Caltrans will close portions of Antelope Valley Freeway SR-14 from Sierra Highway (Soledad Canyon Rd.) to Palmdale Blvd. as part of a pavement rehabilitation project. Closures are as follows and subject to change:

May 20-24

Northbound SR-14

• 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. – Up to three lanes between Soledad Canyon Rd. and Palmdale Boulevard
• 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. – On and Off Ramps CLOSED between Sierra Highway and Avenue S

Southbound SR-14

• 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. – Up to three lanes between Palmdale Boulevard and Soledad Canyon Rd
• 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.  – On and Off Ramps CLOSED between Avenue S and Sierra Highway

This project may require FULL Freeway closures. Advance notices will be provided. Detours will be posted. New pavement will improve mobility and enhance safety for motorists.  Security Paving Company Incorporated is the contractor on this $16 million project which is expected to complete this summer.

Caltrans advises motorists to “Slow For The Cone Zone.”

Town Hall

The 412th Mission Support Group is hosting an Edwards AFB Community Town Hall meeting 5-7 p.m., May 21 in the Conference Center’s Extender Room.  Subject matter experts will include 412th Security Forces Squadron, Force Support, Communications, TMO, Civil Engineering, Medical Group and the Community Support Coordinator will be on hand to answer any questions from the public.

For more information, contact the 412th MSG front office at (661) 277-0440.

A Night at the Museum

Please join us on May 20 as Desert Junior Senior High School is transformed into a living history museum. Exhibits will run from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The students will transform the halls of DJHS into static displays, living statues and interactive history exhibits. It should be a wonderful celebration of the students’ hard work this year in their social studies class. Nearly every student at the high school will be involved in this event. We hope to see you there.

For more information, contact Shay Wallace at swallace@muroc.k12.ca.us or call (661) 524-3837.

Golf tournament

This year’s Memorial Day Weekend Golf Tournament is May 23 at Muroc Lake Golf Course. A hole-in-one on #8 from 153 yards will win $10,000 cash. A hole-in-one on any other par 3 will win a set of Cleveland Irons, a Kindle Fire HD, or a $500 Visa gift card. The format is a two-person scramble with five-foot length putting string and one mulligan per person ($5 each). Longest putt, closest to the pin and longest drive contests will also be held. Tournament entrance fee is $60 and includes lunch. The event is sponsored by the Desert Pirates Booster Club.

To enter, call: Master Sgt. Cade Peterson at (661) 275-0727; Master Sgt. Bryan Smith at (661) 277-4119; Tech. Sgt. David Hager at (661) 275-7335; Staff Sgt. Alphonso Williams at (661) 277-3049; or Staff Sgt. Jon Palomino at (661) 275-0618.

Commissary closed

The commissary will be closed May 27 in observance of Memorial Day.

For more information, call (661) 277-9175.

Many things have changed since I graduated college and took my oath to support and defend.

Uniforms have gone through several iterations during that time. Airmen were still wearing fatigues when I joined, then BDUs and now ABUs. The fitness assessment has gone through several modifications from a 1.5-mile run, to the bike and now the more comprehensive assessment. With all that change, there has been one constant: our Air Force Core Values.

We each have a plethora of values, but some are so primary, so important to us, that in spite of the change around us they are still the core values we abide by. In an ever-changing world, core values are constant. The Air Force Core Values are not descriptions of the work we do or the strategies we apply to accomplish our mission. They are the basic elements of how we go about our work. They are the practices we use (or should be using) every day in everything we do.

The core values provide excellent guideposts on how to conduct our professional military lives. Because they are so closely associated with the Air Force, we don’t often think about their broader application. In actuality, they are great guides for our personal lives as well.

My daughter reminded me how this was true even for an 11-year-old. I was helping her with her homework last year. She had rushed through the writing assignment, declared she was done and went off to watch TV. I took a look at the assignment and couldn’t decipher most of it. I called her back and asked her to do again but this time to take her time. Her face let me know that this was not part of her plan. Then I asked her if she knew the Air Force core values. She gave me another interesting look and said, “No.” I went into a discussion of the core values focusing on Excellence. In her case, incorporating excellence, or doing it right the first time, would have saved her time and a lecture. Most of us have learned lessons by making mistakes. In most cases, pausing to think about our core values would have prevented learning the lesson the hard way.

In a previous position I had the privilege of working with young Airmen right out of Basic Military Training. They had just spent eight weeks learning how to be an Airman. During our first meeting I would discuss the core values and explain how following them could guarantee their success in technical training. Integrating the core values would allow them to succeed in their courses and keep them out of trouble outside the classroom.

They needed to make the core values a way of life – both on and off duty. I had plenty of examples of Airmen that made poor decisions that could easily have been avoided if they had just taken a minute and integrated the core values into their decision making. It was important to reinforce not just what the core values are but why it is important to utilize them on a regular basis. It was rewarding to see the light bulb go on for some of those Airmen.

