day it is," Bowe said.

Breeden agreed, adding, "On Christmas night, one of the passengers from my flight told me he and his whole unit were going to make it home for New Year's. He thanked me for giving up my holiday and making it feel like Christmas. It's the little things like that, that make you feel like you are making a difference."

As a first time deployer, Breeden has made some great memories.

"This is my first holiday season away from home, but I've met so many interesting people and have a new appreciation for other branches of service and what they go through," Breeden said. "TCM brings everybody together, it doesn't matter your branch of service (or nationality), out here, we are all moving the same mission. This has been a great experience that I will never forget."

Bowe has also made some great memories during his deployment.

"Hearing our passengers cheer when we told them we were crossing the border out of Afghanistan on Christmas was the best moment," Bowe said. "One of the most satisfying things about this job is starting our troops on their way home to see their loved ones."

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Captains and majors twice deferred for promotion to the next higher rank who have less than 18 years of service may face a selective continuation board.

Selective continuation boards allow the Air Force to retain twice-deferred officers for a length of time determined by the Secretary of the Air Force. The board typically reviews individual records, immediately following a promotion board, to determine eligibility for continuation.

Continuing service in the Air Force is not a guarantee or a right, said Col. Michael Pitts, Air Force Personnel Center's Personnel Services Directorate Operations Division chief.

"Selective continuation is necessary to balance our force to meet current and future mission capabilities," Pitts said. "It's no longer business as 'normal.' The authority to continue twice-deferred officers is at the discretion of the Air Force Secretary when the needs of the service require."

Officers not selected for continuation are eligible for involuntary separation pay and will be projected for separation no later than six months after the President or his delegate approves the board results, said Lt. Col. Shelley Strong, AFPC's Officer Promotion Branch chief. Those who choose to apply for transfer into the Air Force Reserves or Air National Guard will require a waiver.

With a very talented, all-volunteer force it is a difficult task to select Airmen for early transition from the active-duty force, however the process is necessary to ensure we maintain critical skills and stay within our congressionally mandated end strength, Pitts explained.

"Officers have a role to play in the process," he said. "All officers must make sure their records accurately reflect their accomplishments and experience developed in their years of service."

For more information about officer promotions, selective continuation or any other personnel related issues, visit the Air Force Personnel Services website at https://gum-crm.csd.disa.mil.

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When Maj. Tony Edwards took his last look around the supply warehouse, which was once a bustling place of activity and full of supplies, he marveled at its emptiness.
 
"It was completely vacated, as it should be," said Edwards, who was the 321st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron commander at Kirkuk Regional Air Base, Iraq, from April to November 2011. "That was a sign of us leaving."

By December 2011, only echoes and memories were left from more than one million service members who have deployed to Iraq since 2003.

"We knew the draw down was going to happen since the end of combat in 2008," he said as he put his deployment into perspective. "But a withdrawal like this hasn't taken place since Vietnam. There was no guidebook to attempt something like this. We pretty much wrote the manual."

Edwards, a Reservist who owns a State Farm insurance agency in Everett, Wash., was in charge of a 60-member squadron with two missions: training and advising Iraqis and keeping the Air Force operations running.

"It was a big task for a Reservist because I was in charge of the most difficult mission at the time--we had to move all the people and equipment and train the Iraqis, all while achieving the daily mission," he said. "All eyes were on me and my Airmen."

"I thought it was going to be daunting when I first arrived," the 446th Logistics Readiness Flight commander at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. said. The reality he said was that no one convoy or plane would get all the vehicles, people and supplies out of Kirkuk in one load or in one day. The challenge then was how to move everything piece by piece efficiently, while still maintaining the ability to run the base and complete the daily mission.

Being a Reservist gave him an advantage he said because his civilian job helped him hone deliberate planning techniques.

"I have to find ways to market my business and figure out ways to encourage people to invest in our products," the Citizen Airman said. "My approach to planning helped me find ways to coordinate which assets we could let go while still conducting daily operations."

After prioritizing the assets he then had to make it all fit on a combination of flights, using space wisely so everything would be out of the country by the target date.

"It was also really tough to come up with a plan to move all the equipment out when the finish line kept moving," Edwards said. Each time their return date changed, his carefully laid out plan had to change as well, ensuring no assets were lost in the process.

"We had to account for everything, which had to be shipped somewhere or change ownership whether it went to the Iraqis or to another agency within the Defense Department." Edwards said and explained he worked closely with the Army to ensure success. "Very few items came up missing."

"We had to get it right and we had to get it done on time and still carry on the mission--that was the biggest challenge."