The Air Force will continue to see change. Who knows what future Airmen will be wearing or what their fitness assessment will include? What we do know is that our core values will continue to provide us with the foundation necessary to make the right decisions and to get the mission done.

According to Army and Air Force safety centers, 65 Soldiers and Airmen lost their lives in motorcycle accidents in fiscal year 2012.

“Riding with the right safety equipment is extremely important,” said the Exchange’s Senior Enlisted Adviser Chief Master Sgt. Tony Pearson. “That’s why our motorcycle safety gear consists of sturdy helmets, gloves, vests and more, all designed to increase visibility and help protect riders.”

The Exchange PPE includes high-quality motorcycle gear and an assortment of reflective products. Safety gear along with skills learned in motorcycle safety training classes combine to increase survival and prevent injuries.

Motorcycle riders can browse the Exchange’s PPE selection in store or online at www.shopmyexchange.com.

Members’ applications will be processed by priority, supervisor approval date and class start date, with Priority 1 students taking precedence.

Acquisition workforce members should regularly monitor the ACQ Now website for the most current information regarding DAU registration and course updates. Most resident classes only hold 30 students, and students should apply upon immediate release of the schedule. It’s important for applicants to note that a hundred or more other students may be applying for the same class — especially if it is the first one on the schedule.

For commonly used courses such as ACQ 201B, Intermediate Systems Acquisition Part B, students should apply for more than one offering. Even though ACQ Now may show availability, the ACQ Now site is refreshed every 24 hours. With classes filling up and forming waitlists, students will not be able to see updates until the following day.

The number of students in the Defense Department taking DAU training is more than 100,000. These courses are open to students across the entire federal government, with all military service components – Army, Navy, Air Force, DOD – as well as other service components, federal agencies and organizations registering for DAU courses at the same time.

My dad worked for a Fortune 100 company for many years. One day he told me how dozens of the company’s leadership had been fired because a low level employee sent a personal email using a company computer.

His company had a strong cultural ethos and believed if they paid you to work, you should be working and company resources are for company business.

It turned out a company vice president had seen the email and promptly fired every level of leadership between himself and the individual – who was also fired. They reasoned if the VP knew about the problem then lower level leadership knew and failed to act, or they weren’t monitoring their personnel properly.

The bottom line was they had no need for leaders who didn’t embrace company standards or walked past problems. This culture has helped the company completely dominate their industry sector much as the U.S. Air Force dominates globally.

The lesson to “Never walk past a problem” has stayed with me for more than 20 years. However, recently I’m finding this lesson from my dad even more important.

Lately, way too many people have been forecasting doom and gloom about how the Services will become a hollow force similar to the 1970s. The fiscal crisis may negatively affect the readiness of our equipment and our training but it is leadership which will determine whether our discipline resembles the discipline of the 1970s.

Discipline then was adversely affected by conscription and a society which condoned rampant drug use, but ultimately they became a hollow force because they walked past problems. For example, many unit leaders avoided entering barracks or visiting base clubs at night because they were afraid their subordinates would attack them. They stopped being a hollow force when true leaders faced their issues head on and stopped walking past their problems.

Senior officers and senior NCOs can’t walk past a problem. When we do, it gives the appearance that all senior officers and SNCOs believe some standards are not worth enforcing. This perception is not confined to only these ranks; it applies to all ranks and differs only by the scope of influence. A staff sergeant or lieutenant, who walks past a problem in their section, gives the appearance they will tolerate violations of some rules and that section’s Airmen will eventually believe they have the right to pick and choose what rules they follow.

During the coming fiscal constraints, make sure the U.S. Air Force remains the world’s most dominant military force and not a hollow force. I challenge you to be a leader who never walks past a problem.

DEERS is the system used to enroll Airmen and their eligible family members for an identification card and associated benefits such as medical and dental care, federal installation access and access to installation facilities such as the commissary or exchange.

DEERS updates are required for major life events that change an Airman’s status, including marriage, divorce, birth or death of a dependent, promotion, reenlistment, extension, retirement, separation or unit transfer to another branch of service or agency. Personnel specialists use the Real-time Automated Personnel Identification System to update DEERS.

In past, RAPIDS customer service representatives could manually update or correct members’ DEERS information. Now, access to member citizenship, date of birth, gender, social security number, name, service dates, civilian or contractor employment dates, Air National Guard or Reserve activation periods and member separation transition benefit information is locked down. The lockdown does not affect dependent family member record information that needs to be updated.

“Members’ DEERS records are established and updated by an authoritative data feed directly from a personnel source like AFPC or the Air Reserve Personnel Center. If information about a member that feeds into DEERS is wrong, the ID card issuing office can’t fix that. Only the office of primary responsibility for that information can correct it,” said Ed Yoder, the AFPC DEERS/RAPIDS operations branch assistant chief.

For example, if a member’s reenlistment date is wrong, the reenlistments office must correct it. If the social security number in DEERS is wrong or a member becomes an American citizen after the DEERS record is established, he or she will need help from the Total Force Service Center to verify information in the personnel data system.