As the base supply dwindled to a mere fraction of its former self and service members slowly departed, the remaining few continued to train Iraqis and prepared to hand the base over to them.

They took a crawl, walk, run approach to training them until eventually they did it on their own completely. "After all," he said, "they ran their own military bases before we got there."

"To see their progress was really rewarding. Many of them were fighting for the Iraqi army or air force when the war began," Edwards said. "Now they see us as the example of who they want to be like."

It was a big accomplishment he said to turn over fuel operations, which is the largest in Iraq with more than 500,000 gallons of JP8, and teaching them how to sustain that mission themselves. While a small footprint of DOD members remain, Kirkuk is now an Iraqi air force base for training pilots.

As the people and supplies left in a safe and logical manner and his deployment came to an end, Edwards said he felt relieved and particularly proud of the mission they accomplished.

"We did it smoothly and it worked," said Edwards, who attributed his success to his Airmen and his ability to lead them to the confidence he's gained from his military and civilian careers.

As the last Army convoy left, Edwards sat on the plane hauling the final 12 people from his deployment out of Kirkuk and reflected on what they had just done.

"It was me, a couple of aerial porters and air traffic controllers and the guy marshalling the plane," he recanted. "It was an historical time--it was the start of us closing down the bases in Iraq. It was a great effort from everyone involved. We did things the correct way."

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The Air Force chief of staff announced his latest professional reading list Jan. 6.

In a letter to all Air Force personnel, Gen. Norton Schwartz said today's Airmen are among the military's best educated and most inquisitive.

"We Airmen are innovators because we embrace the word 'why' and mine it for better, smarter ways to operate," Schwartz said.

The Air Force's history is full of examples of Airmen who have embodied this attitude, facing daunting challenges with little more than their minds and fortitude, the general said.

"Their experiences are one of the cornerstones of the 2012 Reading List," Schwartz said.

This year's list contains 13 books and, for the first time, supplementary films, treatises and Internet-based resources. Schwartz will highlight these books throughout the year, and for the first quarter recommends these three:

"Airpower for Strategic Effect," by Colin Gray, provides a critical, strategic history of airpower as well as a new general theory.

"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption," by Laura Hillenbrand, is the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of almost too incredible catastrophes.

Finally, "Start with Why," by Simon Sinek, looks at the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world and describes how they all think, act and communicate in the exact same way, something the author calls "The Golden Circle."

The other books in this year's reading list are:

"The Forever War," by Dexter Filkins

"Paradise Beneath Her Feet," by Isobel Coleman

"The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution," by Linda Monk

"The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers," by Richard McGregor

"Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure," by Tim Harford

"Catch-22," by Joseph Heller

"Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II," by J. Todd Moye

"Physics of the Future," by Michio Kaku

"A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent," by Robert Merry

"The Hunters," by James Salter

More information on the 2012 reading list can be found at http://www.af.mil/information/csafreading/index.asp

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Through a collaborative effort, the men and women of the 455th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron improved aircraft safety by building a de-icing station from spare materials, drastically increasing the speed and reliability of refilling the de-icer trucks at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

A de-icer truck uses a half-and-half mixture of a red fluid and water, sprayed at high pressure, to remove ice from the surface of aircraft during the winter seasons. The removal of ice from the aircraft is instrumental in maintaining flight safety standards and ensuring the aircraft is ready to fly when needed for duty.

During times when aircraft are covered in ice and snow, the de-icer trucks are in continual use. However, to refill the 2,450-gallon trucks, the crew had to manually drain multiple 55-gallon barrels of pure de-icer fluid. For each barrel, they needed to re-prime the hose for suction. Once the truck was half filled, they would have to wait while they coordinated with another agency on base to fill the other half of the truck with water. Finally, to mix the solution, the driver would proceed back to the aircraft while occasionally pumping the brakes.

The process was slow and labor intensive.

The de-icer truck operators voiced their concerns and Capt. Corey Thobe, 455th ECES project engineer, decided to support a change.

Thobe took input from the de-icer truck operators and other ECES personnel and created a baseline schematic of a construct that would serve as a de-icing station until a permanent one could be built on the site.

He then forwarded it to Master Sgt. John Motley, 455th ECES water and fuels supervisor. Motley worked with his technicians to find out what spare materials they had on hand to construct the final product.

The temporary de-icing station featured three 3,850-gallon tanks of pre-mixed de-icer fluid, an extended-length PVC-pipe "hose" for filling the trucks, and transparent hoses marked to indicate how much fluid is left in each 10-foot tank. The station can be refilled while it is still in use.

Todd Mighell, 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Group transient alert site lead, said the temporary station greatly improved the speed of a de-icer refill.