“If you have incorrect or outdated information in your DEERS record and it is locked down, your first step is to contact the origin of the information and work with them to correct it. Once it’s corrected in the personnel data system, it will flow to DEERS and be updated,” Yoder said.

Typical OPRs include military reenlistment, separation and retirement offices, or the civilian human resource office, or the contractor trusted agent. Airmen who don’t know the appropriate OPR for specific information should go to the myPers website, Yoder said.

“Once your record is updated, you can check the corrections or updates online at the eMilConnect website,” Yoder said. “Depending on the nature of the correction, Airmen may need to get a new ID card, so keep an eye on your records.”

Retired military members who need a DEERS update or correction can submit a request to AFPC, Yoder said. Once AFPC completes the correction action, an Air Force Form 281, Notification of Change in Service Member’s Official Records, is filed in the retired member’s military record and the member’s documents are returned.

For more information on DEERS updates and other personnel issues, visit the myPers website at https://mypers.af.mil and enter “21534″ or “DEERS Record Correction” in the search window.

The May 2 release of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Samsung Knox STIG provisionally allows DOD to use the latest technology as soon as it is available commercially. Officials also released STIGs for the BlackBerry 10, Blackberry Playbook and Blackberry Device Service. The STIGs allow use of accepted devices as part of approved mobility pilots with actively defended mobile device management systems, DISA officials said.

The Samsung Knox STIG represents a paradigm shift in DISA’s business processes that dramatically increased the efficiency of bringing new devices into the DOD enterprise, officials added. DISA field security operations developed the Samsung Knox STIG ahead of its commercial release, they noted, highlighting how close partnerships between government and industry are delivering the latest enterprise technology to meet department needs.

A key component of the secure mobility environment is the mobile device management system that provides enforcement of the STIG settings, as well as other key security functions. Achieving DOD security objectives requires both the device security, defined in the STIG, as well as active defense provided through the mobile device management system, which DISA will implement through a contract award in early summer.

The DOD Commercial Mobile Device Implementation Plan, released in February, led to the new process and served as the basis for establishing the list of approved devices. The plan tasked DISA to develop a new process for approving mobile devices “to ensure that DOD will have access to the latest mobile technologies in a timely manner by maximizing vendor participation.”

“DISA established a process where vendors develop STIGs following DOD security requirements guides and submit documentation and evidence for DISA’s validation,” said Terry Sherald, chief of DISA’s information assurance standards branch. “We are excited to continue working with other commercial mobile device providers to support a diverse, competitive multivendor environment.”

Editor’s note: Information courtesy of a Defense Information Systems Agency News Release.

The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is facilitating U.S.-led companies’ development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil. The overall goal of CCP is to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective U.S. human access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit.

Tests at Dryden will include tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests of the Dream Chaser. A truck will tow the craft down a runway to validate performance of the nose strut, brakes and tires. The captive-carry flights will further examine the loads it will encounter during flight as it is carried by an Erickson Skycrane helicopter. The free flight later this year will test Dream Chaser’s aerodynamics through landing.

Meanwhile, on the east coast, several NASA astronauts will be at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., this week to fly simulations of a Dream Chaser approach and landing to help evaluate the spacecraft’s subsonic handling. The test will measure how well the spacecraft would handle in a number of different atmospheric conditions and assess its guidance and navigation performance.

“Unique public-private partnerships like the one between NASA and Sierra Nevada Corporation are creating an industry capable of building the next generation of rockets and spacecraft that will carry U.S. astronauts to the scientific proving ground of low-Earth orbit,” said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations in Washington. “NASA centers around the country paved the way for 50 years of American human spaceflight, and they’re actively working with our partners to test innovative commercial space systems that will continue to ensure American leadership in exploration and discovery.”

The Dream Chaser Space System is based on Langley’s Horizontal Lander HL-20 lifting body design concept. The design builds on years of analysis and wind tunnel testing by Langley engineers during the 1980s and 1990s. Langley and SNC joined forces six years ago to update the HL-20 design in the Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle. In those years SNC has worked with to refine the spacecraft design. SNC will continue to test models in Langley wind tunnels. Langley researchers also helped develop a cockpit simulator at SNC’s facility in Louisville, Colo., and the flight simulations being assessed at the center.

NASA is partnered with SNC, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Boeing to meet CCP milestones for integrated crew transportation systems under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative. Advances made by these companies under their funded Space Act Agreements ultimately are intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial companies.

While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System, a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration in the solar system.

During the double-elimination tournament, there were a total of six teams that signed up and played for a chance at the base dodgeball title.
The final game was between Team EWG and Team JOTT, or Joint Operations Test Team, who battled through the loser’s bracket to challenge Team EWG. Team EWG won four consecutive games in order to win the championship.

For a list of upcoming events at the Rosburg Fitness Center, call (661) 275-GYM1.