"It could take up to three hours to fill a truck," he said. "Now, a 2,450 gallon truck can get filled in about 20 minutes.

"Last year, there were missions that had to be scrubbed because the de-icer trucks were not able to keep up with the demand. The trucks kept running out of de-icer fluid and it took too long to refill. We are able to keep up now."

Thobe said in addition to speed, the station is designed to improve the mission's overall safety.

He said the hose used to fill the trucks were designed so Airmen do not have to climb all the way on top of the truck to pour in the fluid. Also, the stop-and-go driving that was used to mix the de-icer solution was no longer necessary due to a pump that cycled, and therefore mixed, the tank's contents. This removed the extra wear and tear on the truck's brakes and frame which was needed during the old mixing process.

Mighell added that the transparent hoses also allowed them to guarantee their service was giving pilots a thoroughly mixed product for de-icing.

"The de-icer fluid is red," he said. "Water is white. If the mix is pink, then we have a good 50/50 mix. We can see if the mix is too red or if it starts going clear. Then we can adjust the solution."

Tech. Sgt. Robert Varney, 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, said the temporary station worked great. He appreciated the innovation of the 455th ECES to construct the station to improve the de-icer mission while they wait for the permanent station to be built.

Mighell said, "Even if the permanent station never shows up, this one will definitely do the job!"

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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash.  -- The 62nd Airlift Wing has been awarded the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for meritorious service from Sep. 11, 2010 to Sep. 12, 2011.

During this period, the 62nd AW provided airlift for Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn, delivering more than 128,000 personnel and 308 million pounds of cargo. These figures accounted for 41 percent and 29 percent respectively of all overseas contingency operations airlift.

The wing hosted the 2011 AMC Rodeo, hosting more than 3,000 personnel, 159 teams and 35 international partners. During the AMC Rodeo, the 62nd AW was named Best Aerial Port Team, Best C-17 Globemaster III Pre-Flight Team and Best C-17 Globemaster III Wing.

Additionally, the 62nd AW safely executed 126 Prime Nuclear Airlift Force sorties, totaling 454 pounds of nuclear cargo. The wing also garnered two outstanding and one excellent rating during three Nuclear Surely Inspections.

As AMC's only Antarctic qualified wing, the 62nd AW flew 69 missions, totaling 772 flight hours and five million pounds of cargo delivered to the harshest environment on the planet. The Operation Deep Freeze team also conducted the first mid-winter medical evacuation, saving a life and validating the possibility of year-round Antarctic operations.

Squadrons and Airmen who fall under the 62nd AW won a number of awards, including AMC's number one Maintenance Professional, Air Mobility Flight Team, Civilian Personnel Office, Young Judge Advocate, Finance Management Airman, Language Professional and Weather Operations Flight.

The 62nd AW also made a large humanitarian impact, as the first heavy aircraft to aid in Japan tsunami relief by being airborne within 19 hours of notification. The wing propelled Operation Pacific Passage, repatriating 2.6 thousand passengers and disbursing $19.7 thousand in travel vouchers.

"This award directly reflects the hard work and dedication of our Airmen," said Col. Wyn Elder, 62nd AW commander. "To earn this distinction under the current heavy operational tempo is especially rewarding. I'm extremely honored to serve alongside the men and women of the 62nd."

Airmen stationed at JBLM during the award period are authorized to wear the Outstanding Unit ribbon or add one additional cluster to their ribbon.

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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash.  -- First off, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the first team in 2012 to get Tebow'd. As I entered my place of work, I symbolically dropped to one knee and asked God once again why the Cowboys have only won one playoff game since 1995 and as I rose to my feet I sadly remembered Tim Tebow and Tony Romo now have the same amount of playoff wins. So what? I can still enjoy this!

As I logged onto Facebook, I noticed a familiar face in my timeline with a tagline that said, "Check out this idiot." There he was: Airman Snuffy McDufflebag and his 1st Lt. Wet B. Hinddaears at an "Occupy Stipclubs" football party in full uniform drinking a beer bong. He was invited by Presidential Candidate Montgomery Brewster and running mate Randy Watson. They offered them both a .999 percent discount for entry if they were in military in uniform.

As I dug further, I found out through Snuffy's status that he meant to send the picture to a friend and accidentally posted it to his Facebook wall, and the rest is now social media history. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, so I immediately called Master Sgt. Johnny Mentor.

He answered with a long sigh. "I already know... it's on CNN!" he said without asking what I was calling for. I was the 248th caller of the day. What was he thinking, I asked Sergeant Mentor.

Sergeant Mentor went on to explain he had made all the Airmen in his shop read the Air Force pamphlet "Social Media and the Air Force," produced by the Air Force Public Affairs Agency Emerging Technology Division.

He said he focused on the part that states, "Airmen should note that anytime they engage in social media, they are representing the Air Force and therefore should not do anything that will discredit themselves or the Air Force."

He added that it goes on to say, "Airmen must abide by certain restrictions to ensure good order and discipline. All Airmen are on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and all actions are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Even if Airmen state they are not representing the Air Force, other audiences may not interpret the information that way."

He also said officials advise Airmen to be careful of the details, text, photos and video posted to profiles on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook and other social networks. Employers and adversaries can search these sites, and there are numerous examples of people losing a job due to their inappropriate photos or comments.

"Airmen, by the nature of the business, are always on the record and must always represent the core values, even on the Web: Integrity first, service before self and excellence in all that is done," the pamphlet stated.

Even armed with all this information, Snuffy still resorted to his habitual line-stepping ways.

While I kind of found the picture funny, I realized it was no laughing matter. I learned we should all be good Wingmen for ourselves and other Airmen around us--if you see something that doesn't look or feel right, it probably isn't.

I also learned it was safer to ask questions about what you can or cannot do, before you find yourself in a situation where you can't easily press delete.

I know I will be careful with what I do both in and out of uniform when it comes to social media. I know I learned my lesson, but as for Snuffy, I am sure he will be at it again.

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force officials have created four video tutorials, or vodcasts, to educate people on some of the capabilities and features available on the Air Force Personnel Services, or AFPERS, website.

A team of Air Force personnelists and contractors collaborated on the vodcasts to teach active duty Air Force, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen about the basic functions of AFPERS, where to access it, how to create an account and what to do if a user identification or password is forgotten.

"We are using video tutorials as a way to provide awareness and information to our members on personnel services," said Mary McAfee, the Air National Guard's personnel services delivery strategy chief. "These products will help ensure our Airmen are aware of the AFPERS website because it is our total force source for personnel information and services."

Future video tutorials being proposed include educating Airmen about the AFPERS civilian homepage, addressing the top five issues received by the Total Force Service Center, and how the website can help answer other frequently asked questions or inquiries about personnel processes.

The video tutorials are available on the Air Force Portal under the Life and Careers tab under Careers and on the AFPC public website at http://www.afpc.af.mil/afpers_vodcasts/index.asp. These products can also be redistributed on other Air Force websites to further help raise awareness and educate Airmen about online personnel services.

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Getting a man on the inside is usually the best way to gather intelligence for any operation. In this case, an operational readiness inspection, such as the one the 446th Airlift Wing will have in October.

Lt. Col. Ray Luevanos, 446th Mission Support Group deputy commander, along with a few other Reserve and active duty Airmen from McChord Field, got in on the ground floor for the ORIs conducted for Joint Base Charleston, S.C., as well as Dover AFB, Del.

Luevanos augmented the Air Mobility Command Inspector General team from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7.

Both Charleston and Dover ORI's were conducted in Gulfport, Miss., at the Gulfport Contingency Readiness Training Center. The CRTC is a Mississippi Air National Guard base with the primary mission of supporting Unit Compliance Inspections, Operational Readiness Exercises, and Operational Readiness Inspections.

Although his expertise is with the emergency operations center, Luevanos viewed many aspects of the inspections, and learned a great deal to help prepare McChord for its ORI in October.

"Attitude, sense of urgency, communication, and knowing your job are the essentials for a successful operational readiness inspection," said Luevanos. "That tidbit came from an inspector with long tenure on the AMC inspection team."

Both Charleston and Dover were working within a Korea scenario, according to Luevanos, operating out of Japan. Each was given a variety of missile attacks (chemical versus non-chemical) and each facility was required to bug-out once to demonstrate alternate location and command and control turnover. Other injects included food poisoning, water contamination, fuels contamination, contamination control area demonstration and a lone gunman/distraught airman. The distraught airman fired upon his own troops and this inject occurred after the "hostilities ceased" message was received from Intel.

Luevanos observed that Charleston initially lacked a sense of urgency.

"The first indication of this was their ineffectiveness at building sandbags for base hardening," he said.

Upon landing, the advance team is given full access to materials to harden facilities to include sandbags and a sandbag machine. The IG requires a demonstration of sandbag building and a hardening demonstration for grading purposes.

After the graded unit builds 1,500 sandbags, the IG releases an additional 6,500 pre-positioned sandbags for the unit to use for hardening. The Charleston day shift opted to wait until civil engineer members arrived on chalk 5 prior to beginning the building of sandbags, a delay of about 24 hours.

"Having only one 12-hour shift of CE operations personnel limited the time frame during which CE could build sandbags," said Luevanos. "Finally, they mobilized other units to begin building sandbags, but the night shift bore the brunt of the task."

An IG-recommended practice is to have arriving players from each chalk fill 10 to 20 sandbags each prior to receiving their room keys. Having leadership participate in the process was also recommended to display "leadership by example" and a sense of urgency.

Safety was also an issue during the employment phase. Airmen were observed leaving forklifts running without drivers or chalks, and backing without spotters, according to Luevanos.

Other observations to learn from, according to Luevanos' report concerning his trip, included:

One wing deployed without a water test kit which negated their ability to determine chlorine contamination (simulated) of a water buffalo.

Some Airmen neglected to change out M-8/M-9 paper following attacks. This resulted in confusion after a subsequent non-chemical attack which was interpreted to have chemicals because of prior M-8/M-9 contamination.

A unit misidentified one of its own life-support vans during an attack causing it to divert resources and time as the vehicle was searched for and investigated.

On the first day of Dover's ORI, a fuels tester was relieved of duty for improper duty certifications.

Know the CRTC policies. One wing's standardization and evaluation section was not aware weapons were not allowed in the dorm rooms. Consequently, they had to construct a makeshift armory which necessitated a "player" guard (not real world). This policy had been communicated weeks prior; however, this section was not aware of the restriction.

According to Luevanos, it is imperative that each unit reviews write-ups from the last McChord ORI. The IG's grading tool automatically loads past write-ups so inspectors may assess whether current write-ups are repeated from the last ORI.

And whatever you do, don't let your guard down at the end of active hostilities.

"Many of the graded areas occur after hostilities cease, especially for support agencies. The IG noted to both units that most accidents occur during the Redeployment phase because of a sense of 'get-home-it is,'" explained Luevanos.

To that end, if the IG notes complacency by the unit, they will delay the redeployment order (2-hour delay to Charleston) or add injects, such as an active shooter, to keep the players engaged. So it pays to not let your guard down.

"I highly encourage any ORI participants, especially leadership, to augment the IG team as inspectors if at all possible. Having full access to grading criteria and IG leadership discussions is invaluable to understanding the 'rules' behind the ORI 'game,'" said Luevanos.

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More than 120 Airmen from McChord Field, led by a Reservist, returned here Jan. 4 after a 60-day deployment in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, New Dawn and Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

The active-duty 4th Airlift Squadron Airmen were deployed as the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in two overseas contingency locations in the Middle East.

Lt. Col. Anthony Angello, who also serves as the 313th Airlift Squadron commander under the 446th Airlift Wing, led the mission. This deployment marked the first time a Reservist commanded an active-duty squadron.

"It truly has been an honor and privilege to lead the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron," said Lt. Col. Anthony Angello, 817th EAS commander. "I cannot tell you how proud I am of our active-duty and Reserve Airmen who stepped up to the plate for this deployment, performed exceptionally well, and served our great nation with valor and distinction. In the end, this successful deployment codifies the tremendous synergy our Air Force gains from the active-Reserve associate wing concept. The tremendous effort of all Airmen involved has raised the Total Force performance standards to exceedingly high levels. I am extremely humbled to have been a part of this amazing and historic effort."

During their deployment, the C-17 squadron flew 951 sorties, equaling more than 3,056 hours, moving more than 50,328 passengers and delivering more than 29.9 million pounds of combat sustainment cargo for U.S. military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and operations in East Africa.

"Carrying more than 300 fellow servicemembers each day in support of Operation Enduring Freedom was such a unique and rewarding experience," said Capt. Angela Hearn, 4th AS aircraft commander. "I was extremely pleased that the positive attitude of my crew was directly reflected in the men and women from every branch of service that we transported. The opportunity to work with such dedicated people throughout the C-17 community, under often challenging circumstances, has only reinforced the camaraderie I have become accustomed to as a member of the 4th Airlift Squadron. It is deployments like these that show the importance of total force integration."

According to Airmen of the 817th EAS, the mission would not have been a success without the constant support from loved ones back home, especially during the holidays.

"I think this deployment has epitomized the aspect of Team McChord," said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Calhoun, 817th EAS chief loadmaster. "Not to mention we are pretty darn good at what we do. Also, this would not be possible without the support and sacrifices of our families back home. They really deserve the credit for anything that we accomplish. For most of them, this is not their first deployment and I really do think that it is more difficult to stay home with the kids than do what we do. They are heroes, every single one of them. Thank you."

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